New Reality Seeds

[Flyndaran]

After a year of investigating, it appears that at least a dozen otherwise forgettable worlds have strange pockets of cross-time life forms.
At first they were chalked up to one time large scale safe banestorm events. Evidence is mounting though that it was some powerful but not subtle intelligence controlling it.
Some of the pockets have been connected to other worlds that suffered disasters like earth killer asteroids, nuclear events, etc. no more than a few years after their believed movement dates.
But two so far simply had moderate volcanism where the creatures likely would have been at the time of eruptions. Proved, because they were confined to a small archipelago rather than the entire world.
Three had hominids moved or left behind, but being only a minority, it seems that perhaps this intelligence can't distinguish people from any other life.

What could so effortlessly do that? Would you want to know?

(Idea I got when picking up an earthworm from the concrete and moving it to safe soil. What would it be like from the worm's perspective?)

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

There's an alternate for you.

Officially, Kruschev-1 is one of the nuclear holocaust worlds - a Q5 parallel. Sometime in the Cold War, probably local year 1967, things went hot and there were no survivors. The worldline is heavily restricted, and mostly ignored; there's nothing worth exploiting there what with all the fallout. The current local year is 2012.

The truth is considerably worse, at least in Infinity's eyes. The first scouts on Kruschev-1 found the irradiated remains of a projector in Mumbai. Further investigation revealed that Kruschev-1 developed parachronic travel in the early '60s. It spread, quickly, to all the major powers, and the Cold War became a parachronic Cold War. As far as Infinity can tell, Kruschev-1 was only able to discover a dozen or fewer worldlines, and exploited only a couple before one side initiated a cross-time nuclear strike. The resulting war destroyed Kruschev-1 and appears to have wiped out all of its colonies.

Infinity would like to believe that's the end of things, but there a number of nagging questions:

• Were there any survivors? Worse, were there surviving colonies with cross-time capabilities?
• Was the war that destroyed Kruschev-1 actually started by normal tensions, or did another cross-time power engineer it?
• Did Kruschev-1 actually develop parachronics on its own, or did someone leak the Secret? The timing is difficult to work out. The details of Kruschev-1 parachronics tech are still to be worked out from the remaining evidence, but in broad strokes it looks very similar to Homeline's.

Among those who know the secret of Kruschev-1, there are further theories that tend to come to mind.

• First, was Kruschev-1 one of the first worlds Van Zandt discovered? If so, its history and its fate after discovering parachronics are the secret that persuaded the UN to create Infinity Unlimited, in hopes of avoiding the same.
• Second, was Homeline's parachronic technology is not in fact an invention of Van Zandt, but the result of explorers or refugees from Kruschev-1? One of them might have been Van Zandt himself...
• Third, that if the second theory is true, was the nuclear war triggered not by a national power, but by a rogue parachronics engineer who wanted to cover his tracks, prevent pursuit, and set up his own cross-time empire? This particular theory is probably the result of paranoia. Probably.

An alternative, or possible Kruschev-2 - have it on Quantum 6 (or 7), with enough time between the nuclear war & present day for it to have possibly been an early Centrum intervention, pre-contact with Homeline.

[ericthered]

Only on Krushev-1 can you find mostly working parachronic conveyors completely unguarded. The world probably ended with Radiation, not a complete glassing, so some equipment survived.

I find it odd there isn't at least someone buried in a 100 year bunker playing cards with his soon to be inbred family while waiting for the radiation to cool off.

[Gedrin]

I’ve been watching SG-1 lately, and the have the “Alpha Site”, essentially a lifeboat world in the event Earth is lost. It’s the sort of place you might find the remnant of Kruschev-1. I’ve not seen one, but depending on your flavor you could have Lifeboat/Ark/Refuge-X. These are worlds, previously empty of humans, that are very like their home worlds. They’re probably located on the “far side” of the quanta from known enemies, or otherwise difficult to access. In addition to facilities for emergency housing, defense and manufacturing, they have vast knowledge preservation facilities and “tools to buld the tools“

As adventure hooks, these are phenomenal treasure troves. They could be defended or raided. There are scenarios for drills, receiving refugees, or uncovering a previously undescovered problem that might compromise the purpose of the site (disease, hostile fauna, humans...). There might also be a variety of “colony with a purpose” scenarios, Arks that are cut off from fallen civilizations, or finding one that’s gone active.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Inspired by this video and using this map as a referene, I made a (crappy) map of a hypothetical southern USA after a theoretical split between "black" and "white" America.

