07-09-2019, 04:54 AM | #11 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Azoth-8
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Also, lets not forget Hollywood and TV. The media knew sex sells. It mattered little the message of De Mille's Sign of the Cross ( citation link later) audiences remembered the handsome muscular effeminate slave boy sitting by Nero's side. (I think he was the only Camp Effeminate Gay man meant to be sexually appealing in Hollywood film to date. Although Beef in Phantom of the Paradise might be an exception.) The sexual revolution, the renewal of Feminism( which required the right to dump the burdens of being "ladylike" when necessary), and Gay Rights which needed both movements to step forward itself, were always in the works. The sixties counter culture ( which had its origins in the post WWI period if not in the Aesthetite Movement) was also baked in early. It might not spread as far and fast, but the Flower Children, like their namesakes, will push up through the concrete.
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07-09-2019, 07:03 AM | #12 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Azoth-8
I wish this had occurred to me when initially designing the Harpyias setting (although that's not complete, so I can always go back and incorporate this), but for determining the heliopause, it seems to me that it would share a lot of math with the outer limit radius. I'd suggest arbitrarily setting the heliopause for Sol system, dividing that radius by the outer limit radius, then retaining the result to use as a multiplier on the outer limit radius of other stars. Or just set it arbitrarily for those, if you wish.
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GURPS Overhaul |
07-09-2019, 10:32 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Azoth-8
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The heliopause in contrast is determined by current out of the Sun's solar wind v. the resistance of the interstellar medium. Totally different phenomena and in particular both the snow line and the outer limit would be characteristics of the very early solar system whiel the heliopause would change over time. It occurs to me just now that not only would the heliopause move in or out as the Sun grew hotter or colder but that the formation of the Local Bubble would change it too. The Local Bubble is an area around one or more supernovas around 500 ly from Earth that occurred at times I've seen suggested as 300,000 to 30,000 years ago. As the shockwave from these supernovas moved outward it left a much thinner but hotter interstellar medium behind it (i.e. a bubble of hot thin gas). The Local Bubble is now aound 100 ly past Earth. Before the Local Bubble engulfed the Sol System the local interstellar medium would have been colder but denser. My guess is that the heliopause would have been closer in as it would still be outside the Local Bubble. Now it seems to me to be inevitable that Azoth-8 has Precursors and I would judge them to be of what might called the "Atlantean" flavor. The entry into the Local Bubble could be what caused the collapse of their space-faring civilization. Perhaps cutting them off from their motherworld. Perhasp not jsut by moving the heliopause but doing soemthing to the waro drive too. If you want a particular time betwen 30 and 300 thousand years I go I suggest 100k. That's where genetic testing puts a sharp bottleneck in the diversity of the modern human ancestry. That could be the result of the Fall of Atlantis too. :)
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Fred Brackin |
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07-09-2019, 12:30 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Azoth-8
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07-09-2019, 12:50 PM | #15 | |||||||
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Azoth-8
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07-09-2019, 12:55 PM | #16 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Azoth-8
I'm trying to post more of the older postings
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Note: You've got a much stronger USSR than our world ever faced. New alchemic technologies could radically reorder society quickly and traumatically. Psionics could get dangerously out of hand. And you could run into Aliens at any moment. Sure, the setting has it's ups, but the possibilities of adventure are there too. Do all adventures require a post-apocalyptic wasteland?
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07-10-2019, 12:23 PM | #17 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Azoth-8
To add new material, please kibitz if you've got serious info on the area.
