New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by johndallman

The things that need to be added to have practical airships in the 1860s include:

• Internal combustion engines.
• Fuel for those engines.
• Suitable materials for the structure of rigid airships. That means aluminium or magnesium, available in bulk and with decent quality.

Refining aluminium or magnesium needs industrial-scale electricity supplies, which have all kinds of other uses. So do internal combustion engines. This world will continue to diverge, quite quickly.

Well the technology situation is anomalous by definition on an Aero world.

[TGLS]

Aero-4 is apparently composed almost entirely out of chocolate and small pockets of air within the chocolate. This inhospitable world is populated by a pallid malnourished folk well adapted to the endless darkness. Preying on newcomers for protein and metal is the principal way they survive. The first team to visit was lucky to return to the conveyor before the locals dismantled it.

The team lead mentioned it "was like a giant aero bar" and the name stuck.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Aero-4 is apparently composed almost entirely out of chocolate and small pockets of air within the chocolate. This inhospitable world is populated by a pallid malnourished folk well adapted to the endless darkness. Preying on newcomers for protein and metal is the principal way they survive. The first team to visit was lucky to return to the conveyor before the locals dismantled it.

The team lead mentioned it "was like a giant aero bar" and the name stuck.

What a ghoulish hell world!

[David Johnston2]

Inspired by the Osiris series of world I offer you the Maple series of worlds!'

Maple-1: The United States allied itself with Revolutionary France, an alliance that continued on into Napoleon's reign. As a result, the British were much more serious about war with the United States, leading to a sound thrashing. Originally the peace agreement set up a recognized nation of Britain's Indian allies in the Ohio territory, before it was eventually merged with Upper and Lower Canada. The current year is 1947 and a now functionally independent Canada is fighting and winning a World War with a United States that never abandoned slavery even as an alliance of Britain, Japan and Germany fight France, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Canada seems well on its way to becoming the richest and most powerful nation on Earth.

Maple-2: The current year is 1987 and Toronto is the location for the headquarters of the Federated Nations of Earth. Even though Canada is no more populous, richer, or militarily powerful than it was on Homeline, it is weirdly influential and well respected. When it dispatches peacekeepers and diplomats to any conflict that arises, they are strangely effectively in a way that suggests paranormal agencies at work.

Maple-3: The current year is 2014 and the widespread manifestation of superhuman powers has led to a worst-case scenario where national governments have collapsed on a worldwide scale. The United States made the horrific mistake of trying to put all the superhumans in internment camps, causing many to flee north to be accepted as refugees. Now, 20 years later, while somewhat diminished by the loss of the western provinces, Canada is the most powerful national government in the world by a process of elimination. The others have fragmented drastically into wilderness and enclaves run by superhuman overlords.

Maple-4: Almost a Reich parallel, Maple-4 is a setting where the Germans succeed in invading Great Britain, while the Americans steadfastly refused to get involved in another European War. The tide of war shifted, however when atomic bomb technology was developed in Canada leading to victory for the British Empire under a Crown that had been relocated to Toronto. The year is 1949 and Canada is far from being a superpower but Britain is far worse off than it was in Homeline's post-war history and, temporarily, Canada is the only nation in the world with atomic weapons.

[Astromancer]

Roma-19

This Q6 Low Mana parallel diverges with the early death of Justinian. The man who ruled in Justinian's place, Leo of Hispania, wasn't as gifted as Justinian except in one area. Leo had a knack for making and keeping friends, and also a knack for knowing talent when he saw it.

Leo had far less trouble with his generals than Justinian and was content to let them do what they did well. Thus Leo's less brilliant reign had far less destructive effects on the empire. Leo never caught the plague and lived to old age. Giving Rome a long steady reign of uninspired competence.

The one clever thing Leo did was to establish a law of succession that vastly reduced the numbers of civil wars in the Roman world.

It's now the year 1657 since the founding of Rome (904AD). The empire is at war with the Caliphate. Improvements in paper making have gotten the new Emperor to issue an edict requiring the searching out of old texts and the creation of copies. The empire is to be searched for as many ancient texts as can be found.

Homeline historians are mildly interested in this world. They are seeing several of the more typical European states and cultures form even while Rome survives in Italy, North Africa, and Spain.

The Tech Level is a bit beyond that of Homeline in 904AD. There is speculation that the "Renaissance" might come early on this Earth.

Meanwhile, Centrum, wanting to turn this Rome into a world empire, is trying to speed things up by slipping extra data into the new scriptoriums.

