New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[Astromancer]

If the idea of differential longevity between populations isn't interesting try this one. A dirt cheap, safe, totally reliable means to select the sex of your children. Both China and India today have problems caused by having about 80 million more men than women in their combined populations of two billion plus. Picture the chaos if in every nation where there was a strong preference for one sex over the other the preferred sex was dominant to the level of the preference.

Example: In India there was polling in the 1980's that showed a 6 to 1 preference for boys. Picture an India were wishes came brutally true. I've been told by serious anthropologists that the preference for boys is stronger in China.

In the USA, Blue States have a mild preference for girls, something on the order of 1.1 to 1. Red states have more like a five to four preference for boys. Could you see the stress within the USA from this. The preference differences between Southern and Northern Italy are supposed to be greater, or so I've been told. I do know that many Northern Italians want to dump Southern Italy. Picture a serious woman shortage dropped into the mix.

Even minor changes in the human sex ratio would radically disrupt society.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

If the idea of differential longevity between populations isn't interesting try this one. A dirt cheap, safe, totally reliable means to select the sex of your children. Both China and India today have problems caused by having about 80 million more men than women in their combined populations of two billion plus. Picture the chaos if in every nation where there was a strong preference for one sex over the other the preferred sex was dominant to the level of the preference.

Example: In India there was polling in the 1980's that showed a 6 to 1 preference for boys. Picture an India were wishes came brutally true. I've been told by serious anthropologists that the preference for boys is stronger in China.

In the USA, Blue States have a mild preference for girls, something on the order of 1.1 to 1. Red states have more like a five to four preference for boys. Could you see the stress within the USA from this. The preference differences between Southern and Northern Italy are supposed to be greater, or so I've been told. I do know that many Norther Italians want to dump Southern Italy. Picture a serious woman shortage dropped into the mix.

Even minor changes in the human sex ratio would radically disrupt society.

I left out vital info and put it in where it belongs. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

I've been told by serious anthropologists that the preference for boys is stronger in China.

Probably true, but given that China is a dictatorship, and already sensitive to sex selective abortions (see here), it's all too easy to see them quashing it quickly.

[ronwit]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

What strikes me is how unimportant the reason why they're angry is. They could be having the same wars and riots over the distribution of money. The science fictional element doesn't make a difference to the campaign.

Perhaps the reason for their anger is an unforeseen side-effect of the drug. If it was not known before that there would be differences and it was discovered that some of those who received the least benefit became prone to irrational rages, some people would feel betrayed.

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

An anti-aging drug that is provably effective is created. Problem, its effectiveness varies according to specific genetic traits. If your have trait A, then you gain at most twenty extra years of healthy vigor. If you have trait B, after brain maturity your aging rate halves. If you had brain maturity at 23, then you'll look like 43 at the age of 63, and like 53 at the age of 83. If you have trait C, it works like trait B except your aging rate is one tenth normal after brain maturity.

All known human beings have one of these three traits. However these traits aren't even distributed either in the global population or between racial groups. There are many societies across the globe were hearing that group X will now enjoy youth for centuries, and your group will get a prolonged and healthy old age but you won't break any longevity records, could cause riots. Depending on which groups got the biggest benefits you could have anything from race riots to religious wars.

My first thought is when is this suspected, and when is definitely known?

It will take 25 + years to find out how things work out in practice for trait A, for trait B somewhere between a few decades and 120 years, for trait C probably at least 100 years, with certainty taking 1000 years.

Before then there may be speculations and predictions, but not certainty as to how things will work out.

So any social and political consequences will be things evolving over decades, not a few years.

And of course there will be ongoing research as to why these differences occur, and how they can be counteracted or mitigated.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

The Free City of New Bristol

This is a post-apocalyptic setting.

There was a series of events in the 21st century called the "Plague Wars." That was something like twenty-five centuries ago, or so some of the priests say. Others say it was closer.

The seas are higher than they were back then, but snow is a commonplace winter event in southern England in winter. The priests say that this means God has forgiven us for burning to much coal and travelling to the moon. Priests agree that God doesn't like technology (whatever that is) and too much reading. Whether God wants us to follow the Bible, the Koran, or the Vedas, or maybe all three or none, they don't agree on.

Some years ago, in the valley of Severn river, foreigners from "America" set up a base. The local Kings granted them a trade concession. The priests didn't like it but they aren't unified enough to say no.

The base became a city. The Americans called it The Free City of New Bristol. They've got a lot of technology around there. The priests hate it. but it sounds better to me all the time.

