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Old 01-24-2021, 12:09 PM   #5331
ericthered
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
I find it difficult to believe that a still coalescing sun with most of it's mass still being gathered is that bright.

x100 sounds excessively high, let alone x1000, especially given that I don't think astronomers have confirmed any protostars. I'd be curious to know where Alexander is getting that number.



Some light research indicates that "protostar" refers to a specific phase of star formation, and that even if it is excessively bright, the period immediately proceeding it should be a good candidate.


I love the oops timelines.


The designation of oops-8 as such is controversial, because plunging it into nuclear winter in order to test the effects was very much intentional.
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Old 01-24-2021, 12:15 PM   #5332
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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
I find it difficult to believe that a still coalescing sun with most of it's mass still being gathered is that bright.
You have the same amount of mass and surface temperature, but the density is lower and the diameter is much higher, so you end up with a much higher luminosity (fusion rates depend on density as well as temperature, so a protostar with one-hundred thousandth of the density will depend on gravitational contraction for the vast majority of its energy). When a protostar contracts into a star, the density increases (and the core temperature increases) until it is capable of sustaining nuclear fusion. Of course, most protostars are blocked from sight by clouds of dark gases and dust, so they are not quite as visible as they otherwise would be.
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Old 01-24-2021, 05:56 PM   #5333
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Try this one...

Stalin was never known for being careful with his health or safety, so his death in the Russian Civil War was not really odd. Both Troysky and Bukharin had too many enemies to get to the top job so a second-string figure became supreme leader after Lenin's death.

Stalin's replacement was far less brutal but also less competent. He made about the same mistakes Stalin made when dealing with Hitler and simply collapsed when Hitler attacked. Unlike Stalin, this man actually committed suicide rather than simply threatening to do so.

However, far from giving Hitler the victory in a walk, the chaotic mess that was Russia simply kept lashing out at the Germans. Meanwhile, the vast oil reserves at Baku were occupied by the British army. And even if the Germans could take Baku and its vast oilfields they have no way to transport the oil to Germany.

With Russia in total collapse, Turkey, which stayed neutral because they justifiably feared both Russia and Germany, now joined the allies. They knew that Germany would need to go through them to get oil or simply collapse.

It's a seriously altered WWII with Britain, Turkey, the USA, the Iranians, and the army of India, all marching up through Ukraine toward Germany.
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Old 01-25-2021, 02:52 AM   #5334
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Try this one...

Stalin was never known for being careful with his health or safety, so his death in the Russian Civil War was not really odd. Both Troysky and Bukharin had too many enemies to get to the top job so a second-string figure became supreme leader after Lenin's death.

Stalin's replacement was far less brutal but also less competent. He made about the same mistakes Stalin made when dealing with Hitler and simply collapsed when Hitler attacked. Unlike Stalin, this man actually committed suicide rather than simply threatening to do so.

However, far from giving Hitler the victory in a walk, the chaotic mess that was Russia simply kept lashing out at the Germans. Meanwhile, the vast oil reserves at Baku were occupied by the British army. And even if the Germans could take Baku and its vast oilfields they have no way to transport the oil to Germany.

With Russia in total collapse, Turkey, which stayed neutral because they justifiably feared both Russia and Germany, now joined the allies. They knew that Germany would need to go through them to get oil or simply collapse.

It's a seriously altered WWII with Britain, Turkey, the USA, the Iranians, and the army of India, all marching up through Ukraine toward Germany.
This world would be interesting for Homeline scholars for the Stalin debate. Is this world better off for not having the murderous dictator who also (belatedly) stood up to another murderous dictator?

Homeline Russia would want to take charge of offworld operations on this timeline, to focus on building up a single Russian leader - and could pretty much say anyone they picked was "better than Stalin." Homeline Moscow would also object to the British occupation of Baku on this world (as would Homeline Tehran), even if it's to block Nazis.


