New Reality Seeds

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Inky

Interesting, so she was a yandere anyway... I'm missing something here.

There is a definite current in IW that parachronic stuff is somehow closely connected to the people discovering it - divergence points tend to be events significant to the histories of the people discovering the timeline, myth parallels are discovered by people who *know the myth* and thus quickly recognize them, not identified a couple years later as based on some obscure story nobody who had ever been there before had read, the language of the guy who discovered parachronic travel somehow is incredibly common despite good logical reasons it shouldn't be...

This is perhaps more of the same, the parachronic weirdness is somehow connected to the discoverers of parachronics. If you built a conveyer here and tried random settings it might well disproportionately access world lines with bizarre views of love.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Inky

Interesting, so she was a yandere anyway... I'm missing something here.

The experiment she was involved in clearly changed something about Yandere. They triggered a reality quake that was a collision with a reality that echoed her, or they opened a door that let in something supernatural that spread her psychosis, something like that. Note that the mana level changed.

[Prince Charon]

Arneson-3, 1357

Like other worldlines with the Arneson and Gygax designations, this is a 'Dungeon Fantasy' myth parallel. Unlike most of them, though, it is geologically quite similar to Homeline (and historical echoes thereof) of about the same era, with the differences being attributable to different weather and the use of magic.The date has been confirmed by astronomical observations, but also by local records in such places as Greece, Aegyptos, and China. Interestingly, this world appears to have been an historical echo or close parallel of Homeline until Alexander the Great cut the Gordian Knot. There are reports of magic and mythical beings prior to that, but no different nor any more numerous than such reports on Homeline (apart from more records surviving). When that occurred, though, according to all the records that Homeline and Cabal researchers visiting this worldline could find of the cutting of the Gordian Knot, there were 'wondrous signs in the heavens,' and afterwards 'magic flowed more easily and consistently.' Likewise, the appearance of fantasy races and fantastic beasts and plants became more frequent and reliable.

Alexander himself lived rather longer than one Homeline or most other parallels - although he did become ill in the early summer of what we would call 323 BCE (the end of the first year of the 114th Olympiad), a local priest was able to heal him, and was richly rewarded for it, with a new temple built on the spot. The great king and his army returned home, but after a few years and a dispute with the cities of Italia, he gathered his army again, and began conquering westward. By the time he died (in the winter of the first year of the 122nd Olympiad), he ruled much of southern Europe and northern Africa, as well as a large part of Asia. His sons, rather than his generals, tore his empire apart between them. His third (acknowledged) son Phillipos, who ruled from Roma, was soon killed by a group of Roman senators seeking to restore the Republic. In response, vengeful Greek wizards turned the Seven Hills of Roma into volcanoes, destroying the city. The surviving Romans largely became wanderers. Many of them, seeing that feats of arms did Roma no good, sought understanding of magic, alchemy, and other feats of the mind. Thus, Latin still became a common scholarly language in Europe, though not a significant religious one outside of the Roman Diaspora.

In the modern era, there are few kingdoms in Europe (the Kingdom of the Gauls is notable in what we would call southern France, while the Kingdom of the Franks currently holds northern France and Belgium), northern Africa (apart from Aegyptos, which is on their 53rd Dynasty), or the Middle East (the Kingdoms of Israel and Babylon are the biggest ones there, though they have small buffer states between them), no great empires, but a lot of city-states and petty kingdoms. The Viking Age seems to still be going on (though it's more like it goes in and out of fashion). Religion-wise, most peoples in the region are some flavor of polytheist, as neither Christianity nor Islam came into existence (though Judaism and Zoroastrianism are still going concerns).

Technologically, this worldline is fairly typical of Dungeon Fantasy, being mostly TL3^ with TL4^ armour (armour development having been driven by magic rather than firearms, there are some visible differences that Homeline armour experts have made note of, though anyone not an expert would not register them), as well as alchemy, and weird alien psionic biotechnology; however, there also exists examples of 'ancient magical technology,' mostly attributed to Atlantis and 'Hyperborea' in the West, and the civilization of Mu in the East. A few artificers have studied it, gotten it working in some cases, and even fewer have even built new things based on what appear to be the same principles. The economy (as with many DF worldlines) seems to be well-adapted to various types of magic-users and the rather active gods of the setting interfering a lot, but would be unable to function if they stopped.

