Limited Infinite Worlds Campaign

[daryen]

To get to your what would happen issue ...

Assuming that travel is affordable and open to all (or at least close enough), I would assume ...

- The weird world will only be invaded by true adventurers.

If you have a "tame" world and a "wild" world to chose between, 90% of those willing to colonize will take the "tame" world. (Especially since the "tame" world won't be all that tame, anyway.)

- The biggest danger isn't on either world.

However, I wouldn't worry about either group of colonizers. What I would worry about are the idiots who will think (and I guarantee there will be enough of them) it is cool to take dinosaurs, lizard men, neanderthals, and whatever else from the weird world back to ours. For instance, that car insurance commercial will be shot with real neanderthals, not actors in makeup.

The really bad part is that it won't be one group of idiots, but rather hundreds or thousands of different groups and individuals, all with their own hopes, goals, and agendas. I promise you, at some point there will be a Tyranosaurus running rampant in NYC. Some demented idiot will make sure of it.

- Colonists will predominately be idiological.

Like when the new world was colonized, a vast portion (if not the majority) of the colonists will be driven by idiology. Whether they are Ludites, survivalists, religious adherants, or whatever, you will see reasonable sized groups of like minded individuals trying to set up colonies on various parts of the tame world. These efforts will be independent of, and possibly opposed to, any commercial endeavors.

- China will be a massive player.

China will move into the tame world in unimaginable numbers. Vast parts of their population live agrarian, isolated lives using incredibly primitive technology. They can do that on this world, or the tame world. Why not ship them out? I can easily see China shipping out entire villages at a time to populate the new world.

This goes for India, too.

- Colonies don't have to be primitive.

While most colonies will be set up in a primitive fashion (since you can only take so much with you), I would expect some insanely wealthy individual (Gates? Ellison?) to attempt to set up a technologically advanced colony. By "advanced" I mean in comparison to the other colonies; it would just use modern technology.

Such an effort will, of necessity, be rather authoritarian (probably oligarchic), but if successful, would have the potential to be immensely powerful. Imagine establishing a technologically modern, industrial city where San Francisco is today. It is a highly defensible position (against any low-tech rivals), yet extremely accessible for the import of raw material and export of goods.

Just some thoughts ...

[daryen]

One more thought ...

If the population of the weird world was manipulated by outside forces, then it will be obvious to anyone researching that world. Anyone with the technology to manipulate an entire world like that has (or had) technology far, far more advanced than ours.

The result of this is that there will be heavily armed and funded scavenger teams desperately searching the weird world for leftover technology, and doing everything to prevent other teams from doing so. Even if there is none, they won't know that, and can't afford to make that assumption. If someone else were to find it first, ...

As a result, the weird world could devolve into a massive, bloody warzone. There would also be the everpresent danger that the war would spill back into our world. (The best way to prevent enemy teams from appearing in the weird world is to stop the ability of the enemy to send them.)

Again, I can't stress how desperate this war will quickly become. With such ridiculous payoffs for success, and such devastating penalties for failure, any means will be justified. And if a team does succeed, the reaction from the losers could be apocaliptic.

Heck, it could be so bad that colonization on the tame world dramatically increases. Better be off our planet by the time someone wins ...

[Tom Kalbfus]

The US will get first crack at the New World though since one of their inventors invented the parachronic projector in 1995. Much of the time between then and now was spent perfecting it, reducing the operating costs, and sending out a few explorers and establishing a rudimentary base there. Around 2006 an inflection point is reached, the cost is brought down far enough so that average people can now afford to travel their for the comparative cost of an airline ticket, just as it makes no sense to fly in crude oil by airplane, it makes no sense to extract oil from Ice Age and bring it to homeline, oil from our Persian Gulf is still cheaper, but investors have reason to believe that the cost of operating the projectors might be brought down even further, and Exxon/Mobile and Texico are interested in setting up operations on the Arabian pennisula of Ice Age. Other countries are catching up with the US in parachronic technology, but the projectors are expensive and take time to build. Other countries in Europe and Japan have projectors too, the the American/Canadian ones are right now cheapest to operate. US and Canada have claimed territories in ice age whose borders are roughly analogous to Homelines and American Law apply's to Ice Age's North America. Exxon/Mobile and Texaco have moved into Arabia however and have set up drilling operations their, and as of yet their are no arabs in sufficient numbers there to stop them. The United States does not claim Ice Age Arabia, but its not stopping its corporations from operating there either, as far as the US is concerned its unclaimed land.