Make this world Quantum Six and get Interworld involved, as Centrum would naturally back the British Empire. And when Homeline Russia discovers that, its outworld minister declares that Infinity and other Homeline actors can't back the British in Baku, or be on the same side as Centrum.


Even better: Maybe this world is an echo? Killing Stalin before his rise to power would be a total Interworld long-term intervention And the world hasn't moved from Q6 - yet.

But is killing a Communist dictator like Stalin something Interworld would do? While likely considered a "rum lot," they'd have the same considerations about him facing off against Hitler that Homeline historians have - and feel (relatively) warmer about the U.S.S.R. And it would be so long-term that it would seem to predate the dimension war & intentional quantum-shifting.


This raises a possibility: What if it wasn't an Interworld quantum-shifting plan that killed Stalin? He's up there in the 'kill baby X' people - any crosstime actor who knows anything about (Homeline) history would want him dead, and would be a lot less careful than Interworld.

The time frame makes it seem like it would be too long ago to have been a Homeliner, over thirty years prior (depending on when Stalin died), but perhaps not impossible.

What about an early Centran agent of Centrum, who knows enough of the history of all of these Wave Minus Two worlds to know about Stalin. This would be before encountering Homeline, before opening up inhabited worlds to Interworld, but a rogue covert agent could perhaps pull it off.

And then there's The Cabal. Stalin would have his enemies among the mystics, from modern ones whose grandparents had been killed in one of the purges, to Nazi-aligned ones hoping to take out Hitler's great enemy.

Of course, could also just have been a random traveler. Perhaps someone from a close parallel found his or her way into the Russian Revolution on this world, and took it upon themselves to kill Stalin - might have even thought that they'd time-traveled. Maybe they're still stuck on this timeline, thrown in a gulag during the Russian Civil War, never able to kill a young Hitler, recently freed by WWII, looking to do more 'good' meddling.
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Old 01-25-2021, 06:55 AM   #5335
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Maybe use it as a springboard to introduce another parachronic faction! Maybe one from a world that suffered a Cold War nuke exchange, but developed super-science because of it, leading to parachronics. They're staunchly anti-dictator due to a combination of hating the USSR and having to deal with some post-nuke warlords, and as a result their philosophy is "Kill the dictators and damn the consequences!"

(Feel free to figure out how to make this work better: I just like having more cross-world factions, plus a faction of B-movie mad scientists would be rad!)
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Old 01-25-2021, 07:26 AM   #5336
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Originally Posted by fchase8 View Post
But is killing a Communist dictator like Stalin something Interworld would do? While likely considered a "rum lot," they'd have the same considerations about him facing off against Hitler that Homeline historians have - and feel (relatively) warmer about the U.S.S.R.
Well, I think it might actually be something Centrum might do. Centrum is no friend of Soviet Imperialism, they like the early communist movement and the UN, so it's practically a win-win. Either they get an internationalist who helps build an international movement to co-opt or an inept leader who paves the way for Roosevelt internationalism.

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And it would be so long-term that it would seem to predate the dimension war & intentional quantum-shifting.
Yeah, well, you could say Centrum did this beforehand on a whim.
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Old 01-25-2021, 04:46 PM   #5337
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Try this one...

Gameboard-1

This Q6 low manna world both terrifies and attracts Homeline, Centrum, and the Cabal. Its inhabitants seem to be able to control reality quakes.

This Parallel seemed like an echo until the local year of 1937 (twenty years ago from Homeline's viewpoint). In that year figures roughly equivalent to Superman, Mary Marvel, Hawkman, the Human Torch (female in this world), Plastic Man, Aquaman, and Green Lantern, all show up in the Northeastern USA. A figure shows up in Britain that seems to be Doctor Who (even calling himself the Doctor and working with a League of Nations affiliated military squad tasked with fighting alien and paranormal threats). Similar strangeness shows up over large areas of the planet.

WWII started on time and at first, seemed on track in spite of all these powerful exotic figures. Hitler opened up a nexial gate to invade Britain. But the solar hero from Kansas and the Madman with a blue box shut it down hard.