The setting is largely a riff off of After London, an early post-apocalyptic novel, and English Chapbook narratives about early post Roman England. Assume lots of little kings and petty wars. There are plenty of priests, some follow a version of the Bible, some use the Koran, others the Vedas, some blend these or use something else. There are respected religious centers but no religious authorities, although there are signs that may change.

The setting is TL2 in most things with a few anomalous left overs of higher technologies from the past.

The Free City, which calls itself that to establish its independence from the local authorities, is a different matter. It has established trade in the valley of the Severn. Farmers and others gladly trade their harvests and other goods for what the city merchants bring. In most of the valley of the Severn the tech level has gone up to three and is likely to go higher soon.

In the area claimed by the Free City the city runs an Trolley Network. The villagers live at TL5 with some TL6 goods and services availible. Walking from a village just outside of the Severn Valley to a village on the Trolley system is like time travelling from the days of King Alfred to the days of Queen Victoria. (For a real world analysis of this kind of change read Eugen Weber's book Peasants into Frenchmen)

The Free City itself, especially the Merchant and government quarters, has a higher technology. Although the trade in the area began in sail ships, vast airships now regularly visit the city.

Although many local kings want to conquer New Bristol, the Free City is well defended. The City troops have guns, both rifles and light durable machine guns. Both the cavalry and infantry are well trained, well paid, well treated, and loyal. Few kings can say any of these things this of any of their troops. The Cavalry are mounted on strange horses said to be "genetically engineered." They are larger, faster, stronger, and far more enduring than any local horses. All of the Free City's troops wear a woven armor that is both lighter and far more effective than even the best plate armor available to the local kings. Also the Free City's troops are skilled with swords, spears, knives, bows, and shields, and are provided with excellent equipment of all sorts.

It's small wonder so many poor folk go to seek the fortune in the Free City or ask to have their lands brought under the Free City's authority.

To Boil it down. You have a fairly standard high-tech city in a primitive post-apocalyptic wasteland scenario modified both by the politics being more realistic and the Chapbook Medievalism of the local setting. PCs can be American Agent/Scouts exploring Wales, Cornwall, England, maybe even France. Locals hired as troops would be a good idea too. Just think of Golden Age Sci Fi stories with a young person from a rural/primitive background moving out to explore the world and make their fortune. Local nobles trying to compete or otherwise deal with the Free City would also make a good campaign. Villagers trying to get the Free City to conquer them and bring prosperity and modern medicine in their wake would also be a good campaign.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

To Boil it down. You have a fairly standard high-tech city in a primitive post-apocalyptic wasteland scenario modified both by the politics being more realistic and the Chapbook Medievalism of the local setting.

Okay, I LIKE this! This sings to me!

(To be honest, you had me at the trolley network - I'm a big fan of Michael Moorcock.)

I especially like the idea of primitive locals trying to pull a Grand Fenwick on New Bristol. ("Hi, I'm the Army of the Ford? I'm here to, like, declare war? Oh look at that, your great champion Meter Maid has defeated me in battle. Guess you conquered the Ford. Now how about that post-war reconstruction moolah?")

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The Free City of New Bristol

This is a post-apocalyptic setting.

There was a series of events in the 21st century called the "Plague Wars." That was something like twenty-five centuries ago, or so some of the priests say. Others say it was closer.

The seas are higher than they were back then, but snow is a commonplace winter event in southern England in winter. The priests say that this means God has forgiven us for burning to much coal and travelling to the moon. Priests agree that God doesn't like technology (whatever that is) and too much reading. Whether God wants us to follow the Bible, the Koran, or the Vedas, or maybe all three or none, they don't agree on.

Some years ago, in the valley of Severn river, foreigners from "America" set up a base. The local Kings granted them a trade concession. The priests didn't like it but they aren't unified enough to say no.

The base became a city. The Americans called it The Free City of New Bristol. They've got a lot of technology around there. The priests hate it. but it sounds better to me all the time.

Just a few details to make the setting clearer and hopefully more fun. (Thanks for the kind words Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2.)

First, the elites of this England try to sell it as Merry England, the population experience it more like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. My reference to Chapbook narratives is meant to give a more balanced view and it is closer to how the PCs would experience the setting. Two other useful texts for the general setting would be The Last Unicorn particularly the way that people seem to be cynical and a little blase about their world. Also, there's a feeling of people seeming to live at different tech levels. Mamma Fortunata's customers and the Prince and Princess that sing for the Unicorn without knowing it, all seem to be 19th century people. The bandits know about Child's Ballads. While other people are clearly living in the Middle ages.

