Travelling to the World of U.N.C.L.E.

[David Johnston2]

I've been watching the old Man From U.N.C.L.E. series and thinking about how it more or less forms the template for a default Infinite Worlds Campaign and how Homeline and Centrum would relate to it. It's clearly not an echo of Homeline. Not only is the Cold War going a bit differently, it has a large number of nations that simply do not exist.

The thing about UNCLE-1 is that it isn't the kind of world which would instantly send Centrum and Homeline fleeing. No telepaths, no active gods, and if there are sorcerers, they are well hidden. There is a certain amount of anachronistic technology but just enough to make it interesting but not terrifying. It would actually be pretty attractive to Centrum. It has the germ of a world government run by English speakers. The interesting thing is that Centrum's primary focus would probably be infiltrating UNCLE...which might very well make a Homeline team assignment to temporarily team up with THRUSH.

[robkelk]

I can't help but think that Centrum and Homeline wouldn't even know about U.N.C.L.E., until the outtimers were relaxing in their apartment, a couple of agents rush in and dunk their radio into a pail of water, then rush back out without a word. (That was typical behaviour for U.N.C.L.E. agents, after all.)

After the "what the hey?' moment, Infinity and/or Interworld would start looking more closely at the timeline...

[starslayer]

If I recall UNCLE was ultimately really good at their job.

Infinity and Centrum agents might first learn about the organization when they wake up in a cell after being tranquilized and are questioned about their association with THRUSH.

UNCLE would likely not like infinity much once they got the whole story (what with the widespread abuse of worlds, allowing the ultra rich to dominate the poor to the point of manipulating them at fundamental levels), and would not like Centrum much either (single government body working for the good of all mankind- but also bad about widespread abuse, also slavery).

They would be horrified by the Cabal and the Nazi worlds, which would lead them to wanting to ally with one, or both groups.

Edit: I've since posting this taken a re-read of the centrum book, and I recind my thoughts that UNCLE would be on the fence about Centrum- their full dehumanization of offworlders, and use of slavery would exceed the goodwill from being a working post-scarcity society, and the top level manipulations of their elites would be really scary for a group trying to prevent hidden super-villains from controlling society.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by starslayer

If I recall UNCLE was ultimately really good at their job.

Infinity and Centrum agents might first learn about the organization when they wake up in a cell after being tranquilized and are questioned about their association with THRUSH.
.

Oh come on. They're not that good. If they were, THRUSH wouldn't even exist. Infinity and Centrum have a big advantage over UNCLE and THRUSH, in that their logistical base wouldn't be visible to either organization. While UNCLE certainly might spot Infinity or Centrum agents gathering information, they live in a world swarming with covert agencies both governmental and non-governmental and dodgy operators, and they wouldn't just snatch a guy who isn't doing more than information gathering. If they did they'd find themselves having kidnapped agents of their own sponsor governments more than once. For that matter sometimes in the first season that I'm currently watching they leave known THRUSH agents at large because they don't have evidence of specific crimes sufficient to justify making an arrest to the local governments and an abduction would be too visible.

If they did grab an Infinity or Centrum agent, it would probably because of mistaken identity because he has a local double who is actually a opposition agent. Which is not entirely unlikely of course. Although since I'm in the first season, one idea that keeps occurring to me is a situation where one of the "innocents" that Napoleon keeps dragging into his cases (or inviting themselves along) could just be an Infinity agent who was poking around trying to figure out if one of the nefarious schemes was a Centrum operation.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Oh come on. They're not that good. If they were, THRUSH wouldn't even exist. Infinity and Centrum have a big advantage over UNCLE and THRUSH, in that their logistical base wouldn't be visible to either organization. While UNCLE certainly might spot Infinity or Centrum agents gathering information, they live in a world swarming with covert agencies both governmental and non-governmental and dodgy operators, and they wouldn't just snatch a guy who isn't doing more than information gathering. If they did they'd find themselves having kidnapped agents of their own sponsor governments more than once. For that matter sometimes in the first season that I'm currently watching they leave known THRUSH agents at large because they don't have evidence of specific crimes sufficient to justify making an arrest to the local governments and an abduction would be too visible.

If they did grab an Infinity or Centrum agent, it would probably because of mistaken identity because he has a local double who is actually a opposition agent. Which is not entirely unlikely of course. Although since I'm in the first season, one idea that keeps occurring to me is a situation where one of the "innocents" that Napoleon keeps dragging into his cases (or inviting themselves along) could just be an Infinity agent who was poking around trying to figure out if one of the nefarious schemes was a Centrum operation.

Sorry I did not mean to indicate that it would be instant. Just that Centrum/Infinity, not expecting a multi-national global reaching agency to exist and be on the active lookout for weird behavior by shadowy untraceable organizations would get noticed, covertly, at some point in time.

Once they get noticed they will be watched- Centrum at least would not notice or care, Infinity might be hard pressed to realize they are being actively monitored (due to the size and scale of UNCLE)

Eventually they would do something pretty scary to UNCLE (illegal, but not 'kill these guys' bad- like be found to be stockpiling weapons, or trying to influence government officials, or kidnapping people, or just 'what the hell is that thing, it must be a bomb' when they spy the conveyor).

[Dr. Beckenstein]

I think Infinity and Centrum would quickly discover UNCLE and THRUSH.

It is a question of the TL. UNCLE and TRUSH are more or less on an equal level - would one be superior, it would already had crushed the other. Both have access to TL 7 technology, maybe with a few early TL 8 gadgets, who have to act in secret so that the rest of world does not get wind of them.

Homeline and Centrum are both mature TL 8 societies, with some TL 9 gadgets. Their communicators would soon detect UNCLE's and THRUSH's broadcasts, and the strong encryption both would use would immediately caught the attention of the outtimers. Modern computers would probably crack the codes within short time (if not, they would even be more interesting), and by triangulation they would locate their top-secret bases. Soon, ISWAT would take a look at this strange laundry.

It could become an interesting struggle. The I-Cops and Centrums finest try to take over UNCLE, both side agree that THRUSH must be stopped, and the confused natives of the timeline try to figure out what the hell is going on.

And UNCLE' s agents are great candidates for the I-Cops and the Intervention Service...

[dcarson]

If you go by the books there is at least one that strongly implies that vampires exist so it might be a low mana world.

The super science isn't a s major as Gernsback but there are super science gadgets.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by starslayer

UNCLE would likely not like infinity much once they got the whole story (what with the widespread abuse of worlds, allowing the ultra rich to dominate the poor to the point of manipulating them at fundamental levels),

Apart from what I said about the other part...er...what? What are you even talking about here?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by dcarson

If you go by the books there is at least one that strongly implies that vampires exist so it might be a low mana world.

The super science isn't a s major as Gernsback but there are super science gadgets.

Wasn't there a shrink ray or something in one episode?

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Wasn't there a shrink ray or something in one episode?

I don't recall one way or the other. I do recall that the standard-issue U.N.C.L.E. pistol had an attachable barrel and stock that turned it into a sniper rifle - that's definitely super-science verging on rubber-science.