Oddly for a 'Dungeon Fantasy' parallel, the mages, clerics, and such of this worldline tend to use a relatively-unsubtle form of path/book magic.


Thoughts?

[Micah Davis]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Thoughts?

Kind of wondering what you feel the significance of the history/being on Earth is? And how you'd use it in an Infinite Worlds adventure or a one shot.

[patchwork]

Because its geography lines up with Homeline and all the sane worlds, you can do precision jumping tricks a lot easier (depending on what Quantum you put it in) than most fantasy worlds, making it a safer place to study (and recruit?) those nonhumans.

Dig a pit with a backhoe on an unoccupied/controlled world and use it to jump directly into and out of a dungeon on Arneson, or an Insect People hive. The Swagmen can be a real menace here. Conversely, many major cities are going to be at the same locations, making a risk of blowing the Secret unless jumps are conducted well outside the city. Which they won't be by all parties.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by patchwork

Because its geography lines up with Homeline and all the sane worlds, you can do precision jumping tricks a lot easier (depending on what Quantum you put it in) than most fantasy worlds, making it a safer place to study (and recruit?) those nonhumans.

Dig a pit with a backhoe on an unoccupied/controlled world and use it to jump directly into and out of a dungeon on Arneson, or an Insect People hive. The Swagmen can be a real menace here. Conversely, many major cities are going to be at the same locations, making a risk of blowing the Secret unless jumps are conducted well outside the city. Which they won't be by all parties.

Largely this. I mean, the coordinates are almost certainly going to leak eventually, so the Swagmen will find out. Some might hesitate if they hear the 'rather active gods' part, but others won't, and may even try to make deals with them (e.g. one of the Thief-gods, or a Merchant god if they're separate - the Swagmen may not care if they're messing up someone else's economy, but the gods could care if they need to do extra work without some compensation) to make operating there easier. This is not necessarily a good idea.

EDIT: Something I'm thinking of adding to that post, since I meant to say it and forgot: a side-effect of studying ancient technomagic is that they have an unusually advanced understanding of electricity, up to around TL5. However, even if someone did invent a telegraph, they wouldn't be able to string wires around the countryside, as guarding it would be expensive, and there's no chance it wouldn't get stolen if they didn't. Magical communications are better for this purpose.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

Venice-14

Although this parallel's changepoint has nothing to do with Venice, the Venetian domination of Egypt was the was thing the Homeline explorers noticed. So the name stuck.

In most worlds when Ögedei Khan died at the age of fifty-five his grandson Güyük Khan was recalled from Europe. This prevented the Mongols from trying a full conquest of Europe. However, in this Q6 low mana world, Ögedei Khan lived to be sixty-eight.

Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe were caught by surprise. But refugees from the conquest gave the rest of Europe fair warning. The Mongols really never ran into anything like Western Europe's Knights, nor did they face such a powerful foe with no advantage of surprise. Still, Europe would have been crushed if internal issues among the Mongols hadn't called them back to Central Asia.

The kingdoms of Eastern Europe except for Bohemia were destroyed. Into the vast power vacuum from the Oder to the Urals. Into this vacuum came German townsmen, farmers, and knights. In the scattered and depopulated lands of the Levant and North Africa the Italians, the French, and the Spanish came in and took over. Egypt retained much of its pre-Mongol culture and quietly accepted the Venetians (at least a people of the book) as rulers. And the Venetians gave the Egyptians respect, tolerance, good government, and protection.

It is now three centuries since the Mongols shattered Poland. Spain and Portugal rule the Western Ocean, the Venetians have reconnected the Nile to the bitter lakes and reopened the Roman canal between the bitter lakes and the Red Sea. German townsmen on a peninsula on the Northern shore of the Black Sea seek to have the Silk Road reopened. They need both adventures to explore and map the road and its dangers.

Basically, a Swashbuckler/Arabian Nights crossover heading off to Ming China. You can either travel real Central Asia or follow Ken Hite's idea of India Ultraterrestia and have the PCs travel the lands described by Madeville and the Alexander Romance.