Another text that fits the setting is the hilarious Cold Comfort Farm (do watch the Movie it is a gem). What you need to take away from both this book and film is how the PCs and locals should interact. The locals are the Starkadders (though not normally the most deluded ones) the the PCs should aspire to act like Miss Flora Poste.

One of the things that the Free City has done it distribute very cheaply large numbers of durable, rechargeable, transistor radios. Some recharge through solar cells, some use a crank, all of them are nice and loud. Many people have the radio on all day listening to music, news, weather reports, dramas, etc, the local Churches and Kings are furious, and can't do a thing about it. The radios are a form of memetic warfare subtly overturning generations of received thought with devastating speed. Just as in our own history.

Several campaigns come out of this.

First, the PCs could be the garrison manning and protecting a relay station that rebroadcasts radios signals deep into Wales or Northern England. Who knows who might show up to try to gain radio silence.

Second, read To The Chapel Perilous. It's a lively little fantasy dealing with the News media's reaction to the Quest for the Holy Grail, the local news media of King Arthur's day. Being a reporter in this Britain would be much the same only more violent and with far less useful expense accounts.

Some more setting details. There are similar Free Cities in Scotland, Ireland, France, and Spain. Once a nasty nest of Pirates was cleared out of Penzance (an oddly musical group) Cornwall almost to the Tamar has fallen into the Free City of New Bristol's control. This is leading to major projects in building Trolley lines, clearing out wreakers, smugglers, and pirates (generally three jobs held by the same groups) and similar tasks.

The Ancient Plagues that knocked down civilization had mutagenic effects. For generations the majority of children were born brutally deformed in mind and body. Most of the mutations died out but some groups of mutants live. Generally communities of mutants are "Goblintowns." If you have a copy of GURPS: Goblins use the Goblin generation system to make the locals of a goblintown.

These mutants give the setting it's Giants, Ogres, Witches, Goblins, and Fay. These are all mutants, most will be far less powerful and dangerous than their mythic counterparts, but they might well be very cunning in order to survive.

More details later.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

The Free City of New Bristol

This is a post-apocalyptic setting.

There was a series of events in the 21st century called the "Plague Wars." That was something like twenty-five centuries ago, or so some of the priests say. Others say it was closer.

The seas are higher than they were back then, but snow is a commonplace winter event in southern England in winter. The priests say that this means God has forgiven us for burning to much coal and travelling to the moon. Priests agree that God doesn't like technology (whatever that is) and too much reading. Whether God wants us to follow the Bible, the Koran, or the Vedas, or maybe all three or none, they don't agree on.

Some years ago, in the valley of Severn river, foreigners from "America" set up a base. The local Kings granted them a trade concession. The priests didn't like it but they aren't unified enough to say no.

The base became a city. The Americans called it The Free City of New Bristol. They've got a lot of technology around there. The priests hate it. but it sounds better to me all the time.

Some notes on the world beyond Southwestern England. As in one of the key source texts ( After London ) London is a hyper-toxic waste land. Whatever happened to London is still deadly and foul smelling. Except for Edinburgh, which like New Bristol is a free city, most of the rest of Britain is little more than a series of petty kingdoms and the occasional theocracy. Ireland is much the same except for Limerick which is also a Free City and Armagh which is the site of the recently declared Primate of Ireland. The Irish Primate is slowly beginning to create a unified church. Or at least a church unified in the same sense as a Corporate lobby presents a unified front. The main point of the recent synods has been uniting the church in order to order the kings about.

Most of Europe North of the Mediterranean basin is little different from Britain. Southern France has a kingdom that covers most of what is generally known as Provence in the traditional sense, that is to say Southeastern France. The kingdom has just been through several civil wars and may get a breathing spell. If this kingdom holds together it could become the seed of a new French state.

Much of the Southern Mediterranean, southern Spain, Italy, Greece, Anatolia, and the Levant, claim to be part of the Caliphate. But the so called "caliphate" has little or no real substance.

America is a large federation of of communities spread throughout North America and the Caribbean basin. It's people are recovering from the same disaster as the rest of the world. A few bases deep underground survived the Plague Wars (these were meant to simulate populations isolated from Earth during an interstellar voyage in a generation starship).

