IST-1 and -2. (Current Date 2005)
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These recently discovered parallels (on the same quantum) have a lower access rating than one would expect for a pair of worlds in which psionic abilities are common, as they are both "puzzle worlds" -- a situation that has caused a great deal of hair-pulling on Homeline. At random intervals, each parallel's coordinates exchange with those of its "twin".
This was only discovered when an ISWAT team attempted to take shelter in a building operated by White Star on IST-1, only to discover that it had yet to be occupied on IST-2, the world they were actually visiting.
Unbeknownst to Infinity (or Centrum), the similarities between the worlds are only skin deep. On one of the worlds, the United Nations' International Super Teams were created to assist in peacekeeping operations; on the other world, they were created as part of a twenty-five year plan by a secret cabal within the U.N. to seize power. (This is the "Evil IST" world from the sidebar in GURPS IST.) Neither side in the parachronic war has discovered this, as they have been unable to sufficiently infiltrate either world's U.N., and the differences to the histories of the worlds seem to be limited to changes in the personalities, rather than the actions, of certain people ...
Chris Davies.
(If you can't have your cake and eat it too, get two cakes.)
Sorry to take so long to get back to this, Chris... I really like, it, though! This'd make a great chunk of box text.
-- Bob
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It's spelt "Frodo Baggins" but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove."
Thank'ee, kind sir. It's really more useful for an Infinite Worlds campaign than an IST campaign, but -- assuming that the Reich-5 breakout finally makes it clear to at least some faction of Infinity or Homeline's U.N. that they need allies instead of pawns -- it could end up featuring in the latter as well.
Chris Davies.
It'd make a hell of a grounds for a cross-time war campaign, that's for sure!
-- Bob
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It's spelt "Frodo Baggins" but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove."
Particularly if these additional IST parallels got dragged in ...
IST-3 (Current Date 2005): As yet not discovered by Infinity, this parallel has been infiltrated by Centrum, which is covertly backing the British-American Hegemony, ruled over by Richard Carey, aka "The Conqueror". (See GURPS Shapeshifters for more information on him.) Centrum's agents are unaware that Carey's agents have discovered their presence, or that the Conqueror intends to expand his Hegemony to include other realities after he gets through with the Ennyn homeworld ...
IST-4 (Current Date 2027): Despite not having an IST organization, this world is clearly a divergence from the IST timeline; specifically, whatever unknown event triggered the birth of the first mutants in 1925 on IST-1, -2, and -3, didn't happen until 1975 on -4. The first supers appeared in the late 1980s, and science was somewhat quicker to catch up to the "how" and "why" of their abilities. As a result, the TL9 culture of this timeline is very advanced in genetic engineering. (This is basically the "lead-in" to a Supers/Transhuman Space fusion, in much the same way that one of the "Lenin" timelines in GURPS Infinite Worlds is the "lead-in" to GURPS Terradyne. The timeline owes as much to the late Charles Sheffield's "Proteus" series as it does to WWGS' Aberrant and Trinity.)
IST-5 (Current Date 1989): On this timeline, the United Nations first attempted to create a super-team to enforce its policies soon after the organization was founded in 1946. This first effort failed. A second group was organized in 1957, soon after the Suez Crisis, but this one soon disbanded as well. Another was created in the mid-1960s, only to be disbanded soon after. A very large group was organized in 1975 ... but rather than being disbanded, its members all seem to have disappeared. However, the fifth group, organized in 1982 has STOOD UP to the test of time. So far, at least.
IST-6 (Current Date 1888): In many ways, this is the reverse of IST-4. The first mutants were born in 1796, and the earliest supers fought in the Napoleonic Wars. This is a somewhat "steam-punkish" timeline, well into TL5+2. The closest equivalent to an actual IST organization is a loose, world-wide association of several gentlemen's clubs or leagues which cater to extraordinary individuals.
Chris Davies.
IST-7 (Current Date 1985): For unknown reasons, all of the Argurous Astraph-era IST members from IST-1 first appeared in the 1940's and participated in World War II. After the war, these stalwart heroes banded together as the very first International Super Society, dedicated towards helping a fledgling United Nations prevent future warfare on the scale they had just survived. THe ISS initiative survives until the current day; in 1985 a jumper from IST-1 New York discovered this universe and to his surprise encountered a much older version of himself who had apparently served in World War II. His report resulted in a secret meeting held in IST-7's New York between the members of both ISS NY and IST NY.
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IST-7 (Current Date 1985): For unknown reasons, all of the Argurous Astraph-era IST members from IST-1 first appeared in the 1940's and participated in World War II.