The Land of Banded Night has no Homeline analog terrain, so claiming territory there is not as clear cut. Banded night has one super continent and one huge ocean, (called the Great Ocean by homeline,) dotted with a number of island atolls. It just so happens that North America coincide with this super contents. Parts of Europe coincide with the coast of this continent, (France and England). Further East, parachronic projectors drop their conveyors into the Great Ocean that occupies the rest of Banded Night. A few countries such as Russia and China have some island chains in the Great Ocean, but that's about it. the US has not claimed most of Dinogeia, just an area 100 miles radius around the arrival zone of their projectors. There is a village of colonists where the conveyors arrive surrounded by a very high fence with a gate and guarded by armed security patrols. The colonists need to frequently replace their equipment, but they have managed to reproduce their modern way of life in this location. A few roads lead out to the more interesting areas, their are a few farms and research stations here, and a place to equip adventurers who want to go dino-hunting, but this place is not for the feint of heart, it is very dangerous to travel too far from this settlement. There have been some expeditions tot he ruins of the Lost ones. Some rudimentary trade relations have been established with the Nation of Tarn, only the most skilled of diplomats are sent there however as those people are extremely superstitious, and its easy to offend them with the wrong gesture, but the US does have an embassy, and the leader of Tarn was invited to send his representative to the UN, but relations are only in their initial stages at the present. the language barrier is a serious obstacle here, and diplomats are sill in the process of learning it and their pictographic written language.

[Tom Kalbfus]

Originally Posted by daryen

One more thought ...

If the population of the weird world was manipulated by outside forces, then it will be obvious to anyone researching that world. Anyone with the technology to manipulate an entire world like that has (or had) technology far, far more advanced than ours.

The result of this is that there will be heavily armed and funded scavenger teams desperately searching the weird world for leftover technology, and doing everything to prevent other teams from doing so. Even if there is none, they won't know that, and can't afford to make that assumption. If someone else were to find it first, ...

As a result, the weird world could devolve into a massive, bloody warzone. There would also be the everpresent danger that the war would spill back into our world. (The best way to prevent enemy teams from appearing in the weird world is to stop the ability of the enemy to send them.)

Again, I can't stress how desperate this war will quickly become. With such ridiculous payoffs for success, and such devastating penalties for failure, any means will be justified. And if a team does succeed, the reaction from the losers could be apocaliptic.

Heck, it could be so bad that colonization on the tame world dramatically increases. Better be off our planet by the time someone wins ...

The state of Lost Ones technology is beyond the abilities of modern science to analyze. Analyzing something involves taking something apart and when you take something apart you risk not being able to put it together again and thus destroying the artifact. There are not many of these working artifacts for people of homeline to analyze. Most of them weren't designed to be weapons, those that are are only a weapon on the tactical scale, such as a laser pistol, or laser rifle. An individual character can use them, but they aren't so powerful that a determined force of armed TL8 characters couldn't eventually bring him down. There are just not enough of these individual weapons to equip and army with, and attempts to analyze them or take them apart usually result with the item's destruction and nothing learned, and that's the key. Unless Earth's powers can learn to build some more of these weapons from the few examples that already exist, it does them no military good. Some items like gates to otherworlds are best left untampered with, they are not many of these gates, taking them apart would likely destroy them, but if left alone, they are quire reliable if someone learns how to operate them. Nothing here would give a nation an overwhelming advantage over another unless it learns its operating principles, and hit or miss analys and disassembly destroys items leaving fewer of them to analyze. The choice is: Do you want that laser pistol, or do you want to try and find out how it works? If you try and fail, you no longer have an operable laser pistol with which you can fight your enemies, if you succeed, you now know how to build more of those and you can equip an army with them, but the chances are more heavily weighted toward failure than success.

I believe the modern nations know what is at stake, any knowledge gained from the lost ones technology would be gained slowly, and they have spies to learn what knowledge has been incrementally gained. The Lost Ones weren't war-like, they didn't disappear due to some great final war they fought among themselves. The technology left behind doesn't seem to be designed to specifically be weapons, they may have defense mechanisms, but none of those things seem designed to destroy cities. Adjusting them from their intended purpose require understanding how the technology works and that come slowly as the technology was not designed to be taked apart or to be analyzed easily, it may use some kind of nanotechnology to maintain itself, and is why it is operable for so long, by know that and knowing how it works and how to produce more or terrible weapons are two different things.

