Antarctic Space Nazis Across the Multiverse

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Icelander

. . . the players are pretty convinced that the Russians found Something in Lake Vostok and the gate that has opened into the mind of Ms. Delvano (and hence her dreams and the Dreamlands that the PCs visit) is some kind of dream echo of what lies in the real Lake Vostok, below Earth's Antarctica.

The week the existence of Lake Vostok was confirmed in 1993, I and a friend both noticed it was in the vicinity of the Miskatonic Mountains. It's a good place for adventures: I got a lot of good gaming out of the CoC scenario Beyond the Mountains of Madness, and I'm currently reading the Achtung! Cthulhu scenario Assault on the Mountains of Madness, although it isn't nearly as good as the Chaosium product.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

And did you manage to divert your players from charging straight into the FlAK in conditions which will kill their comrades, and therefore bringing out a TPK before the full horror of their situation sinks in?

Well, children and social obligations prevented a session this weekend. This means that the PCs and their sky pirate allies are all still alive, but also that the skyship Rocinante is still flying toward Unknown Kadath, ahead of a magical wind targeted directly at the source of the cold tendrils that bind the soul of the Mi-gö they captured to service.

So, unless the PCs start next session by deciding to land before they reach their destination, it might be that they only discover that the zeppelin Amfortas behind them does not constitute the sole presence of Antarctic Space Nazis in the Dreamlands when they get a rude surprise in the form of searchlights and flak all around them.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Icelander

. . . when they get a rude surprise in the form of searchlights and flak all around them.

You didn't mention searchlights! They're normally carbon arc lamps, which need a lot of electricity, at high voltages.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

You didn't mention searchlights! They're normally carbon arc lamps, which need a lot of electricity, at high voltages.

Well, given that it's night all the time at Kadath, they're kind of a requirement if the ASN garrison want to see anything.

Kadavergehorsam stormtroopers actually don't care about light, but neither do they easily learn new tricks. Most of them know how to fight with shoulder-fired longarms, as well as bayonets, rifle buttstocks, entrenching tools, helmets, clubs and other hand weapons, but very few of them have experience with artillery or anti-air. They consist mostly of old SA or SS fighters and brawlers, many with WWI experience as stormtroopers in the trenches. Gunner (Machine Gun) is possessed at a decent level by maybe one in ten of them, but not one in a hundred can shoot autocannons with much accuracy and pretty much none of them can perform Immediate Action on a flak cannon or an MK 108.

So I imagined that living Gebirgsjäger from flak units would be the preferred gunners for the heavy ordnance. But they'd need lights to see targets. Which, I imagined, would be searchlights and artillery flares.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Well, given that it's night all the time at Kadath, they're kind of a requirement if the ASN garrison want to see anything.

You're going to need another Elemental Furnace to run a generator, both of them pretty sizable. I'll see if I can find power requirements for WWII-period searchlights.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

You're going to need another Elemental Furnace to run a generator, both of them pretty sizable. I'll see if I can find power requirements for WWII-period searchlights.

A generator is necessary, yes.

At worst, it might be possible to use the same power for mooring and off-loading operations as they use for the AA searchlights. After all, they'd never try mooring or off-loading under combat conditions anyway. Granted, they'd need lights for ordinary mooring and off-loading, but probably not with as much range as AA searchlights.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Varyon

While I realize it's not going to make any difference over in Kadath, would the Cold Ones be amenable to being used for refrigeration? It seems this would be a win-win situation - the Nazis can keep their foodstuffs cold without wasting precious energy, the Cold Ones get to absorb the heat within the cooler. Or would you have to be crazy (errr... crazier, ASN's may well not have a lot of sanity to start with I suppose) to eat something that's been chilled by such beings?

The ASNs could theoretically do that, but given that the true nature of the Kadavergehorsamer is a state secret* and the exact ASN relationship with the Cold Ones is a secret** confined to the inner circles of the SS, it isn't as if there are many people who could benefit from this.

And, yes, even senior SS occultists would quite likely be creeped out at the thought of eating something that had been caressed by the icy tendrils of the Lords of the Last Waste. After all, they don't just drain temperature or energy, they drain hope, potentiality and quite possibly a host of other intangibles.

*Albeit a badly kept one.
**Far better kept.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

The week the existence of Lake Vostok was confirmed in 1993, I and a friend both noticed it was in the vicinity of the Miskatonic Mountains. It's a good place for adventures: I got a lot of good gaming out of the CoC scenario Beyond the Mountains of Madness, and I'm currently reading the Achtung! Cthulhu scenario Assault on the Mountains of Madness, although it isn't nearly as good as the Chaosium product.

I think my favorite bit about Lake Vostok is the fact that an actual, real-life coalition of scientists and activists has declared that it contains Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know. The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition has asserted that "it would be far preferable to join with other countries to penetrate a smaller and more isolated lake before re-examining whether penetration of Lake Vostok is environmentally defensible. If we are wise, the Lake will be allowed to reveal its secrets in due course."

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Icelander

The ASNs could theoretically do that, but given that the true nature of the Kadavergehorsamer is a state secret* and the exact ASN relationship with the Cold Ones is a secret** confined to the inner circles of the SS, it isn't as if there are many people who could benefit from this.

And, yes, even senior SS occultists would quite likely be creeped out at the thought of eating something that had been caressed by the icy tendrils of the Lords of the Last Waste. After all, they don't just drain temperature or energy, they drain hope, potentiality and quite possibly a host of other intangibles.

*Albeit a badly kept one.
**Far better kept.

If in desperation any ever had to make use of this, hopefully that just means the Cold Ones drain the food of its flavor, rather than imparting a Flavor Man Was Not Meant to Know.

How about industrial/military uses of keeping things cold? Certainly there's a lot of modern tech that would benefit from what amounts to magic to keep things cold, but I'm not certain what all WWII-era (and lower) tech would benefit. I assume heat engines would, as those usually get more efficient the colder the cold reservoir is. Come to think of it, if I'm not mistaken simply having a heat differential can be used to make a heat engine, so if the Cold Ones can actively drain heat from the environment, the ASN's might be able to leverage this into making low-energy perpetual motion engines. As for military uses, if Kadavergehorsamer gunners never need to worry about their MG's overheating, that would be useful in a pitched battle. It's not so useful for the sorts of fights they get in these days, but it also means when they do need something that is rapid-fire, it can be designed to shoot faster - and longer - than historical weapons, while being lighter due to less need for heat dissipation concerns. Kadavergehorsamer may be able to man something with RoF comparable to a minigun, but without any need for a complicated rotating barrel scheme. This could be of use against agile flyers, although the rate at which it ate through ammunition could be problematic.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Varyon

How about industrial/military uses of keeping things cold. . . I'm not certain what all WWII-era (and lower) tech would benefit.

It's very useful in manufacturing TNT, RDX and nitroglycerine. All of those are made by adding large amounts of acid to other liquids, which releases lots of heat, which can, of course, set off the explosives. So they need active cooling, usually done with cold water baths.