New Reality Seeds

[Randyman]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

I always liked the idea of a habitable jungle/ocean Venus. Speed it up to give it a day of 30 or 40 hours, and give it a magnetic core that acts as a dynamo, and that preserves the light elements in the atmosphere. Add in thick water-cloud cover with a high albedo, and that (barely) prevents a greenhouse effect.

You wind up with 80 percent of the surface of Venus covered by an ocean that's fairly shallow by earth standards, and two large contents. The one in the northern hemisphere, Ishtar, is the size of Australia. The one in the south, Aphrodite, is the size of South America.

By the early 19th Century, astronomers become aware that Venus may have a breathable atmosphere, and both Verne and Wells set stories, there. By the late 19th or early 20th Century, astronomers agree that it likely has life.

At what point does the space-race on Venus-1 begin, and who are the competitors? The British Empire and the Third Republic in France, with the U.S.A. and Germany struggling valiantly to catch up? Does Tsarist Russia face a rebellion due to the cost of a space program many Nicholas II's people consider a "royal folly"?

This would be a Diesel-romance setting of initial exploration and colonization of Venus by rival powers, competing fiercely for prestige and slowly coming to the realization that the acceleration of technological innovation has begun to transform their economies, societies and cultures beyond recognition.

I've always liked the idea of a habitable Venus as well. Thanks for this write up!

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by PTTG

In Ares-1, India could be part of the commonwealth. Their biggest threat is a still-expansionist Japanese empire- possibly enough to tie them to Great Britain even if they demand some independence. If so, there may be a large number of AE space launches from Shri Lanka. This is all off the cuff though, haven't really put enough thought into India's situation yet.
...

I could see India becoming a Dominion, much like Canada IOW and for much the same reasons (with a different possible-agressor, of course).

[patchwork]

Honestly, I don't see a reason to speed Venus up. If you've given it enough albedo to avoid runaway greenhouse and a surviving ocean, it's already almost too Earthlike - the 90 (Earth) days of light, 90 (Earth) days of darkness makes for an easy way to throw environmental challenges and land-based lifeforms unlike Earth, and prevents easy contamination between Terrestrial and Venusian biomes. The oceans are another matter.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by patchwork

Honestly, I don't see a reason to speed Venus up. If you've given it enough albedo to avoid runaway greenhouse and a surviving ocean, it's already almost too Earthlike - the 90 (Earth) days of light, 90 (Earth) days of darkness makes for an easy way to throw environmental challenges and land-based lifeforms unlike Earth, and prevents easy contamination between Terrestrial and Venusian biomes. The oceans are another matter.

I think the only way to get a decent magnetic field that prevents the loss of the lighter elements is to spin the planet faster, though. Maybe not all the way up to a 24-hour cycle, but certainly faster than once every 180 days.

I'd certainly want it to be significantly longer than Earth's days, so as to give it a different "feel," and create some issues, but still have it fast enough to act as a dynamo. My understanding is that the reason Earth's core acts as a dynamo is because we have iron in the core, there's enough of a difference between the upper and lower layers of the liquid core to produce convection, and that our planet spins.

The primary theory is that Venus doesn't have one because there's not enough temperature differential between the top of its molten core and the bottom. Maybe if that occurred, the 180-day rotational period would be "enough." But if you sped it up to a 30-40 hour rotational period, and cooled it down enough to create the temperature differential, it almost certainly would have such a field.

As for cross-contamination, that's a good and positive feature of the setting. In role-playing games, the GM and players work together to create a story, and good stories require conflict. A very real possibility of interplanetary contagion, or invasive species, or cross-pollination, or hybridization, adds a huge quantity of potential conflicts and that's outstanding.

[patchwork]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

As for cross-contamination, that's a good and positive feature of the setting. In role-playing games, the GM and players work together to create a story, and good stories require conflict. A very real possibility of interplanetary contagion, or invasive species, or cross-pollination, or hybridization, adds a huge quantity of potential conflicts and that's outstanding.

If you're doing a story about initial contact and exploration or the early stages of colonization, perhaps. If contact has been regular and not too hard for a generation or two, you've just created an inaccessible mess for your players for very little gain. But hey, the point of IW is there's room for many different things.

[ericthered]

Khan-4

Year: 1835
TL:low 5

The united descendents of the spainish and portegese control an empire based out of the new world (spain is dominant).
The king of anglo-france rules from spain to west germany to scotland. He presides over a belated industrial revolution unable to fully capitialize on foreign markets due to the naval power of the spainish.
The ottoman empire is stronger than in this world, but is slowly loosing its hold on the medeteranian.
The islamic khanate dominating northern europe is in an arms race with Anglo-France while trying to keep its people in check-- revolts in germany are both incessant and supported by anglo-france.
China and India retain their pride and independence, except perhaps for the economic influence caused by spainish trade.


History:
The golden horde was the most 'european' of all the successor empires of genghis khan. It stretched from ukraine to kazahkastan. In our timeline it broke up into many competing khanates, and russia (or then, the duchy of muscovoy) moved into the vaccum.