Spoiler:  

http://i64.tinypic.com/11al3eq.png
"Chattahoochee" is the name of a river. Given how many US states are named after rivers, and how few other ideas I had for that state's name...

I kinda got bored of filling in lines after I did the border states, so...everything to the north and east of the given states is allohistorical, most stuff to the West is unorganized territory which has yet to be stated.

Anyways. How would dividing up the USA like this affect it?
It's...let's say 1866. The Union has finally defeated the Confederacy, with Lincoln being assassinated with a heavily pro-segregationist vice president. Over his first year or so in office, he managed to convince Congress and other key Union politicians that the creation of a semi-separate nation for blacks was necessary to keep the peace.
The South signs a treaty designed by the Union, which had already approved of VP's plan. A band across the southeastern United States was turned into the Negro Confederacy (later renamed the Austratlantic American Confederation; I'll be using this name from here on out, for obvious reasons). This band includes many of the most slave-heavy regions of the south.
Border details:

Spoiler:  

The Confederate states (aside from Texas, who surrendered early in this timeline) all lost at least a little land to the new Confederacy, with South Carolina being entirely annexed by it and northern parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia being combined into the state of Jackson. The borders within the new nation were shuffled a bit, too; three of the states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina) remained mostly the same, though with a few new counties from surrounding areas of the Confederacy. Alabama loses its northern half but gains Florida's panhandle, and the rest of the Confederacy's land is divided between East Virginia, Savannah, and Chattahoochee.

The future AAC had some restrictions built into its Constitution. First, the Confederacy could pass no law restricting free trade and travel between itself and the USA. Second, all parts of the American Constitution were automatically considered part of the AAC's Constitution, unless the AAC specifically passed an amendment which contradicted it. Third, the AAC was required to join any war that the USA was in (and vise versa). Throw in some miscellaneous military and trade provisions, and it isn't hard to see why some criticized the AAC as being more of an American protectorate than a sovereign nation.

What next?
1. An exodus of whites out of the AAC and blacks into it. Duh.
2. The future AAC holds elections. While its population is mostly black, its elected representatives are disproportionately white. Wealth is still extremely helpful in getting elected, after all, and most of those blacks were slaves just years or months prior. The main parties are the Republicans (of course), the States' Party (an offshoot of the Democratic Party which is more appealing to former slaves), and the Negro Party or NP (a radical pro-black party focused on bringing black people a standard of living comparable to the local whites).
3. You know that pseudohistorical claim that the Reconstruction was trying to punish the south? It would have to be at least partly true in this alternate history. Moreover, the South would naturally be royally ****** at having so much of their land "taken and given to blacks" (even though there was no transfer of private ownership until AAC whites started selling their property). Of course, losing half a dozen senators and a whole gaggle of citizens (with the corresponding representatives) meant they weren't going to have much clout in Congress, so this would mostly boil over into grassroots movements and the like, not to mention tensions at the AAC border.
4. Florida would suffer from a serious population issue; its blacks would want to move to Chattahoochee, and some of its whites would likely want to move out of the exclave. This low population would lead to labor shortages, which would in turn lead to an economic downturn and improved working conditions for the working class. This, in turn, would attract people to the state, fueling an economic revival. Combine this with a bit of a shipping rivalry with Savannah (Florida would take its first steps with all the boats it would likely have carrying people who had to go to Florida but didn't want to go through the AAC), and Florida has a decent chance of ending up ahead of the rest of the nation in the long run.
5. The Klu Klux Klan would arise in the US South, as in our timeline, but would have even more power (since more of the South's grievances would be legitimate). Combined with paramilitary groups (like OTL White League and Red Shirts), the South might need to be put under martial law to keep order. This would most likely strengthen the South's anger and resolve. A nervous AAC begins militarizing their border near the most turbulent places, toeing the line of a prohibition against fortifying their borders.
6. Elsewhere in the AAC, internal problems are simmering. The black people of the nation dream of true equality, with the NP thriving on and promoting this dream, but the wealthy elites were mostly white when the nation was formed and they haven't let many blacks into the club. This leads to its own problems, which the Gilded Age only compounds. Moreover, when the US Congress is slow to collaborate on rail lines which would connect the American West to the AAC, many feel that it's just more old white guys trying to keep black men from achieving their potential. This leads to the development of extremely (sometimes violently) radical splinters off the NP and their supporters. That, in turn, leads to reactionary...erm...reactions from the white elite in and near the AAC.