However, one of the Mystics working for the Ahnenerbe brought in a sprig from Yggdrasil itself. Strange rites summoning powers accursed by the gods of Asgard brought the green light of Agartha to warp the spring and give it an unholy vitality.

Wherever a seeding of this poisoned tree is planted the Manna level raises to High, but only for the new Nazi Runes, for a radius of 175 kilometers. As each new tree is branded with Runes for Fire, Death, and Authority, all magics that either create or control fire, kill, wound, or sicken, summon or control the spirits or bodies of the dead or undead, or enforce or aide the power and activities of the Nazi State, are at plus three to skill. Magics linked to Cold, Water, Healing, or used to defy or strive against the Nazi state, are at minus three to skill. (An unacknowledged side effect of the Death magics are that all healing rolls are at minus three to HT as are fertility rolls. Similarly, the Authority Runes cause all rolls for creativity are at minus three as well.) These so-called "Sacred Red Trees" are planted in an array that covers much of Germany, Poland, and Northeast France.

The local equivalent of Wonder Woman isn't a Greek Amazon, but a Warrior Queen of the Tuatha De Danann. She went to the long-forgotten world tree of the Celtic Gods. These Green Sprigs have the same radius of effect as the Nazi Red trees but different effects. Within 175 kilometers of these trees, the manna level rises to Normal for all magics, with the difference that anyone can cast spells. Otherwise, all effects are like Normal Manna. Anyone who learns a number of spells equal to their IQ gains Magery-0, afterward, the study of Thaumuthurgy allows those with Magery-0 or better to gain more levels of Magery (i.e. pay for them with experience points at a rate of Ten points per level plus 5 points per each level the character already has. Example: Ian has Magery 3 and wants Magery four. Ian performs complex rituals and austerities, and Ian's player pays twenty-five points.)

Meanwhile, in China, the USA, and Russia, others sought their own trees. In America, Blue trees are found by a team made up of the local equivalents of Mary Marvel, Aquaman (like the 1940s Aquaman a product of Atlantian Superscience), and Mera (a Psion Warrior Aristocrat of Ancient Atlantis awakened from an enchanted slumber by her husband). These Blue trees Seem to empower Weird Science, Psionic powers, and Techno-Alchemy. These Trees have the same radius of effect as the other two types and their influence now covers New England, New York, New Jersey, and most of Pennsylvania in the USA, and the Maritimes and southern Quebec, and a part of eastern Ontario in Canada.
In China strange peach trees shed a gently golden radiance. A Taoist Alchemist and a young woman said to be a Buddhist Sword Saint brought these springs in. Were the Green Celtic trees favor magic these Golden trees favor Chi. It becomes easier to learn and use Chi within 175 kilometers of these trees. The fruit of these Peach Trees seem to have powers of healing, rejuvenation, and also act as "chi batteries." In Russia, strange disreputable groups dismissed as pagans and hunted by the Communists offer the state their own trees. Although they prefer to routinely shoot purveyors of superstition on sight, they need a way to fight the Nazi red trees. The witches and bear dancers gave the commissars the Pink trees. The magic of Earth and Sky are favored by these trees (Plus three to Earth, Air, or Weather, magics) and they bless those defending their homeland (Plus three to all rolls for anyone defending their homes or homelands). As with other trees the radius of effect is 175 kilometers.

I'll post more information on how this world looks in 1957.
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Last edited by Astromancer; 02-08-2021 at 04:39 PM.
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Old 01-25-2021, 05:45 PM   #5338
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Originally Posted by TGLS View Post
Well, I think it might actually be something Centrum might do. Centrum is no friend of Soviet Imperialism, they like the early communist movement and the UN, so it's practically a win-win. Either they get an internationalist who helps build an international movement to co-opt or an inept leader who paves the way for Roosevelt internationalism.
Good point. Interworld would think that the U.S.S.R. could become proto-Centrum (since that's what they think all 'logical' societies should go towards), and if not, help a proto-Centrum U.N. by averting the Cold War.