Centrum is even trying to introduce the printing press.

Homeline doesn't mind the extra books and the printing press, they just want to keep this world out of Centrum's grasp.

Meanwhile, the Cabal fears that this world might abandon magic. They want a full throttle dark age.

[Inky]

If magic works on this parallel, why would they abandon it, especially since the copying and wider circulation of ancient texts might include a lot of magical texts, leading to wider knowledge of magic and improvements in magical "science"?

Although with Low Mana, non-magical technologies might still be more efficient for many purposes, if they can get the scientific method up to a level where they can get them working reliably - so magic might still be abandoned as real but not competitive. Not sure whether that was what you meant. And the Cabal might not want magic to be more widely known - they seem to favour worlds where magic persists but only in small pockets, which they then monopolise.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Inky

If magic works on this parallel, why would they abandon it, especially since the copying and wider circulation of ancient texts might include a lot of magical texts, leading to wider knowledge of magic and improvements in magical "science"?

Although with Low Mana, non-magical technologies might still be more efficient for many purposes, if they can get the scientific method up to a level where they can get them working reliably - so magic might still be abandoned as real but not competitive. Not sure whether that was what you meant. And the Cabal might not want magic to be more widely known - they seem to favour worlds where magic persists but only in small pockets, which they then monopolise.

The main answers would be either A) religious taboos, or B) magic is rare and requires rare talented individuals to do much. Also the Cabal wants control of magic. By " giving up magic" the Cabal means giving up superstitious mindsets we can exploit.

[Inky]

Oh, that's true, yes, I'd forgotten that GURPS usually assumes that Magery is a rare feature - and in a Low Mana world only mages can cast spells. So magic only slightly works in this world.

And yes, magic becoming too widely known might also be difficult for the Cabal. They seem to like worlds where magic is something that everyone wants but very few people have, meaning there's huge demand for the Cabal. If magical knowledge did become more widespread on Roma-19, more magic might be getting used, but it wouldn't be their magic! :-D

[Astromancer]

Psyche-3

The Psyche worlds are worlds were psi phenomenon have seemingly always existed. Psyche-3 is a weird parallel were history has stayed very close to Homeline history up to the local present (1949). Suddenly in the USA, the UK, the USSR, France and India, breakthroughs in understanding and using Psi phenomenon have occurred.

Basically, this is a Cold War espionage setting focused on parapsychology and psionics. No locals should have more than twenty-five to forty points in Psi. Restrict the types of available psi as well. No locals should have skill levels in psi skills above intelligence. No locals should have psionic talents either.

None of these restrictions apply to outtimers. Homeline, Centrum, the Cabal, and various criminal groups want the local data. It's obvious that this parallel will soon be quarantined. But before the locals get good, everyone wants what they know.

[Astromancer]

Gaulic-2

The Gaulic worlds are worlds were a major change in post Second Empire France radically changes history. Gaulic-2 diverges with the escape of a minor nobleman from the Terror. Decades later his grandson married the eldest daughter of a wealthy Industrialist's family. This left another young man, who in most worlds married the woman, free to we'd the woman he loved. Their son was uniquely talented both as a leader and diplomat.

Mathis Valentin Duval, born 1867, became a calming and steady influence in the politics of the Third Republic. His talent for building compromise and consensus was mind boggling. He managed to keep France friends with Britain and to charm the Kaiser.

The local year is 1925. WWI hasn't happened and most of the stresses that led up to it have been defused in the West. However, Russia still feels deeply unstable and threatened. Internal stresses force Russia to turn their attention to expansion in order to shield themselves.

Although Duval has Charisma+5 and Empathy , and skill levels of twenty plus in each of Diplomacy , Fast Talk, and Detect Lies, even talents like that might not prevent a World War.

Basically, this Q6 Low Mana parallel is loved by Homeline France. No other 20th century France has this level of power, prosperity, and influence. Meanwhile, Centrum sees a world war as a good way to destroy a couple of empires and promote the British Empire (which has done very well out of stability in Europe). Homeline doesn't want Centrum increasing its influence in Q6. The Cabal feels it would benefit from a world war on this parallel. Why that is isn't known.

This is an espionage campaign. Note: magic is widely believed in this parallel. Psychic investigation is a widespread fad. People claiming to be magicians ( like our world's Alistair Crowley) aren't uncommon. They receive less mockery than in Homeline history. Thus PCs with psi powers or magic skills could work semi openly in this parallel.