New Reality Seeds

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by malloyd

In the long run, the key one is arable land. Yes you can import food, on a small scale even for a long time (there are least a few cities that probably haven't fed themselves for over 4000 years), but most regional populations sit at the local carrying capacity most of the time.

Though I suppose Canada isn't actually pushing that at the moment - even as marginally productive as some of the land it counts as arable is, it's so big it does have quite a bit of it per capita. It could certainly feed 5 times as many people as live there without any real risk of regular famines, which would be plenty for a first tier power.

And that's one thing that makes canada look good at the start of the 20th century. Its got the world's largest chunk of unused/partially used arable land. Its just that demographics started doing weird things about then.

[ericthered]

Automoton-1-4

when these worlds were first discovered, they were assumed to be variations on steel. Robots swarm the land, hard at work, building -- just about everything, it would seem. And it all seems to be for habitation. In addition to the foundries, chem plants, power lines, and transport systems, are giant farms, glittering cities, and even polution processing. But their aren't any natives beyond the robots.

The crops are harvested every year, and dried, canned, transformed into unknown but delicious sweets, and stored in whare houses, while the food stuff that has expired is transformed into fertilizer every spring. The gleaming cities could hold the full population of homeline, plus some-- but remain completely empty. The robots keep them in pristine condition, even following the occasional off-world visitor to clean up their mess.

The automotons allow off-worlders to live in its cities quite cheerfully. Public transportation will whisk you around the planet. Lights will turn on as you enter a room. The robots will clean up any apartment you choose to live in. It will even prepare meals for you and send them to your door, or cook for your in an otherwise empty resturant. The systems don't speak, but seem good enough at understanding guestures, and they can be taught english. The native language is currently unknown.

On the other hand, the system watches all visitors carefully, and vigorously discourages looting. Police bots will show up for theft, and if you destroy those, heavier armed machines will show up. The automotons generally won't kill you unless they have to. The goal seems to be to capture you, strip you of all stolen possessions (and frequently some of your own), and throw you in a rather pleasent prison cell for a 64 days. Its unknown why it never keeps anyone for more than 64 days, but at the end of the period it releases all offenders. Looting is the most commonly behavior it stops, but hacking, vandalism are also known to be responded to.

Visitors seem to be allowed very carefully preset amounts of goods. You can take about of grocery cart of food away and do whatever you want with it, but if you try to get more, the bots will stop you. The most profitable thing to do with the world seems to be taking large numbers of "shoppers" to pick up their cart of the local delicacies, and then selling those on homeline. The technology is much harder to take: the bots seem to understand what acts constitute technology theft, and insist most items be left on their world when leaving. They also go to lengths to keep spies out of industrial facilities.

The automoton's seem to know something about parachronics. They appear on multiple worlds, and the technology, asthetics, and even the symbol on the bots, two bars over three bars, is the same on all of them. More telling, they seem to be able to detect conveyors arriving, even before they arrive. At any rate, the secret is out on these worlds. If the bots are intelligent enough to understand it.

There is something off about the cities of automoton. The doors are a little too high, and the door knobs a little too low. The seats are possibly built for something with a tail. Clothing can be obtained, but it appears to be custom made, and its usually a copy of what the visitors brought, not the stores of previously manufactured clothing.

There are world lines like this, and homeline expects to find more.

Automoton-1 was originally declared off-limits: too dangerous for study. Then some idiot broke the rules and found out about the 64 day prison system. This world has seen a lot of attempted abuse, and gets used as the guniea pig for finding out things about Automoton worlds. The bots here generally react with hostility to any visitors. It doesn't immediately imprision you, but it does surround all visitors with a large force of police and military, and tends to react to unexpected behavior with imprisionment.

The others have had a lighter hand in general, though Automoton-2 might be on the road to the same situation as Automoton-1. Several groups live there now, and they tend to be better behaved than the pure theives that wore out their welcome on Automoton-1. Which is to say there may have been more incidents on Automoton-2, but they are petty, and people actually use the world in a way it seems to like. Automotons 3 and 4 are newer, and much more pristine. For now.

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This series was inspired by masters of orion 2. The way I play I always end up with dozens of worlds being terraformed by robots into glittering cities that don't actually have any biological people in them. They sit, waiting for a population that will never outpace the rate robots can build shiny new worlds for them. And so I present these worlds to you: waiting for habitation, capable of providing paradise, but empty.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Sweden was very powerful because Gustavus Adolphus figured out a new way to finance armies that fit his time period. If instead of dieing at Lutzen he followed up his victories with more victories, Sweden could have ruled Northern and central Europe for generations..

In Shikaku-Mon, Imperial Sweden is a major power - or rather, its totalitarian Synarchist successor.



One of the 'reality seeds' ideas in GURPS Alternate Earths II was a Saxon victory over the Normans - with the later idea that Saxon England would not be as powerful as Norman England was, and instead the Hanseatic League rose.


Harry Turtledove had a series of stories set in a world where Mohammed became a Christian saint, and thus the Byzantine Empire is still alive & strong.


Celtic Christianity and Provencal Catharism were 'might have been' great Christian churches.


