Girl Genius' Europa in the Infinite Worlds?

[ProfessorDetective]

I think this whenever a new setting book for GURPS appears: How can/will it fit in the Quantums? And Girl Genious is no exception. (For the record, I haven't read the book, yet. Money's tight.)

Which quantum do we stick Europa in?

How would Homeline/Centrum/The College react to/handle Europa and the Sparks?

Designation? Spark? Europa? Or Europa-2, since that name could also apply to Castle Falkenstein?

Any relations/parallels to Castle Falkenstein?

What's the mana level? Besides 'None', 'cause let's be honest...

How much of an 'oh no..'. is Europa figuring out the Secret?

How does the Spark interact with parachronics?

How do parachronics interact with the Spark?

Do we get meta with it and make Europa a myth parallel, with Homeline's Phil & Kaja freaking out if/when they get the news? Or have they always known?

Am I a lazy bugger outsourcing this to probably more creative folks? Well, yes, if I'm being honest.

[Phantasm]

Whichever Quantum level Homeline is in, I'd stick Europa one step up in numbers from Homeline. This gives Centrum access, but I figure Centrum would be scared stiff by it.

I imagine it'd be a "Farther Parallel", closed to exploitation until someone can figure out just what's going on (and even then, the threat of the Other and even the Wulfenbach Empire and the Sparks might be reason enough not to open it).

I'd call it "Heterodyne", for obvious reasons, but I think Infinity might be more likely to call it "Wulfenbach".

I'd also make it a High Mana level. Let's face it, some of the stuff Sparks do in their sleep is downright scary enough....

There's indications that certain Sparks may have discovered the Secret. This, however, is probably easier to handle with liberal doses of Eraser, tentative recruitment of the less-insane Sparks, and making sure the less stable Sparks blow themselves up by integrating folks in as "harmless" Minions. ISWAT would probably be called in when a Spark manages to open a portal to a world devastated with Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.

For fun, I'd permit Sparky technological goodness to work on other worlds - provided the device is built on that world or one with 'close enough' metaphysics! However, things built on one worldline may not work on others, so Infinity's recruited Sparks may get into the habit of building devices for each worldline visited.

The Spark and Parachronics... hoo, that's a tough one.

From a meta standpoint, I say the Foglios have been in contact with their Europa counterparts. ;)

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I'd also make it a High Mana level. Let's face it, some of the stuff Sparks do in their sleep is downright scary enough....

That may have nothing to do with mana levels and may be a demonstration of Clarketech (another name for superscience).

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by maximara

That may have nothing to do with mana levels and may be a demonstration of Clarketech (another name for superscience).

Magic in infinite worlds doesn't necessarily have anything to do with mana levels: there are several worlds that have magic that isn't really hooked into the mana system. Girl Genius does do a really good job of making you scratch your head about whether its magic or super-science though.


I'd lean towards making it low mana. Most of the time the magic looks like technology rather than standard magic drawing from ambient magical energy (Gil's lightning pointer is something drawling on something else...).

[ProfessorDetective]

Okay, so...

Heterodyne/Wulfenbach; 1880s-1890s

Current Affairs: The Wulfenbach empire continues it's slow conquest of Europa while the recently ignited Agatha Clay/Heterodyne begins making her mark.

Divergence: Uncertain, likely 5000s BCE or earlier.
TL: 5+2 or 6+1
Quantum: Same as Homeline.
Mana: Normal to High.

How's that look? I really need to get the book.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by ProfessorDetective

Quantum: Same as Homeline.

Quantum should be Homeline+1. If Homeline is Q5, Wulfenbach should be Q6. Centrum cannot reach Homeline directly, nor can Homeline reach Centrum.

I can kinda see Centrum supporting the Wulfenbach Empire, but Klaus's disdain for actually uniting seems off. They may support England or one of the Storm King claimants.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by ProfessorDetective

How would Homeline/Centrum/The College react to/handle Europa and the Sparks?

Try to be very, very inconspicuous.

The mere idea of a reasonably powerful Spark getting their hands on time-travel technology would give powerful people on both Homeline and Centrum cold sweats.

Originally Posted by ProfessorDetective

What's the mana level? Besides 'None', 'cause let's be honest...

Functionally, High/Normal, since it's fairly obvious that Sparks = mages and that "sparky" mad science is a form of magic. The plot arc where Agatha summoned up Genghis Heterodyne made this reasonably clear.

Originally Posted by ProfessorDetective

How much of an 'oh no..'. is Europa figuring out the Secret?

Only slightly less than when Reich-5 discovered it. While Sparks are far less organized than the Reich-5 Nazis, their tendency to latch onto weird technology with both hands and use it to carve out an empire has the potential to cause massive chaos. Any Spark who discovered that parallel worlds existed would immediately go to the nearest undefended one, take it over, and use its resources to build an army.

The Leyden jar-lit orichalcum lining to all these potential storm clouds is that Baron Wulfenbach will take as dim a view of such activities as Homeline/Centrum. Tenuous alliances could be formed between House Wulfenbach and the major players, along the lines of "I'll keep my people out of your hair, as long as you respect my world's autonomy."

Originally Posted by ProfessorDetective

How does the Spark interact with parachronics?

Experiments on the first 37 "volunteers" have been inconclusive, but the truth cannot hide from us forever! BWAH-HA-HA!

Originally Posted by ProfessorDetective

How do parachronics interact with the Spark?

Running away is always a good option. Hiding is a good second best. There are already enough weird extradimensional critters running around in Europa that the odd parachronic beastie wouldn't be out of place. Assuming that it has a high tolerance for being put in a private zoo, vivisected, stored in a jar of formaldehyde, taxidermied, and/or subjected to horrifying experiments.

[scc]

Sparks are probably reality warpers of some form, so their powers and gadgets should work in other timelines.

[Michael Cule]

Originally Posted by LeslieSmoro

Kind of trivial, but on page 29, the verb tenses seem mismatched:

"She soon shoved Othar off the airship for reasons that would be obvious to anyone who has to spend time with him."

Would "has had to spend time with him" be better?

No.

Though the first part of the sentence is past tense, in the present (of the GIRL GENIUS universe) the reasons are still active. Othat is still alive and still intensely annoying.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

No.

Though the first part of the sentence is past tense, in the present (of the GIRL GENIUS universe) the reasons are still active. Othat is still alive and still intensely annoying.

Yes, but if the obviousness is in the present the experience it is based on must be in the past. So it’s either “reasons obvious to anyone who has spent time with him” or “reasons that will become obvious to anyone who spends time with him”. And in either case it’s people who spend time with Othar whether they have to or not.

Perhaps it would be best to abandon the complex tenses and write “for obvious reasons”. Or say what the reasons are. Or, if the reasons really are obvious, then it should be possible not to say anything about them. “She soon shoved Othar off the airship.”