Ummm. Speaking for myself, I'd prefer to avoid blatant thefts from either DC or Marvel ...
Chris Davies.
Speaking for myself, this wasn't intended for publishing, just as an amusement.
I'll now politely remove myself from the conversation.
Mike
Pity,some of those alternate IST's looked interesting."There's only one kind of monster that uses bullets"-Colonel VanHeusen , from "It! The Terror From Beyond Space"
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IST-3 (Current Date 2005): As yet not discovered by Infinity, this parallel has been infiltrated by Centrum, which is covertly backing the British-American Hegemony, ruled over by Richard Carey, aka "The Conqueror". (See GURPS Shapeshifters for more information on him.)
And thus
Super Rebels rises from the grave!
Explanation: Over ten years ago, SJG contracted a pair of writers who had a cool idea -- a world where the supers took over and were running things with an iron fist, led by a man called Conqueror, who was actually an alien... PCs were mainly going to be the super-powered Resistance -- noble folks who
could have been in the ruling class but instead were fighting for the freedom of the world.
Anyway, the authors completed the first draft and turned it in -- and it turned out to be so bad that SJG exercised an infrequently-used contract option. They bought the draft and the concept outright and Steve handed it to me to see if I could rescue it.
I did, but by the time I had something workable, SJG had changed its focus somewhat and it was no longer needed/wanted. So I've been sitting on this super world -- which I turned into a parallel universe to the IST world -- for a decade. Conqueror and his native race were all part of that concept, and I just lifted them and dropped them into Shifters.
-- Bob
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It's spelt "Frodo Baggins" but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove."
Quote:
IST-5 (Current Date 1989): On this timeline, the United Nations first attempted to create a super-team to enforce its policies soon after the organization was founded in 1946. This first effort failed. A second group was organized in 1957, soon after the Suez Crisis, but this one soon disbanded as well. Another was created in the mid-1960s, only to be disbanded soon after. A very large group was organized in 1975 ... but rather than being disbanded, its members all seem to have disappeared. However, the fifth group, organized in 1982 has STOOD UP to the test of time. So far, at least.
And to
this one, let me just say "".
So who gets cast in what roles here? US = Earth Alliance seems obvious. Ireland = Narn? England = Centauri? I think this breaks down real fast, though, as I can't think of a good candidate for the Vorlons.
But it's still a fun tongue-in-cheek suggestion.
-- Bob
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It's spelt "Frodo Baggins" but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove."
Hell, once I get my act together and actually start working on this thing, I just might ask to use them.
-- Bob
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It's spelt "Frodo Baggins" but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove."
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I think this breaks down real fast, though, as I can't think of a good candidate for the Vorlons.
Who says that it has to be a country, it could be a commune/culture/philosophy/region/lifestyle like say...Berkeley, which means the Technomage's see the various *ITs, Silicon Valley & Berkeley as their spirtual homeland.
Cause the Vorlons can still be alien & odd due to being extraterrestrial lifeforms. Well, that's what we think they are and that's what they appear to be saying.
--Rod.H
You know, I missed the opportunity to do the whole "Swamp Castle" bit there, now that I think of it. "The first team sank into the swamp. The second team sank into the swamp. The third team burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp..."
-- Bob
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It's spelt "Frodo Baggins" but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove."
Quote:
And to this one, let me just say "".
So who gets cast in what roles here? US = Earth Alliance seems obvious. Ireland = Narn? England = Centauri? I think this breaks down real fast, though, as I can't think of a good candidate for the Vorlons.
But it's still a fun tongue-in-cheek suggestion.
Well, given the tentacles (and the fact that in the telemovie and first season, G'Kar was very much the heavy of the series) I'd say Centauri=Japan, Narn=China. But then, I'm weird.
Of course, since this one was more or less a joke entry ...
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Hell, once I get my act together and actually start working on this thing, I just might ask to use them.
Permission cheerfully granted in advance.
Chris Davies.
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I'd say Centauri=Japan, Narn=China.
Hmm, yeah, that works. Oooh, and just for fun, how about Israel for Minbar? Doesn't work on the power/tech level, but a lot of other levels converge nicely.
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Permission cheerfully granted in advance.
Thankee kindly.
-- Bob
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It's spelt "Frodo Baggins" but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove."
Quote:
And thus Super Rebels rises from the grave!