What if Charles V Habsburg had not retired, but instead created a stable Habsburg empire of Austria, Hungary, Spain, Netherlands, Spanish America & more? Vienna was the center of not just Germany but Europe for many centuries before being eclipsed by Berlin - a grand Catholic Habsburg empire could forestall the rise of England, France, Prussia & Russia.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by malloyd

In the long run, the key one is arable land. Yes you can import food, on a small scale even for a long time (there are least a few cities that probably haven't fed themselves for over 4000 years), but most regional populations sit at the local carrying capacity most of the time.

Though I suppose Canada isn't actually pushing that at the moment - even as marginally productive as some of the land it counts as arable is, it's so big it does have quite a bit of it per capita. It could certainly feed 5 times as many people as live there without any real risk of regular famines, which would be plenty for a first tier power.

What about an early global warming making Canada more habitable, perhaps starting at around 1900? Americans flee the South & California, while Canada hoovers up more & more European immigrants.

Of course, this would also affect the rest of the world. Most notable would be a warmer Russia, but perhaps its unstable government can't handle the change, while Canada's can.


Push this forwards some decades and Canada is the world's leader, the successor to the British Empire (an even more amicable hand-off than the U.K.-to-U.S. world leader hand off IRL). Britain and American lean on it (Alaska is as independent from Washington as Canada is from London), while Imperial Germany dominates the European continent, having swept into Russia after the Czarist collapse. France and southern Europe hang on, but are depleted, depressed nations seeking shade in their former glories & support from the north (basically nineteenth century Greece or Portugal writ large). The only other European power is an alliance of the Scandinavian states (including independent post-Russia Finland & Karelia) who serve as 'balancer' between Germany & Anglo states.

Meanwhile, Imperial Japan dominates northeast Asia, cruelly exploiting climate refugee Chinese labor in the newly fertile Mongolia, Manchuria & eastern Siberia. Between German & Japanese Russia are a series of independent buffer republics that are an interesting and unique mix of European, Turkish, Arab, Persian, Indian, Chinese and more.

The 'Northern Powers' (as they have come to be known as) have largely abandoned the barely-habitable tropical regions, which are states or parts of an empire only on paper. What government there is there is warlordism, including reinstituted slavery. The few notable states include a native-run British Raj in northern India that nominally answers to London, and only nominally controls the rest of the subcontinent, plus an independent Tibet that has become quite strong, the strongest state between the Japanese & German Empires.

There are also 'Southern States' which still exist, such as Argentina & Chile (who have begun claiming & settling the Antarctic peninsula, after seizing Falklands/Malvinas), a rump Brazil, apartheid South Africa (which leads a cruel coalition of southern African white-run post-imperial states), Australia (which has abandoned much of its north and west, save for mining sites), and New Zealand (which is more populous and successful - often called the 'Canada of the South').


Infinity researchers working out of The Pile in Canada discovered this world, named it 'Maple Leaf' or something (after Infinity refused to just name it 'Canada'), local time like 1950. It's TL 6/7, more advanced in areas like agriculture (the Green Revolution happened earlier here), less in military, and none in space. Governments are bigger and more centralized, and doing/providing more, than before 'The Big Heat' (it has different nicknames in different countries & languages), but with less of a military or communist bent - along the lines of Bismark's Germany or post-war Canada on Homeline.

The world is Q7, and is obviously a site of Centrum infiltration (they appear to have found it first). Centran agents and influence runs through Canada, the British Empire, America, and even Australia/New Zealand. While they do try to stop a Last War with Germany or Japan, they are more focused on Canada's impressive climate research program (and don't seem to care if Japan & Germany fall into conflict). That is really frustrating for Infinity and Homeline governments (Canada's is obviously very interested in the timeline), as that's what they're most interested in as well.

Infinity does have agents in Japan, Germany, Scandinavia, and the Siberian states (and is trying to stop a Japan-Germany war), but none have the advanced climate research of Canada. Well, Japan might, but its imperial-fascist imperial government is hard to spy on (and even harder to support).

Infinity also tries to keep this timeline secret, as it does not want to deal with tropical Homeline states demanding that the U.N. & Miracle Workers help the beleaguered people of their counterparts on this timeline, or liberate the enslaved Chinese & southern Africans.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by ericthered

The basic hook was the British intervening in the american civil war and doing unexpectedly poorly. Their attempt to break the naval blockade on the south ends with a few engagements that show the british have bitten off more than they can chew (in large part because of logistics) and leave them vulnerable. That time period was actually very volatile in terms of naval balance, because ironclads where just coming out and there was an arms race going on at the moment, and for a brief moment France had parity with the British in terms of first class ships. Historically that moment was in 1862, but push things up just a little bit, and it looks like an opportunity. And in my mind, Napoleon III is an opportunist at heart. I may be wrong, but it seems he got to power and approval building france into a colonial power. And I think If he saw an honest to goodness chance to break british naval power with a solid chance of success, he'll take it.

Though if we being cool headed here, a showdown between France and England at that late date probably devolves into a general European war, and who wins that depends on where russia, austria, and prussia line up.

