New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Drifter

But you need the right environment for such system to "take off". There was no need for the printing press in Sumer or in Alexandria since the number of people that could read, or aspired to read, was small. It was needed in 1500s Europe because there was a suddenly a huge demand for books and literacy.

As patchwork mentions, its brilliant solution to a nonexistent problem.

Nobody knows the benefits of a thing until after its introduction. Reading, democracy, farming, cell-phones, all where dismissed before they became somewhat available. Their obvious benefits allowed them to take off only after they were in use.

You might be able to get books in Sumer if you make other changes. Introduce the concept that the layman can intercede with gods, or cast spells or dismiss demons, by reading tablets. This runs smack into the power of the priesthood, so you get the leadership of the culture not especially happy with your average Joe Sumerian learning how to read.

Agreed that the change must fit the period. Introducing bananas/plantains, maize, ect. into early dynastic Egypt would be easy. People like the taste. Silk is harder, you've got to introduce both mulberry cultivation and sericulture, but silk is it's own reward.

Small changes that wouldn't interest the elites, like the moldboard plow, the spinning wheel, or the box bellows, would unleash tidal waves of transformation. But finding out when and where the changes were introduced is a major feat of historical research.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Agreed that the change must fit the period. Introducing bananas/plantains, maize, ect. into early dynastic Egypt would be easy. People like the taste. Silk is harder, you've got to introduce both mulberry cultivation and sericulture, but silk is it's own reward.

Small changes that wouldn't interest the elites, like the moldboard plow, the spinning wheel, or the box bellows, would unleash tidal waves of transformation. But finding out when and where the changes were introduced is a major feat of historical research.

That sounds like a skill: Cliology. Link takes you to a someone's blog where he discusses it. The study of history, allowing for understanding of forces and maybe prediction. Maybe introduced in the novle "In the Country of the Blind". Closely related to Asimov's Psychohistory, which in itself might be another skill.

World changes that you might imagine should have these skills. I don't know who would teach them, or if they are using the skills like a 'natural philosopher' studied the world before "science" became a thing.

An IQ-based skill, Very Hard, prerequisites of Archaeology, or Area Knowledge, or History. Or would it be just an Expert Skill (Cliology)?

[PTTG]

[GURPS is leaking...](http://www.theonion.com/article/para...erdimens-52291)

[(E)]

Originally Posted by PTTG

[GURPS is leaking...](http://www.theonion.com/article/para...erdimens-52291)

How the heck did John Key get there?

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by (E)

How the heck did John Key get there?

The timeline where Lord of the Rings movie money was siphoned off to fund a New Zealand Empire.

Or it was so concentrated it punched a hole into a myth parallel, and he came to hold the One Ring.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Drifter

The timeline where Lord of the Rings movie money was siphoned off to fund a New Zealand Empire.

Or it was so concentrated it punched a hole into a myth parallel, and he came to hold the One Ring.

I actually had a New Zealand empire in one campaign. The rest of the word was devastated in a nuclear war. For some reason no one bothered to nuke the Kiwis. So they took over the ashes and made it work.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

I actually had a New Zealand empire in one campaign. The rest of the word was devastated in a nuclear war. For some reason no one bothered to nuke the Kiwis. So they took over the ashes and made it work.

That's essentially centrum's story, as I understand it.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by ericthered

That's essentially centrum's story, as I understand it.

Not exactly, but very close.

[Drifter]

New Zealand and/or Australia work for a lot of that sort of thing.

A world wide plague, zombies, nukes, anything that could, by very slim chance, be ducked, avoided, blocked or just plain "we forgot to bomb them".

As I recall GURPS Reign of Steel has New Zealand enveloped with nanotech grey goo. So pretty much anything can be happening in there.

[dcarson]

GURPS Planet Krishna is based of L. Sprague de Camp's stories where Brazil ends up as the major power after a nuclear war.