New Reality Seeds

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

You can buy DVDs of that wild new British Sci Fi show online or join the Beatles fanclub (they say Ed Sullivan is planning to get the boys from Liverpool on his show) also online.

Physical media? That's so fifties. I heard it's on ABC Online. They got all the international shows on there. The K-Dramas are all so fashy though. I hear they're getting better now but I'm not sure. I hope Korean Spring actually works out for them. I really hope they don't end up like the Soviets and their mass surveillance.

Beatles? Yeah, I've heard a few of their songs on YourHits. Friend of mine says their Live in Hamburg vid rules. Do you have a dart? I could kill for a Lucky.

TL;DR: I really think the mass culture of the 1960s is going to hit the buzzsaw of modern technology and be torn apart.

[Astromancer]

Your point makes a great deal of sense, however, much of the point of Telstar as a setting is the dichotomy of 1960s worldviews and social norms with 2020s technology. It's not quite as unrealistic as the Jetsons but it isn't meant to be perfectly logical either.

[Astromancer]

This Q6 parallel diverges during the "Year Without a Summer." The environmental disruptions of that period already caused serious disease outbreaks. But in this parallel Europe experienced a visitation of a plague unknown before or after. The outbreak seems to have been restricted to Eurasia and Africa. Or at least no cases were reported in the Americas or the Antipodes.

The plague wasn't bizarre in its manifestation, a high fever, coughing fits, and occasionally a rash. And it didn't match the horror of the Black Death. It did strike the cities of Europe hard and for some reason the royal courts (there are several theories on what the vector of infection was). The main long-term outcomes of the plague were the focus on public health was strongly reinforced and the monarchies of Europe got thinned out a bit.

The Duke of Kent married a different German Duchess (the lady who became Victoria's mother in most parallels died). He had sons, rowdy and scandalous like their uncles. The Hollenzolorens were completely up ended.

By 1850 Britain is on the brink of becoming a republic. Prussia is a part of the Russian state. Austria has lost Hungary.

Homeline is researching this parallel to understand how these switches in personal transformed Europe and how they didn't. Meanwhile the Cabal likes the revival of magic on this parallel. It gives them opportunities for quality recruits. Centrum is desperate to make sure a British republic is still an Imperial Britain.

Basically, this is a parallel were the major factions don't really have a fight real or imagined. Still, everyone wants to know what everyone else is doing.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Centrum is desperate to make sure a British republic is still an Imperial Britain.

Well, they still have India, Canada, and Australia. They still have an upper class that benefits from an imperial arrangement. They still have all the institutions to support a vast, world spanning empire. And even if they do take a very drastic turn, their best model of English-speaking Republicanism is, at best, not a model of anti-colonial progressiveness.

At the same time, Centrum knows the history of Homeline. The British Empire is more or less fully formed at this stage. Over the next century, they'll get a bunch of claimed territory in Africa, and lose a bunch of claimed territory in Africa. The American model of Empire will undermine the British Empire. A forward thinking Centran may very well be thinking, "Let's use this new movement towards republicanism to turn the British Empire into a union of English-speaking republics, draw the United States into the union, and use the combined power of Britain and America to dominate the world."

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Well, they still have India, Canada, and Australia. They still have an upper class that benefits from an imperial arrangement. They still have all the institutions to support a vast, world spanning empire. And even if they do take a very drastic turn, their best model of English-speaking Republicanism is, at best, not a model of anti-colonial progressiveness.

At the same time, Centrum knows the history of Homeline. The British Empire is more or less fully formed at this stage. Over the next century, they'll get a bunch of claimed territory in Africa, and lose a bunch of claimed territory in Africa. The American model of Empire will undermine the British Empire. A forward thinking Centran may very well be thinking, "Let's use this new movement towards republicanism to turn the British Empire into a union of English-speaking republics, draw the United States into the union, and use the combined power of Britain and America to dominate the world."

You've found an interesting conflict within Centrum. Cool! Now decide whether or not Homeline and the Cabal are neutral, hostile, or interested in the experiment.

[Astromancer]

Aegypt-3

The Aegypt parallels are worlds were anomalous events have transformed Ancient Egypt. Because of the myths and fantasies surrounding ancient Egypt this happens a lot. Aegypt-3 is a Q6 parallel were early in the Amarna period Maize(corn), bananas, and several other useful crops were introduced into Egypt. Who did this is unknown.

Egypt in this parallel has silk, a wide variety of spices, and several valuable plants and animals unknown on other parallels.

The PCs want to get samples of several of these exotic plants and livestock to examine their economic potential. Also, Homeline scholars want to know how far South Maize and Bananas have spread. These crops would radically transform Africa, but how?

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The Aegypt parallels are worlds were anomalous events have transformed Ancient Egypt.

You mean they're Osiris Worlds?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

You mean they're Osiris Worlds?

My slip up.

[Astromancer]

Try this one. Henry IV and Archbishop Arundel could have only achieved their goals as a team. They got the Nobles on their side because Richard II was trying to tame the nobility to protect the common people (Yes I read "WHO MURDERED CHAUCER," why do you ask?)

But let's assume that Arundel falls ill after leaving England and Henry remains inactive (very likely with Arundel's help). Richard II would still be trying to tame the nobility and create a safer England for the Commoners.

Centrum might admire Richard's motives, but a more peaceful and morally mature England isn't going to be a vast Empire. Homeline, on the other hand wants a complete CANTERBURY TALES. The Cabal wants their foes kept busy and out of their business.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Centrum might admire Richard's motives, but a more peaceful and morally mature England isn't going to be a vast Empire.

Well, maybe. He still pursued an aggressive policy against Ireland. If he did make a more centralized system, it's no guarantee that the next King is going to have the same goals, and a centralized kingdom is a great tool for an aggressive monarch. Consider France and Spain as comparisons, who centralized over the 15th century and proceeded into aggressive wars to dominate the continent.

External pressures could easily force the English into conflicts on the continent that could enhance their power if they are particularly successful. The possibility of war with France over English holdings in Gascony and Calais would seem very likely. Even if they don't get into wars, check that, especially if they don't get into wars, I think it's pretty likely that they'll end up on the colonialism bandwagon, and build that kind of empire. The machine of empire was just as much people trying to make a buck to secure their place back home as it was the government back home sending bureaucrats out to make sure said buck was properly taxed.