Don't forget about Napoleon III's attempt to build a Mexican Empire under Maximillian I. Maybe have that successful, or at least not fail, and now France is already a big player right on U.S.'s doorstep when the Civil War breaks out.

This could lead to France supporting one side in the Civil War and being victorious (either making the CSA a French satellite or the post-war USA a French ally), setting late nineteenth century European power politics into an England vs. France scenario.

Or could lead to France overextending itself on either side and collapsing. Bismarck would be there to pick up the pieces, maybe even overseas. There could be an early German colonial empire that replaces the French one in places like Indochina and West Africa, plus influence in Latin America. The United States would be weaker, and more prone to British & German influence. And maybe the Paris Commune succeeded.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by fchase8

What about an early global warming making Canada more habitable, perhaps starting at around 1900? Americans flee the South & California, while Canada hoovers up more & more European immigrants.

...

I think this is the one that I'll be using - thanks for the help.

(The others sound like fun, but most of them rely on superscience or fantasy-tech, which doesn't fit my current campaign.)

[Astromancer]

In a book I'm reading (Egyptomania) the author says that a museum curator said that Egypt and Dinosaurs were always the most popular exhibits with kids. Sooooooo.....

1) Egypt vs. Dinosaurs!!! A huge hole forms in the Western desert. Hordes of giant lizards come out ridden by twisted ape-like men. Can King Ramesses II save Egypt?

2) Egypt with Dinosaurs!!! The heretic king Akhenaten has summoned strange beasts to serve him and Egypt. Vast Lizards so large it sounds like thunder when they move. Hordes of what he calls Velociraptors guard his palace and his person. Who can face this oppression. What do the strange merchants of the White Star know? And what is the United States of Lizardia?

Either of these fun? How would you mix Egypt and Dinosaurs? Please leave Fred Flintstone out of this. Wilma wouldn't approve.

[somecallmetim]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Either of these fun? How would you mix Egypt and Dinosaurs? Please leave Fred Flintstone out of this. Wilma wouldn't approve.

Even if we use the old Pyramid Stonepunk article?

Actually, I think it'd be interesting to use the Cabal's background. During the reign of the dark Pharaoh Khaibitu-na-Khonsu, mad and blasphemous sorceries open doors to qlippothic proto-reality destroyed by the deluge. Dinosaurs are vanguards of the even larger and more terrifying cosmic horrors from Before Time.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by somecallmetim

Actually, I think it'd be interesting to use the Cabal's background. During the reign of the dark Pharaoh Khaibitu-na-Khonsu, mad and blasphemous sorceries open doors to qlippothic proto-reality destroyed by the deluge. Dinosaurs are vanguards of the even larger and more terrifying cosmic horrors from Before Time.

At the other end of the timeline, the mid-19th century would be an excellent time for adventurous characters to be on the leading edge of scientific archaeology in Egypt and also participate in expeditions into Darkest Africa in search of Lost Civilizations that just happen to stumble over dinosaur containing Lost Worlds, or portals to one in the Mysterious Ruins there.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by robkelk

I think this is the one that I'll be using - thanks for the help.

(The others sound like fun, but most of them rely on superscience or fantasy-tech, which doesn't fit my current campaign.)

What do you think a Canada-dominant world like this would be named by Infinity? The Maple Leaf flag only came into being IRL in 1965 - and in a warmer world, even if Canada created its own flag, would it still be the maple leaf?

I have Canada on the mind, with its 150th anniversary - I'd like to think that at least one Infinity researcher would want to name the world 'Strange Brew'...



Admittedly depending on the politics of your group, one could play up the 'climate change early & bad' aspect. That would include Infinity wanting to not just understand why climate change happened so early on this timeline, but how the timeline handles it.

There could also be the interesting issue of changing coastlines. While tropical islands and places like Florida recede beneath oceanic waters, more land would actually become habitable in Canada/Arctic, to say nothing of Antarctica (I would suggest the warming be more severe in the Northern Hemisphere than Southern, as it becoming warm enough to make Canada supreme would probably make most of the lands of the Southern Hemisphere uninhabitable).



That one thing I've wondered about in recent years - wouldn't climate change hit Homeline (and Centrum)? Using all of that off-world fossil fuels would put more & more CO2 into the Homeline atmosphere - literally importing CO2 from other worlds.

Perhaps Homeline/Infinity could science their way out of the issue, carbon capture and the like. But that would be a new invention that would be hard for Homeline to come up with, since Homeline scientific research (except on parachronics) is basically 'steal stuff from other worlds,' and would another world have anti-global warming tech? The only examples would be high TL worlds like Caliph, that would be hard to steal from.

I think global warming wasn't as publicized an issue when GURPS initially came up with Infinity & the initial Alternate Earths, so it wasn't addressed. Same with LGBT rights - wouldn't Homeline LGBT activists be angry about how LGBT people are treated on other worlds (terrible on pretty much all of them)? And how does Centrum handle global wamring and/or LGBT?

To be fair to GURPS, there are a million issues to be considered in alternate & future Earths, and even the impressive world-building in Alternate Earths can only scratch the surface.