So, we have a late-19th-century America with a smaller semi-independent nation in it, and tensions between the two due to internal tensions within each. Sounds like a good place for adventure, especially if we throw in something fantastical somewhere near the border.

The history of the USA and its place in the world in the 20th century depends heavily on how all those tensions get resolved. The AAC might get re-annexed (with or without going back to the old borders, depending on how many people are still alive who remember them). This would, of course, lead to all sorts of new tensions to be resolved by the next generation, as the sons of pre-War elites try to return to the land their fathers sold cheaply decades prior and the black underclass chafes at their dreams being ground to dust. Perhaps some form of Marxism catches on in the AAC, leading to them and the USA growing further apart. If that doesn't happen and the USA gets comfortable with semi-autonomous protectorates, they might try to turn various lesser neighbors (especially Caribbean islands) into the same, propelling its nascent imperialism beyond the borders of the continental US. Perhaps the USA is too busy with internal problems to help either side in the war, or perhaps its struggles ignite an internal arms race which strengthens them, letting the "American Century" start early. Or perhaps the AAC (possibly with other American protectorates) breaks ties with the US during World War I, bringing war to the New World and shattering one of the greatest advantages letting that century be American.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by GreatWyrmGold

It's...let's say 1866. The Union has finally defeated the Confederacy, with Lincoln being assassinated with a heavily pro-segregationist vice president. Over his first year or so in office, he managed to convince Congress and other key Union politicians that the creation of a semi-separate nation for blacks was necessary to keep the peace.

OK, we've just fought a really nasty war to preserve the Union, so now that we've won we'll split a piece of it off as a semi-independent state, violating the Constitution in the process. The Union veterans are going to really love that. And surely all those new black voters are eager to give up their new US citizenship, the large numbers of them not living in the partitioned counties must especially love this plan.... And hey, lets give up control of the Mississippi (and hence much of the western trade) while we're at it.

This seems designed to guarantee every faction in the nation hates you. Any northern politician stupid enough to propose this is not going to hold office very long, and no way is Congress going to go for it.

[Astromancer]

One of the interesting missed turns in European history involves the team of Pope Sylvester II and Emperor Otto III. Otto's death came at a rotten time for the Holy Roman Empire. Simply the lack of heirs disrupted the HRE. Give Otto thirty more years, he died of a fever at 22 so his living to 52 presents no real issues, and a fertile marriage, and assume he learns more as he goes along, and Europe has a far better 11th century. Sylvester was 57 at his death, which I think was also from fever, cut off a live that could have lasted a decade longer. If nothing else, Sylvester wanted to make arabic numbers required for church documents and records. Have he done that it would have speed up the adoption of Arabic numbers in the West and advanced science more quickly.

So try this idea. A Cabalist who has broken away from MidWinter Aton has teamed up with a doctor from Reich-5. Each is sick of their past associates. Each has an aristocratic Prussian background. They've interfered with a Q4 world's history.

It's 1025AD, Sylvester II has just died. His patronage of philosophy and mathematics has transformed learning. All known works of Plato and Aristotle have been translated into Latin, including some not known on Homeline. Euclid and Archimedes were also fully translated, suspiciously fine translation too.

Otto III has successfully stabilized the HRE and has built fine new roads and canals. His strings of castles provide Germany with defense in depth. Italy and the Slavs are loyal members of Otto's empire. Otto's wife, a well connected French noblewoman, has given him several fine and clever sons. The future looks good for Otto's dynasty.

None of this was as surprising to the Homeline explorers as the fireworks display Otto III had put on for the election of the new Pope, Sylvester III, an Arab convert and a scholar of Greek and Arabic!

Finding out what's going on in the world will be interesting.

Note: the Cabalist has trained the doctor in beginning magic, mainly illusions and empathy/communication spells. The doctor is an army officer and a proud Prussian warrior and a scary good hand to hand combatant and swordsman. The doctor has taught the Cabalist several fighting maneuvers. They'd got several allies mainly skilled warriors and/or mages. The Parallel is mainly Low Mana, but several areas in the city of Rome are higher than that. The Cabalist has found a mana basin in the catacombs near the Vatican and has made magic swords for himself and the doctor.