Plus Centrum wouldn't have the same fear of Hitler as Homeline would, fear of him succeeding without a Stalin.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TGLS View Post
Yeah, well, you could say Centrum did this beforehand on a whim.
After I wrote out the whole idea of killing Stalin as a Centran echo intervention, I realized that it would have been so long ago as to have been before the dimension war.


I imagine an early Interworld scout hearing radio reports about the Russian Civil War, the world is labeled off-limits (pre-Lockridge Protocols, any world with people, let alone developed enough to have radio, would be closed).

But this scout has encountered other worlds on Wave Minus Two that weirdly follow this same history, including one or two ahead of this world, and knows what a monster Stalin would be. He'd also know about Hitler, but Hitler would be a lot harder to find in 1918, a soldier and failed artists, as opposed to noted Communist militia leader Stalin.

So the scout goes to Russia on this world and manages to kill Stalin. Maybe he or she is caught by Interworld when they get back (and is still languishing in a Centrum jail, all these years later). Or maybe it was a one-way trip, either couldn't make it back (languishing in Siberian gulag) or died.

The world was closed off for good by Interworld, and forgotten about - until the Lockridge Protocols, discovery of Secundus, discovery of quantum-movable echos, and the start of the dimension war.

Now it's a curious example of a long-term intervention, much longer than Interworld has done anywhere else. Why hasn't the world moved? Has its quantum solidified as a parallel?
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Old 01-26-2021, 12:20 AM   #5339
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In Brittany-3, supers started appearing worldwide around 800 AD, completely changing the course of history. The Kingdom of Brittany was one of the first politics in Europe to offer refuge to supers, giving it the ability to expand until it had conquered Western Europe, becoming the Empire of Brittany in 951 AD. The Byzantine Empire followed its example of couple decades later and started a domino effect where every nation that wanted to survive needed to embrace supers. Similar trends occurred in the Americas, where the super adopting Taino conquered the Caribs, where the Aztecs were crushed by the Mayans, etc.

It is now 1500 AD, and supers form the aristocracies of the majority of the existent nations. While the Empire of Brittany and the Byzantine Empire share Europe, the Xia Dynasty rules China, their supers having crushed the Genghis Khan early in his career. In the West Asia, Persia rules supreme, its Shahs having destroyed Sunni Islam with their super warriors.

Infinity is frankly terrified of the timeline, despite the fact that it is only TL4. With a superhuman population of 1%, the timeline has one of the highest populations of supers known to Homeline, despite having a population of only 500 million. While M-scale superhumans are nonexistent, 10% of superhumans are D-scale and 1% of superhumans are C-scale, meaning that there are the equivalent of 50,000 main battle tanks in human form running around the timeline. The only reason that things have not gone sideways is due to some very strict codes of honor, where supers only fight supers on the battlefield, except when defending the innocent.
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Old 01-26-2021, 04:26 PM   #5340
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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In Brittany-3With a superhuman population of 1%, the timeline has one of the highest populations of supers known to Homeline, despite having a population of only 500 million. While M-scale superhumans are nonexistent, 10% of superhumans are D-scale and 1% of superhumans are C-scale, meaning that there are the equivalent of 50,000 main battle tanks in human form running around the timeline. The only reason that things have not gone sideways is due to some very strict codes of honor, where supers only fight supers on the battlefield, except when defending the innocent.
You could play this in a number of directions depending on the styles of superpowers that are exhibited. Do the abilities come off more as sorcery? An impossibly strong warrior? A powerful shaman? An all-seeing sage? Are types of powers regional or hereditary? I.e. supers from such-and-such a village were more likely to be able to control fire while nomads from the High Steppes exhibit super speed? Or is who gets what power completely random, in which case every region could be a hodge-podge of abilities.
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