If you prefer to mess around with Homeline, the Cabal, Centrum, and Swagmen, then this parallel's Egypt provides a very different mixture of Swashbucklers and the Arabian Nights. With Venetian intrigue in the ancient cities of Cairo and Alexandria. As this is a low mana world both the Jinn and the esoteric secrets of ancient Egypt could be part of the setting. Swagmen would be hunting for antiquities and in different ways so would the Cabal. The Early Modern Egyptians believed that evil jinn guarded the tombs and secrets of the Ancients. A great way to snare PCs in massive trouble.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

Venice-14

Although this parallel's changepoint has nothing to do with Venice, the Venetian domination of Egypt was the was thing the Homeline explorers noticed. So the name stuck.

If you prefer to mess around with Homeline, the Cabal, Centrum, and Swagmen, then this parallel's Egypt provides a very different mixture of Swashbucklers and the Arabian Nights. With Venetian intrigue in the ancient cities of Cairo and Alexandria. As this is a low mana world both the Jinn and the esoteric secrets of ancient Egypt could be part of the setting. Swagmen would be hunting for antiquities and in different ways so would the Cabal. The Early Modern Egyptians believed that evil jinn guarded the tombs and secrets of the Ancients. A great way to snare PCs in massive trouble.

The parallel is low mana, with rare isolated areas of higher mana, so there is native magic. If you have Phil Master's delightful Alchemical Baroque, just use that magic system.

The Arab lands had a magical tradition that based itself on Mathematics and Astrology. Both skills being needed, but certain astronomical events could strongly aid or inhibit casting. The Cabal would be interested in all three systems known in the Western lands.

For those who tragically didn't buy Mr. Master's PDF, the Alchemical Baroque used Path Magic systems based on the skills of Alchemy(for Academics and Elites) and Herbalism 9anybody else but many rural folk). This world also has Book Magic with most books covering either Making Enchanted Items, Naval/Nautical Magic, Courtly Entertainments, or Espionage.

[Micah Davis]

Godmother-1 (TL4, Q5, Low Mana, 1379) is a fairy-tale myth-parallel, though most of the historical fairy tales wrapped up a generation ago. The warm association of the Queens, as well as their more humble life experiences, has ushered in a golden age for both man and beast in Western Europe - Helped along by White Star and Time Tours, Ltd, of course. Godmother-1 is a sentimental and beautiful world, a major draw to Homeline tourists and not so inundated with fairy godmothers, talking animals, or magical princesses that Homeline is terrified of it. Alice Tenniel, the local head, is a force to be reckoned with, having built Godmother up as one of the pillars of Infinity's cross-time tourism. Unknown to Infinity, Tenniel went native - After a considerable amount of effort, she convinced a fairy to be the godmother for her daughter. Rose Tenniel is old enough to feel that she has "outgrown all this fairy-tale stuff" and that her godmother is thinking about marriage.

If they manage to avoid being roped into the Tenniel Affair, godmother and all, players can still face the fact that Godmother-1 is a fairy tale world. There are regular festivals and tourneys hosted and funded by Time Tours, and tourists of any sort may find themselves being struck by a local's beauty or trapped in a gambling match with a fairy tale creature of some sort. Patrolmen on duty may join in trespassing in the ruins of an evil sorcerer's fallen lair for Sheldrake, seeking out one of the talking beasts that dot the local wilderness, or even rescuing one of the many princesses of the timeline from Swagmen.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Micah Davis

If they manage to avoid being roped into the Tenniel Affair, godmother and all, players can still face the fact that Godmother-1 is a fairy tale world. There are regular festivals and tourneys hosted and funded by Time Tours, and tourists of any sort may find themselves being struck by a local's beauty or trapped in a gambling match with a fairy tale creature of some sort. Patrolmen on duty may join in trespassing in the ruins of an evil sorcerer's fallen lair for Sheldrake, seeking out one of the talking beasts that dot the local wilderness, or even rescuing one of the many princesses of the timeline from Swagmen.

That has me thinking of something: The Swagmen likely vary wildly in what they consider acceptable behavior and acceptable 'trade-goods.' A group of Swagmen who are generally opposed to human trafficking running into a group of Swagmen who are doing human trafficking could make for an interesting plot.