The tech level hasn't changed...yet! But the spinning wheel, the box bellows, the stern post rudder, compass, mechanical clock, as well as gunpowder, have been introduced. And they are working on printing.

Remember, make these guys look nastier than they are. Each has rejected the Nazis in different forms. They're both tough scary Prussians, but they want to be honorable warriors, they see the Nazis as vile scum. They are working to reduce and head off anti-Semitism. Make sure the PCs totally misunderstand this.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

So try this idea. A Cabalist who has broken away from MidWinter Aton has teamed up with a doctor from Reich-5. Each is sick of their past associates. Each has an aristocratic Prussian background. They've interfered with a Q4 world's history.

Reich-5 hasn't known about parachronics for long enough for a scientist to have interfered over twenty years ago, even with Cabalist help (unless that Cabalist grabbed the Reich-5 scientist before Reich-5 developed parachronics).

And Reich-5 has never ranged off of Quantum 3.


But maybe Otto & Sylvester survived longer all on their own on this world (its natural divergence), which was then found by this Cabalist-Reich team-up, who decided to set up their own version of Friedrich.

This world resembles Friedrich, where the Holy Roman Emperor survived longer & more successfully all on his own (the natural divergence), and only more recently has Reich-5 showed up & taken a liking to it.

[Prince Charon]

(Wondering if these more belong in the Weird Parallels thread. Also, not sure the name is a good one.)

Psion-1 and Psion-2 are pair of very similar worldlines (indeed, the dates and time on each is nearly the same, save that Psion-2 is pi seconds ahead of Psion-1), that appear to have been historical echoes until local 1981, when people on both worlds who were born after the Trinity detonation in 1945 began to develop psi abilities (and various people on each began effective research into psi-tech). Often these were the same people on each world, and generally with similar powers to start with, if not the same ones (though they didn't necessarily activate in the same way). However, the way they deal with them is quite different:

On Psion-1, the vast majority of psis feel a strong compulsion to keep psi a secret from the public, mostly justifying it as a fear of persecution, though others do so out of a desire for power, wanting to become the secret masters of the world. This worldline has a number of conspiracies, both government and corporate, some hunting psis to control or destroy them, and some helping them hide, and/or fight the other conspiracies. There are many rumours of powers and conspiracies on this world, more than on most other parallels in the same era (which is how Infinity knew to send some of their own psis to check), but the public generally doesn't take them too seriously, despite the occasional blatantly weird event.

The psis of Psion-2, in contrast, feel compelled to use their powers in a fairly public manner, specifically acting like comic-book characters (often complete with secret identity). Generally, the ones with stronger criminal tendencies will tend to be compelled to villainy, while the ones with stronger heroic tendencies will feel compelled to heroism. Those without much of either may get one or the other at random, or based on those around them when their power first manifest, or they may have no compulsion at all (especially if their powers are relatively weak for the area, or they have something else that prevents them from being an adventurer). Powers are not a secret on this world, and skeptics are fairly rare, but rumours of conspiracies do still exist - it's just that they cannot simply 'disappear' a well-known super, which makes them less of a direct threat. OTOH, supers do still tend to get themselves killed fairly often, which means that most of the same people are alive, or dead, on each world.

One worry for Infinity is that the existence of Psion-1 has been public knowledge on Psion-2, though not vice-versa, since an inter-dimensional teleportation incident in 1997 (which also strained secrecy on Psion-1). Such 'crossover events' are not frequent, as they are difficult to achieve (though oddly less difficult to reverse), save through the use of astral projection, which does not endanger the secrecy of psi on Psion-1.


Thoughts?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by fchase8

Reich-5 hasn't known about parachronics for long enough for a scientist to have interfered over twenty years ago, even with Cabalist help (unless that Cabalist grabbed the Reich-5 scientist before Reich-5 developed parachronics).

And Reich-5 has never ranged off of Quantum 3.


But maybe Otto & Sylvester survived longer all on their own on this world (its natural divergence), which was then found by this Cabalist-Reich team-up, who decided to set up their own version of Friedrich.

This world resembles Friedrich, where the Holy Roman Emperor survived longer & more successfully all on his own (the natural divergence), and only more recently has Reich-5 showed up & taken a liking to it.

Perhaps the Cabalist recruited the doctor later. Remember, both these guys hate Nazis. Maybe the Cabalist wiped out a Reich-5 team but spared the doctor because he saw something worthy in him.