[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

One major reason that Homeline, Centrum, and the Cabal, are all interested in Azoth-8 is the state of Psionics. The science is new but rapidly advancing. There is a great deal of useful data to mine here and little risk of being caught simply because most Psions have little or no skill. The few who have both power and skill, like Marjorie Cameron are generally tact free zones and easily avoided.

The Psionicists of Azoth-8 recognize three basic pools of psi talent. First, Proven, Fully Trainable: this includes Telepathy, ESP, Anti-Psi, and Probability Alteration. However, just because they can teach these powers to anyone with PSI talent doesn't mean they can teach them to use them very well. They are getting better, but it's slow, very slow. Second category, Proven, Semi-Trainable: the term is debatable, but Psychic Vampirism, Astral Projection, Psychokinesis, Physic Healing, and Ergokinesis, are practiced by known Psions. Some claim to be able to teach these powers, but the evidence is iffy. Teleportation is alone in the category, Proven, Untrainable. No Psion is known to be able to teleport at will. Only the Perks Coin Trick, That Extra Inch, and ExoFast draw are available to humans native to this setting. Although Warp has shown up as a case of spontaneous nonrecurring PSI.

There are rumors of Unproved PSI powers, most are said to be examples of other powers combined or at higher power levels. In truth, only Psi Perks, which are becoming common in Spacer, Academic, and similar circles, are all that reliable.

Actual magic spells seem to be unknown here, although most of this parallel is low Manna with areas of higher Manna. Alchemy seems to be the local magic.

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Azoth-8 has a feature that should be mentioned. It's got a lot of spies. Remember that the USSR hasn't hit the limits of authoritarian growth in this world. In Homeline the USSR hit the limits of authoritarian growth in 1960, and experienced no real economic growth until the end of the Soviet period and Russia today has in fact has a smaller economy now than in 1991. But supercheap power generation and other alchemical technologies in Azoth-8 has delayed the limit's effect. Still the West and the Third World are outgrowing the USSR in this setting.

The massive investment in spies is to steal key technologies from the West and to prevent, if possible, the West from benefiting from it's Techno-Alchemical edge. This is more important in Azoth-8 as Alchemical discoveries are far more individual that scientific ones. Secrets can be permanently stolen.

So this setting has a very 1960's superspy edge to it. On the Dan Dare/Captain Kirk front, the Russians and the Chinese replace the Klingons and the Romulans. None of this is one for one, Alchemical Sci Fi is Doctor Who territory, but it is part of the setting chrome.

Originally Posted by Astromancer

A few more notes on Azoth-8.

The present day technologies (Azoth-8's present day) allow a ship to be a sealed system for about 18 months. The absolute limit that a ship can travel from Earth and then return safely is about 27 lyrs. As a practical matter, no one is going much beyond 24lyrs. at this time. As there are fifty-four stars and brown dwarfs within that radius, there's plenty to explore. The next major goal is to plant bases and colonies capable of refitting and maintaining ships to allow further and longer exploration. Epsilon Eridani has bases for several different nations including the USA, the UK, and the USSR. Tau Ceti has both colonies and bases for every nation involved in interstellar exploration. Gilese 832 has America's furthest out base. No base is yet fully ready to do serious ship maintenance, but the day is coming.

The USA moved to electric cars during and right after WWII, largely because the government saw the need for a massive battery industry. The USA has been off Fossil fuels since the late 1940's. Most other societies have followed their example because electricity in Azoth-8 is both prestigious and very cheap. Local conspiracy theorists say that the move was made because some one needed the oil and coal. Who that someone is varies with the conspiracy theorist speaking. Azoth-8 is far less polluted that Earth of 1970 and has vastly less lead in it's environment.

Mars has multiple settlements on it. Rumors of ancient ruins constantly crops up as do rumors of government cover-ups. Terraforming projects are underway. The local Alchemical biotech is normally functions as about TL7+1, the terraforming biotech seems to function at TL7+2. Mars doesn't have a breathable atmosphere but there are small amounts of open water on the surface from time to time.

Carl Sagan is heading a project to explore terraforming Venus. Homeline is watching this project carefully.

The cultural scene on Azoth-8 is very psychedelic/mod. There is no Vietnam war. Civil Rights are progressing somewhat faster than on Homeline. The Sexual revolution, Feminism, and Gay Rights, are also on schedule or somewhat more advanced than on Homeline in 1970. The music scene is every bit as crowded and impressive as it was on Homeline in 1970 and world music sounds are coming in as a major influence very early lead by Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, and a large group of talented musicians which Homeline can show all died in most parallels because of either the Vietnam war or less advanced medicine.

Literature is more popular on Azoth-8. Being well read is socially important in a way that it wasn't in Homeline's 1970. Like the characters in ST: OS, the people of Azoth-8 take literature and history seriously. Most Homeline scholars note that the Enlightenment values that suggested that bringing culture to the people was an important part of Enlightenment still hold on Azoth-8. Intellectuals must still believe that people are better for being part of the culture and that scientific truth has a moral worth. A viewpoint that faded out in Homeline's 1970's.

The Hollywood studio system hasn't fallen apart in Azoth-8 but independent films are thriving. This means that the movie culture of this parallel is wildly impressive with a large group of stars unknown on other parallels. Of special note, Keye Luke is playing Charlie Chan in a series of films that takes the wit, charm, and soft-sell anti-racism of the old Charlie Chan films, and both maintains the high quality of comedy-mystery and adds more progressivism as well as much more fun. Luke dedicated the first film to Warner Oland. Both genre films and high-art films are doing excellent business.

In the USA Asian cooking, particularly Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese, are highly popular. Mexican, Indian, Native American, Eastern European, Caribbean, and Indonesian, restaurants are all catching on as well. French and Italian remain popular.

More later....