I think the Lost Ones may have anticipated that their technology may be tampered with, and designed countermeasures and defense mechanisms. These Pylons were obviously designed to sit their and function for a very long time.

[Tom Kalbfus]

Here is a Tribal Warrior from Ice Age or the World of Banded Night, I made him especially tough at 150 points, because against firearms, he'll need every chance he can get.

Tribal Warrior: Point Total 150; ST 14 [40], DX 14 [80], IQ 10 [0], HT 13 [30],
HP 16 [4], Will 11 [5], Per 12 [10], FP 14 [3];
Basic Lift 39 lbs. Damage Thr 1d, Sw 2d; Basic Speed 6.75 [0], Basic Move 6 [0].
Encumbrance _____________ Move ______ Dodge
None (0) = BL 39 lbs. ______ BM x 1.0 _ 6_ Dodge 9
Light (1) = 2 x BL 78 lbs. ____BM x 0.8 _ 4_ Dodge - 1_ 8
Medium (2) = 3 x BL 117 lbs._ BM x 0.6 _ 3_ Dodge - 2_ 7
Heavy (3) = 6 x BL 234 lbs._ BM x 0.4 _ 2_ Dodge - 3_ 6
X-Heavy (4) = 10 x BL 390 lbs._ BM x 0.2_ 1_ Dodge -4_ 5
Advantages and Perks
Catfall [10]
Fit [5]
Rapid Healing [5]
Disadvantages and Quirks
Bad Temper (12 or less) [-10]
Berserk (12 or less) [-10]
Bloodlust (12 or less) [-10]
Sense of Duty (small Group [-5]
Distractable [-1]
Languages Tribe - Spoken only
DR
Hd 0
Bdy 0
Arm 0
Leg 0
Hnd 0
Ft 0
TL: 0
Parry 10 (Brawling); Block 0;
Reaction modifiers
Status: +0
Other: +0
Conditional: +2 from Sense of Duty when "In dangerous situations if sense of duty is known.
Skills
Name ________________________ Level _______ Relative Level [Points]
Area Knowledge (Hunting grounds) __ 10 ________ IQ+0 [1]
Bow ___________________________ 13 ________ DX-1 [1]
Brawling ________________________ 14 ________ DX+0 [1]
Climbing ________________________ 13 ________ DX-1 [1]
Fast-Draw (Knife) ________________ 14 ________ DX+0 [1]
Knife __________________________ 14 ________ DX+0 [1]
Spear __________________________ 13 _______ DX-1 [1]
Tracking ________________________ 11 _______ Per-1 [1]
Two-handed Axe/Mace ____________ 13 _______ DX-1 [1]
Equipment
Hand Weapons
1 Hatchet Dmg 2d cut, reach 1, Notes [1], Cost $40, Weight 2 lbs.
Ranged Weapons
1 Hatchet Dmg 2d cut Acc 1 range 21/35 RoF St 8 Bulk -2, LC 4
1 Longbow Dmg 1d+2 imp Acc 3 Range 210.280 RoF 1 Shots 1(20) ST 11, Bulk -8, LC 4 Notes [3], Cost $200, Weight 3 lbs.
Armor and Possessions
20 Arrows cost $40, weight 2 lbs.