In this time line, the golden horde remained united, and with both the ottomans and the khanate pressing from the east, Austria, poland, and much of germany fell, and scandivania was reduced to a satalite state. The united kingdom of france and england held off the invaders at the rhine, while the spainish desprately tried to hold the mediteranian. The Avigonon Papacy was recontinued when rome was sacked by the ottomans. But what really stoped the expansion of the invaders was their conflict with each other-- messy affairs ranging over europe, asia, and two inland seas.

The renisance for europe happened in france. Spain and portuagul clung to their colonies, and drifted away from the increasingly french church. Larger numbers of them migrated to the new world as the ottomans slowly chipped away at Iberia.

Note: In IW mongol dominated worlds are specified by the specific warlord responsible for the change.

[PTTG]

Null-Ares:

Astronomers note that in this timeline, Mars does not exist, although the asterioid belt is 4 or 5 times more massive in total. However, this is mere trivia compared to the alterations of human history.

Nearly all human beings native to Null-Ares have Pacifism, and it is very difficult to remove it. The tiny number of people who lack it have a Secret: Can Kill, Reputation: Can Kill, or Reputation: Soldier, all of which are disadvantages. The majority of this small class of people have one or annother of the alternative disadvantages, particularly Bloodlust, Bully, or Sadism.

Human culture is vastly different. Though some early tribes were ruled by killers, the most effective early civilizations were those that relegated them to a small warrior class. Instead of national disputes being resolved in mass combat, they were instead resolved by very small bands in ritualized battles, or by civil leaders engaging in games and contests.

In time, civilization slowly grew outward starting in fertile areas around the world. The current year is 1320 (7,983 on the local calender), and a number of TL5 civilizations are beginning to circumnavigate the globe.

Importantly, people aren't nice, they're just psychologically unable to kill people. If a flood destroys a neighboring town that a null-ares-human happens to be squabbling with over over mineral rights, or if he see a starving person with Social Stigma begging for help... he can freely not care. Furthermore, a substantial portion of the Pacifist population actually have Pacifism: Reluctant Killer, and could freely attack people with masks or dots on a screen (if they had that tech).

Even worse, the fact that killers are normally sanctioned by the governments in exchange for loyalty and perks means that oppressive regiemes last much longer.

What military forces they have are nothing to laugh at. Any nation-state fields at least a dozen very, very highly trained non-pacifists with specialized weapons, and they have developed command structures and tactics which can take advantage of unpredictable and bloodthirsty infantry.

Push the TL up to 7 or 8 and they're a serious threat to crosstimers. Alternatively, PCs can show up and try to take the place over with a spoon only to encounter stiff resistance.

[Astromancer]

Contact-1Q6

Like all of the "Contact" worlds, Contact-1 is a world where Earth people have made contact with an alien species without being conquered or otherwise enslaved.

In the year 1830 the Cartelnites (a rough phonetic transcription of the Alien's name for their particular tribe/nation/clan) visited the Earth. The Cartelnites set up trade ligations at New Orleans, New York, London, Antwerp, Istanbul, Cairo, Bombay, Jakarta, and Canton. The Cartelnites have allowed Humans to take off-world passage.

The Present year is 1935, the TL is 8 (outside influence). The local Earth mana level is normal, which may be part of why this Earth isn't conquered.
Homeline and Centrum are both focused on getting alien technology. The Cabal is wondering if they can find some alien magic! Neither Homeline nor Centrum like the sound of that.

[Astromancer]

Contact-1 had a very similar American civil war to most Earths because the Cartnelnites saw slavery as limiting the USA's development. However, as the Cartnelnites offered large numbers of Southerners free passage to a world with plenty of land for the taking and an intelligent species which was genetically engineered to be a slave race, reconstruction was radically different.

As millions of defeated Southerners left, and their land was redistributed to poor Whites and Freed men, the Deep South, by 1890, was the least Racist part of the USA. There was neither the development of the Lost Cause Mythology nor did late 19th century European Scientific Racism have any real appeal in the USA.

Meanwhile in Europe, the Cartnelnites were a misery to the elites. They seemed to love to engage in socio-cultural manipulations. The map of Europe is radically different in this world. German and Italian reunification never took place, many monarchies have fallen, moving through two extra tech levels has dissolved all kinds of social norms in unexpected ways.

However, as much as the Cartnelnites are feared and loathed, no one wants them to leave their nation. The opportunities for trade and power are to great to miss. Europe hasn't had a major war since 1815, but it seems like a new kind of war is brewing. All but a few scholars have forgotten the lessons of the American Civil War. And few remember the lessons of Napoleon either. It looks like Europe will soon fight a war with TL8 weapons and the tactics of The Seven Year's War.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

It looks like Europe will soon fight a war with TL8 weapons and the tactics of The Seven Year's War.

They won't, however, be the weapons of Homeline TL8. There may well be "mechanical cavalry" but it will be different from conventional tanks without the experience of war. There may well be armed aircraft, but the division between fighters and bombers emerged from experience, too.