The Middle East is the most changed. Iran is a democracy, and a fairly vigorous one. The Azothic generators often powered Britain first, if only to reduce the need to import oil. After WWII, Britain was the first nation, even before the USA, to decide to go all electric. Thus, when Mosaddegh nationalized Iranian Oil, the head of British Petroleum could scream as he liked, no one cared. The USA was never brought in to return the Shah to power. Similarly, the nations of the Persian Gulf are, and likely will remain, trivial backwaters. Although this world's Alchemical industries allows for the Iranians to make good profits from their oil because of the valuable goods they can make from the oil. Syria and Iraq are both closely allied with the USSR. However, internal politics and cultural issues prevent the Russians from making these states into true satellites. The USSR gives generous aid and gets little for their investment. Egypt isn't particularly allied with anyone. Several of Nasser's rivals lived longer lives here or recovered more quickly and fully. Thus Nasser hasn't fully consolidated power yet. Al-Husseini is also still alive and in vibrant good health. Thus he still holds large amounts of power in the PLO which keeps that organization hopelessly disorganized. In the West, the Arab lands remain more associated with Scheherazade than politics. In Homeline's history the influx of wealth and the political influence of the Algerian War massively disrupted Arab societies and promoted anger and lashing out. In Azoth-8's history, the Algerian War still occurs, but Algeria gets little financial support from other Arabs. The War fizzles out. Fanon still writes Wretched of the Earth but no one reads it much. The Arab lands are modernizing through universal electrification but it has to be much more bottom up rather than top down. The dictators who on Homeline needed to only look at the oil money and bribe money, have to invest in human capital on Azoth-8 because they have no other choice. The novel Dune, which was at least partly inspired by the sight of an historically marginalized people controlling the central resource of the age, was never written. Hubert explored similar ideas but with that one last one missing, nothing gelled. Meanwhile, the Arabian Nights remained a major theme and sub genre in Fantasy and adventure fiction.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 07-16-2019 at 11:40 AM. |
07-10-2019, 05:27 PM | #18 | |
On Notice
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: Azoth-8
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07-11-2019, 12:16 PM | #19 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Azoth-8
ISWAT agents are intrigued with the behavior of many Cabalists on Azoth-8. They seem to be really focused on certain pop-culture occult manifestations and traditions.
Tarot Cards are known to be of later Medieval and Christian origin. But the fact that Azoth-8's tarot decks have 29 greater Trumps, as opposed to the more typical 22, seems to cause a stir. Homeline notices that the extra cards are all reflected in Homeline literature. The Ruined Fountain and The Beggar at the Gate come from a Comic Book. The Ship comes from a Poem. Vistas, Doors, Clouds, and The Fisherman all come from a Novel. Multiple Homeline occult experts are tracking the details down. Field agents will need to work overtime to protect these experts from both the Cabal and the local Super Spy types. Already a man named Napoleon Solo seems to be tracking and making connections with several Homeline experts and Cabal agents. A woman named Emma Peel may have kidnapped both Cabalists and Homeline experts. Although, it may be that two men she's seems to be working with, one Adam Adamant and this United Nations science adviser who drives a yellow jalopy like a bat out of hell who did the kidnapping.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 07-17-2019 at 07:31 PM. |
07-12-2019, 12:31 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Azoth-8
Three modes compete in Azoth-8'S Britain.
First off it's period of energy and hope. Think Glam Rock, it's fun and an angry critique of power and the powerful. It plays with the symbols and emblems of wealth to degrade the claims of the wealthy. On the space side Gerry Anderson's UFO, Space 1999, or Captain Scarlet. Bright colors, energy, a self-confidence that comes from what has been survived and a readiness to grab for a better future. Second, it's a period of disconnection and felt loss when the Folk Horror genre was created. This genre of horror is based in loss and a sense of loss. Old social certainties are gone. The new freedom is wonderful and terrifying. A feeling of connection to the land and community is also lost. And that loss is both painful and the idea of facing what was lost is scary. Think about all those dramas involving witchcraft and psi powers that came out at this time. The boundaries and limits are gone, and freedom is suddenly scary. Another sense of loss that Britain faced was a loss of power. The Empire was gone, but in the Super Spy films Britain was still the center of the world. From Bond to Peel to Joe 90 Britains still punched above their weight. The key differences between our world's Britain and the Britain of Azoth-8 is that Britain looks like it is going to make it. They've lost an Empire but they will find a role and play it well. The future is going to be big and wonderful. Transparent robots will drive your spaceships to the stars!
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 07-17-2019 at 07:34 PM. |
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