Jungle Princess: Point Total 150; ST 10 [0], DX 14 [80], IQ 10 [0], HT 13 [30],
HP 12 [4], Will 11 [5], Per 12 [10], FP 14 [3];
Basic Lift 20 lbs. Damage Thr 1d-2, Sw 1d; Basic Speed 6.75 [0], Basic Move 6 [0].
Encumbrance _____________ Move ______ Dodge
None (0) = BL 20 lbs. ______ BM x 1.0 _ 6_ Dodge 9
Light (1) = 2 x BL 40 lbs. ____BM x 0.8 _ 4_ Dodge - 1_ 8
Medium (2) = 3 x BL 60 lbs._ BM x 0.6 _ 3_ Dodge - 2_ 7
Heavy (3) = 6 x BL 120 lbs._ BM x 0.4 _ 2_ Dodge - 3_ 6
X-Heavy (4) = 10 x BL 200 lbs._ BM x 0.2_ 1_ Dodge -4_ 5
Advantages and Perks
Appearance (Very Beautiful) [16]
Catfall [10]
Charisma 2 [10]
Fit [5]
Rapid Healing [5]
Disadvantages and Quirks
Berserk (12 or less) [-10]
Bloodlust (12 or less) [-10]
Sense of Duty (small Group [-5]
Languages Tribe - Spoken only
DR
Hd 0
Bdy 0
Arm 0
Leg 0
Hnd 0
Ft 0
TL: 0
Parry 10 (Brawling); Block 0;
Reaction modifiers
Appearance: +2/+6
Unappealing includes: +2 from Appearance
Appealing Includes: +6 from Appearance
Status: +0
Other: +2; Includes: +2 from 'Charisma'
Conditional: +2 from Sense of Duty when "In dangerous situations if sense of duty is known.
Skills
Name ________________________ Level _______ Relative Level [Points]
Area Knowledge (Hunting grounds) __ 10 ________ IQ+0 [1]
Bow ___________________________ 13 ________ DX-1 [1]
Brawling ________________________ 14 ________ DX+0 [1]
Climbing ________________________ 13 ________ DX-1 [1]
Fast-Draw (Knife) ________________ 14 ________ DX+0 [1]
Knife __________________________ 14 ________ DX+0 [1]
Spear __________________________ 13 _______ DX-1 [1]
Tracking ________________________ 11 _______ Per-1 [1]
Two-handed Axe/Mace ____________ 13 _______ DX-1 [1]
Equipment
Hand Weapons
1 Hatchet Dmg 1d cut, reach 1, Notes [1], Cost $40, Weight 2 lbs.
Ranged Weapons
1 Hatchet Dmg 1d cut Acc 1 range 15/25 RoF St 8 Bulk -2, LC 4
1 Longbow Dmg 1d imp Acc 3 Range 150/200 RoF 1 Shots 1(20) ST 11, Bulk -8, LC 4 Notes [3], Cost $200, Weight 3 lbs.
Armor and Possessions
20 Arrows cost $40, weight 2 lbs.

The Tribal Warrior can of course be the jealous boyfriend of the Jungle Princess who is attracted to one of the PCs.

[daryen]

Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus

Some items like gates to otherworlds are best left untampered with, they are not many of these gates, taking them apart would likely destroy them, but if left alone, they are quire reliable if someone learns how to operate them.

Well, as scifi likes to show us over and over, there will always be some delusional fool who will figure out how to operate the gates even when inadvisable.

Were I in charge of the government, I would seriously consider hunting for and destroying every gate possible. What is on the other side could bring unimaginable benefit, but could also bring the End Of Life As We Know It, too.

I think the Lost Ones may have anticipated that their technology may be tampered with, and designed countermeasures and defense mechanisms. These Pylons were obviously designed to sit their and function for a very long time.

That's good. I figured you had already seen the possible armageddon, but wanted to mention it when I thought of it. As long as everyone knows it isn't game over if someone does figure it out, the race can be a lot less overt.

[Tom Kalbfus]

Originally Posted by daryen

Well, as scifi likes to show us over and over, there will always be some delusional fool who will figure out how to operate the gates even when inadvisable.

Were I in charge of the government, I would seriously consider hunting for and destroying every gate possible. What is on the other side could bring unimaginable benefit, but could also bring the End Of Life As We Know It, too.



That's good. I figured you had already seen the possible armageddon, but wanted to mention it when I thought of it. As long as everyone knows it isn't game over if someone does figure it out, the race can be a lot less overt.

The gates are simply a new form of parachronic projector, the same rules apply, it can project a gate to an alternate a certain number of quanta away and hold the gate open so all you do is step through. There is no conveyor. On the other side a gate simply appears in mid-air with no structure supporting it or behind it. If we use the Land of the Lost Analogy, their are a number of different gems that you place on the control surface, each gem represents a digit of the lost one's number system. Red is 0, Orange is 1, Yellow is 2, Green is 3, Blue is 4, Violet is 5. So basically the Lost One's number system is base 6. The values go something like this:

Base 6 __ Base 10 __ Colored Gems
0 _______ 0 _______ Red
1 _______ 1 _______ Orange
2 _______ 2 _______ Yellow
3 _______ 3 _______ Green
4 _______ 4 _______ Blue
5 _______ 5 _______ Violet
10 ______ 6 _______ Orange:Red
11 ______ 7 _______ Orange:Orange
12 ______ 8 _______ Orange:Yellow
13 ______ 9 _______ Orange:Green
14 ______ 10 ______ Orange:Blue
15 ______ 11 ______ Orange:Violet
20 ______ 12 ______ Yellow:Red

By placing the gems on the control surface of the pylon, the user is entering a numerical value which tells the pylon how much energy to use in projecting the gate. The amount of energy used determines how many quanta the gate will cross, and thus which world will be reached. There is a dial that determines if the gate will be projected into the positive or negative direction. If the dial is set on negative, the number 1 or Orange will project a gate into homeline, and the number 10 (6), or Orange:Red will project a gate into the Ice Age Alternate. Each quanta or world further removed requires four times as much energy as the one closer to be reached. So:

1 (1) Orange = 1 quanta
4 (4) Blue = 2 quanta
24 (16) Yellow:Blue = 3 quanta
144 (64) Orange:Blue:Blue = 4 quanta
1104 (256) Orange:Orange:Red:Blue = 5 quanta

The board control surface is 6 gems by 6 gems. Generally all the gems are red when set to a value of zero and you increment starting from the lower right corner for a total of 36 heximal places.

[daryen]

Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus

The gates are simply a new form of parachronic projector, the same rules apply, it can project a gate to an alternate a certain number of quanta away and hold the gate open so all you do is step through. There is no conveyor. On the other side a gate simply appears in mid-air with no structure supporting it or behind it.

Out of curiousity, how do you get back? Hope against hope that whoever is left behind doesn't change the setting and remembers to open it?

Also, is there a limit on how long the portal remains open. Could you just set it to a good location and just leave it "on"?

[Tom Kalbfus]

Originally Posted by daryen

Out of curiousity, how do you get back? Hope against hope that whoever is left behind doesn't change the setting and remembers to open it?

Also, is there a limit on how long the portal remains open. Could you just set it to a good location and just leave it "on"?

The gate stays open for as long as the gems are in their proper positions on the control board. If someone removes one of the gems, then the gate disappears. Not a perfect arrangement I admit. Generally the arrangement is to have someone stay behind in the Pylon to activate the gate if needed. There is part of the conveyor that communicates with the parachronic projector for recall to homeline. Homeline can also build a parachronic "transceiver", its about as big as a small off-road truck, it can carry the transceiver which communicates with another small truck parked outside the Pylon. Both trucks have to be within a few tens of meters of each other within their respective universes order to properly communicate across the quanta. The operator of the pylon then receives the message and then places the proper gems in the proper order so as to open up the gate. The Gate is large enough to drive one of these trucks through. The communication device is actually a mini Parachronic projector, it creates a temporary opening that is too small to end any physical objects through, but it can transmit messages through across many quanta separating two worlds. The energy requiement for sending messages is much less than that for sending physical objects, but the two trucks have to be within a few tens of meters of each other in their respective frames in order to communicate. The Pylons are huge, much larger than depicted in the Land of the Lost, each one is about 150 feet tall and the points on top usually rises above the forest canopy. The base area is where the gates are projected onto, and these are wide and tall enough to allow passage of a truck through. The interior is accessed through another gate on the opposite side of the Pylon, by the placement of a red gem in the hole next to the door way. Inside the pylon is the control room, usually has a supply of gems for placement on the control board. For complete operation of the Pylone Gate projector, you need 36 of each color gem to represent all 6 digits of the lost ones heximal number system.

The Gate replaces a section of the back wall of the pylon, it can be entered from either side inside or outside the Pylon. The gate is 2-dimensional in nature, it has zero thickness. Its best to draw a line in the dirt of the destination world, as the gate will always appear there when it is opened to that world and anything placed on the line where the gate appears will be sliced in half. With one side in front and the other in back of the gate when it appears, it also slices into the dirt and rock down to some depth. If the dirt is loose some of it might spill through the gate into the Pylon, the engineers who built the Pylon system have engineered it so that the gates appear on the surface of each respective world, but time and the elements have gradually changes the surface elevation of each alternate, sometimes the gate appears suspended up in the air, other times the gate appears partially or completely below ground, but the gate is fairly tall, and usually some part of it is above ground when it opens.