Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Another weird parallel


Logos
230 B.C.
POD
Language-based “people hacking” invented in Classical Greece and further developed in Hellenistic period

Major Powers:
Macedon, Seleucid Kingdom, Ptolemaic Kingdom, etc. Every empire’s ruler is either a philosopher king or else employs (and often falls under the influence of) court philosophers.

Since the old-fashioned magi and soothsayers started studying the Logos-science, religious institutions have grown more potent.
Even some of the (better educated) merchants have begun using it to sell their goods and services.
Hellenization has progressed with greater rapidity and depth than in OTL/Homeline.

The special skill set works like bardic enthrallment skills, with an additional Philosophy requirement.
The ability will work on out-timers, but they get a bonus to resist. It does not translate to other timelines on which bardic abilities would not normally function.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

This is similar to the background that de Camp used for his "Viagens Interplanetarias" stories. GURPS Planet Krishna is in that universe. Most of the book is just Krishna but the first chapter covers the universe background. Might be worth mining for ideas.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

I think I need to add that Arthur returns in 1849 "The Springtime of Nations. Lancelot, the Ill Made Knight is born in Kentucky in 1809. Lincoln of course. Meanwhile Victoria died in childbirth leaving Ernest Augustus king of England (Modred). Sir Turquine was also reborn and teachs at VMI, goes by the name of Jackson. Meanwhile Bishop Balwin was born in Germany in a family of Jewish converts to Protestanism, called Marx.

Freely blending the 19th century will Arthurian lore this world can give lots of fun.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Omen-1

"When the Jews return to Zion
and a comet rips the sky,
and the Holy Roman Empire rises;
then you and I must die.

From the eternal sea he rises,
creating armies on either shore,
turning man against his brother,
'til man exists no more."

He must DIE, Mr. Thorn!

(Although exactly why any Christian would want to STOP Armageddon is beyond me. Isn't it supposed to be the prelude to the Best Thing Ever?)

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

I haven't read those, but I recall that my dad liked them.


I was thinking of something from Piper's Terro-Human Future History.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Lots of good ideas here; I like Logos and Celtic-4 very much.

Between Anima and Wazir, I'm going to go for Wazir; I like both of them, but while Anima has the better background, I think I could only get one adventure or a relatively short story arc out of it...while I could spin a long campaign primarily about Wazir if I was so inclined.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Kewl beans.

I may do another low TL world, something different than Anima.

RE Celtic 4-- Yeah, I think Astro is on to something good with that one. Maybe I'll do something with the Matter of France, since he has done one with the Matter of Britain?

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

WIP: Emir

In this worldline, the Emir Abd al-Kader makes a great fuss over Napoleon III's declaring himself Emperor, and that worthy re-exiles him to the USA, where he will definitely be no further trouble and couldn't possibly be heard from again.

The Emir settles into the social scene of New York and Washington; when the Civil War breaks out, he eagerly offers his services to the Union, but they are declined - Lincoln knows exactly what sort of war the Emir has in mind and is very good at, and it - isn't the war Lincoln has in mind.

Reconstruction is another matter, and he lands Texas, where he serves as an adequate administrator and an excellent evangelist, particularly among the freedmen, where he effectively becomes the chaplain for the 9th and 10th Cavalries. His early successes among freedmen hamper his progress among whites, as Islam is initially seen as a "black religion"...but this doesn't keep him from converting Geronimo and many other Apache. Islam's spread into white America will have to wait for its second great evangelist - Charles Taze Russell.

While still small, the Islamic minority is large enough by 1916 that declaring war on the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph is a dangerous political proposition for many congressmen, so the USA does not participate in the Great War. As the Caliphate crumbles, the last claimants outside of India are offered refuge in the USA, which they accept, although many residents of the former Ottoman Empire and India do not take the American Caliphs seriously.

I'd like to take Emir up to modern times, but the Dark Valley gets all weird, with the USA significantly interested in the Middle East commercially, much less interested in financing reparations from Germany to the other powers, and without the experience of the Great War or the League of Nations, very likely to make early blunders in WWII. Not sure what to do yet with a USA that has a significant Muslim minority.

Variants might include Emir-2, in which al-Kader organizes a large all-black army during the ACW and leads it effectively; and Emir-3, in which a very pro-Islam USA joins the Central Powers during WWI and bites off more than they can chew...

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Try having someone find Joyese, Durendal, and Curtana the sword of mercy. Then spin from there.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Pluvial


Current year 105 A.D.


POD Unknown event sometime before 3900 B.C.

Homeline climatological research teams haven’t yet determined why, but the 5.9 Kiloyear Event was only a minor and short-lived disruption on this timeline. Deserts from Morocco to China occupy much less ground; grassland, wetlands, and forests cover more territory.

Large scale riverine farming civilizations never developed.

Most of the world’s people live as semi-nomadic pastoralists and/or foragers. Agricultural communities remain small.

Pictographic script was developed in Greece around 1000 B.C. and has since diffused by slow degrees to other parts of the world. Its primary functions are magical/religious, as no complex bureaucratic systems exist that would require detailed record keeping. A separate pictograph system developed in China; it also sees use mainly for magical purposes.

Many CFs several of which are clearly related to/descended from Neolithic cultures known of by scholars on Homeline. Others have no clear antecedents.

A common pattern for local societies:

 Representative democracy/patriarchy (the menfolk gather as needed to choose elders/judges and elect a headman/chieftain)
 CR 2
 TL 1
 No Status above 3 (village headman, shepherd patriarch)

Anarchy, Athenian Democracy, and Clan/Tribal also exist. Nothing known above CR 3.
TL 0 is common for small cultures and isolated groups.

Pluvial’s first major power and first world religion developed together in Persia among a pastoral nation. The founding tribe’s myths claimed all human beings shared a common set of parents. Evil spirits broke up the big, happy family by luring some of the sons and daughters far from home and corrupting them. In the last century, the shamans of the tribe promulgated a vision of reunification of all peoples. The horse nomad warriors who now seek to fulfill that vision employ bows, lances, lariats, long-knives, and shields made of bull hides (the wealthiest among them have begun wearing armor made with disks or bars of bronze sewn onto jackets and caps). Anyone may gain membership in the empire by marrying in/being adopted into one of the clans that make it up. Everyone outside the Great Family is either a potential recruit or an enemy.

 Horse Empire/Great Family
 Clan/Tribal
 CR 3
 TL 1
 No status above 4 (King-Father)