Recently, humans living in off planet colonies have made contact with the Americans. This has led to a leap in technology and a new drive to reform into a democratic republic. Cities like The Free City of New Bristol are an attempt to reach out and spread this new energy and hope to other lands.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

The Free City of New Bristol

This is a post-apocalyptic setting.

There was a series of events in the 21st century called the "Plague Wars." That was something like twenty-five centuries ago, or so some of the priests say. Others say it was closer.

The seas are higher than they were back then, but snow is a commonplace winter event in southern England in winter. The priests say that this means God has forgiven us for burning to much coal and travelling to the moon. Priests agree that God doesn't like technology (whatever that is) and too much reading. Whether God wants us to follow the Bible, the Koran, or the Vedas, or maybe all three or none, they don't agree on.

Some years ago, in the valley of Severn river, foreigners from "America" set up a base. The local Kings granted them a trade concession. The priests didn't like it but they aren't unified enough to say no.

The base became a city. The Americans called it The Free City of New Bristol. They've got a lot of technology around there. The priests hate it. but it sounds better to me all the time.

Some final notes (that is final if there are no questions).

Two more good source books for this setting are Farmer Giles of Ham and The White Deer. From the Tolkien book the small kingdoms and petty kings should be a takeaway. Also the fact that the local small kings try to seem far more powerful and dominant than they are. Also take note of the anomalous technology (a gunpowder weapon before the Norman Conquest). The Thurber book's best takeaways (other than how Thurber can gobsmack you with unexpected beauty and depth) is the sense of these being modern or post-modern people in what only looks like a medieval world. Also the sense of living in a world of varying tech levels,

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There are two sorts of genetically engineered horses in the stables of the Free City. Although the Free City has access to helicopters and motorized land vehicles, horses and wagons are both more discrete and practical in this setting.

The warhorses have been mentioned. These horses are larger than Clydesdales, faster than cheetahs, and amazingly strong and tough. Their senses are superb and they're incredibly agile and intelligent. They eat about three times as much as a normal horse their size and they need a much higher portion of protein in their diets. There are also much smaller general purpose horses as well. These horses are also stronger than normal horses but only about the same size as the average modern riding horse. These general purpose horses are as agile as mountain goats (they've been known to climb trees to get at fruit) and their endurance puts wolves to shame. These general purpose horses have mouths and teeth as tough or tougher than those of goats and their digestive systems have been designed to all them to digest almost any known plant matter. These horses have been known to relish eating Poison Ivy and Gorse with no ill effects!

Both of these types of horses are highly intelligent, even though they are mute, and tend toward strong personalities and firm opinions, especially about humans. For the Warhorses watch Maximus. The Warhorses are Drill Sergeants and the PCs are in need of remedial instruction. The General Purpose Horses are more indulgent, but they all tend to see most PCs as wayward children in need of a firm hand.

Note: Both types of genetically engineered horses are hermaphrodites. If given a certain protein in their diet they go into heat as mares. Once another horse of the same type smells the scent of their heat, they go into must as a stallion. This was done to control the breeding of these animals and keep them from either breeding or being bred without the permission of their controllers. However, there seem to be a fair number of wild plants in Britain that have the trigger protein. Play this for laughs and or have it deprive the PCs of their mounts at the worst times.

**************

The Free City has a series of small fusion plants and has built a couple of larger ones to supply larger areas. Soon they plan to take the Severn Valley and Cornwall and make then into TL8 societies and eventually the first parts of a democratic republic of Britain. Once this starts happening many local Kings and Priests will see the writing on the wall and will start to fight. Others will give up. Diplomats would make great PCs in this setting.

*********************

Most of the cargoes of this world go by Sail Ships. These are high Tech Level ships of great efficiency. Airships handle high speed transit. Both types of vessel are available to the Free City.

The Free city is in regular contact with inhabited orbitals especially the large satellite in geosynchronous orbit over the equator at the old Prime Meridian.

**********************************

Psionics exist in this setting. PCs should only be allowed to buy a level of Psi Talent and Psi Power Perks. It's okay for a PC to have enough PK to lift a coin or to know which cards the other player has. But anything more than that is totally a GM call. Even the more powerful local "Witches" rarely have all that much Psi Power.

The local witches are however highly likely to be able to use fairly weak powers in very sneaky ways. They probably also know the local mutated herbs and are probably practiced con artists and social engineers. Moral: Don't mess with witches unless you have no other choices. And then don't do it anyway.

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Please ask for more details or clarifications. Some parts of this setting were left vague so that you could more easily fit it to your campaigns.