Explanation: Over ten years ago, SJG contracted a pair of writers who had a cool idea -- a world where the supers took over and were running things with an iron fist, led by a man called Conqueror, who was actually an alien... PCs were mainly going to be the super-powered Resistance -- noble folks who could have been in the ruling class but instead were fighting for the freedom of the world.
Well, that's certainly a blast from the past. I was still dialing in to BBSs to download Intelec and FidoNET last time I saw this discussed.
Hi, Joe... somehow I missed your post when you made it on Sunday; don't know how that happened. Yeah, Rebs has been long moribund, but maybe it's time to kick it and shake the dust off of it some more.
BTW, welcome to the forums and I hope you enjoy the place. We've got good folks here, and I like to think it's an entertaining destination for an evening's read.
And Intelec? Do I know you from a long time ago, Joe? I have to admit your name sounds vaguely familiar.
-- Bob
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It's a "magical" land. I think "magical" is ancient Greek for "pain in the butt". -- Bun-Bun, Sluggy Freelance, 11/9/03
Yeah, but it has been quite a while since we wandered the IoU Extension Campus, Dean Schroeck. I was the moderator of the RPG forums on Intelec for a while, until I lost anything resembling a local node on the network.
Wow. Geeze, it's gotta be at least ten years since I left Intelec after what's-his-face took over the network -- no wonder I had trouble digging your name out of my memory. Good to see you around, Joe -- I hope you'll be hanging out here.
Oh, BTW, did you know that Intelec still survives? I stumbled across it on the Web, of all places -- the bozo who took it over still runs it with his nose-in-the-air self-righteous attitude, only now he uses a website to distribute message packets.
-- Bob
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It's a "magical" land. I think "magical" is ancient Greek for "pain in the butt". -- Bun-Bun, Sluggy Freelance, 11/9/03
IST-7 -- "IST Twilight Of The Heroes".
An IST version of Alan Moores never-used pitch to DC for an apocalyptic superhero series. (
www.scribd.com/doc/4592/T...Alan-Moor)
"The world of Twilight is not a world where the superheroes have deliberately taken over, but one where they have inherited the Earth almost by default as various social institutions started to crumble in the face of accelerating social change, leaving the superheroes in the often unwilling position of being a sort of new royalty. Even though government and civic authority has all but disintegrated, the various areas of America each have their own coteries of protecting superfolk to look after them, and the superheroes have thus tended to group into clans, each looking after a certain province. There are numerous "Houses" of this nature dividing America up into a kind of feudal barony system effectively, in terms of politics if not in terms of technology, which is as advanced as one might expect by 2000 A.D. "
Regards, CThe future's so dark, I've gotta wear mirrorshades.
IST - 8 (aka X-Side) -- IST, The Masquerade Meets IST, Illuminatus
Supers have existed since time began - they were many of the heroes and even some of the Gods of the ancient legends. But around the Rennaisance, the Supers took a decision to hide from more mundane men.
It began in the wake of the witch-hunts and pogroms which had already forced the vampires and lycanthropes, the Sidhe and others, to take upon themselves a masquerade, pretending to not be what they truly were or fading from human sight as far as possible. The aim of those metahuman powers who had fought with the non-humans for supremacy for so very long was that, now they had the ascendancy, they would never relinquish it. Yet the endless crusades and killings hurt their charges, humanity, almost as much as their enemies.
Accordingly, as some of the Super groups - the Illuminati of occult legend - began to push scientific achievements as a way to combat supernatural powers and as others in such groups decided that only humans should have access to magic at all, many were of the view that it was best to play down the powers of the supernatural in the public eye. The doctrine of scientific materialism, rather than the power of the soul and spirit, began to gain ascendancy in the scientific literature, whereas before great thinkers like Newton had welded their science and their magic into one seamless whole. At the same time, there was immense behind the scenes pressure exerted to report supernatural phenomena as more mundane, or to belatedly give them a more mundane explanation. By depriving the supernatural of its credibility and its publicity, it was hoped, various non-human powers would lose their hold of fear over mankind and could be more effectively combated.
It worked. As the common man grew less and less likely to believe in magic, so magic and magical creatures actually grew weaker. In some way, it had been theorized, the mana level of the world was determined by the very belief of the worlds inhabitants in the possibilities of magic. The grand experiment of The Enlightenment was the result. Humanity was unusually adept at using science instead of magic - and so it was that humanity became truly ascendant over those supernatural forces the supers of the Illuminati had set themselves to permanently defeating. The long period of Imperial colonialism and the White Mans Burden was in reality a massive and coordinated campaign by Illuminati front groups and factions to spread the doctrine of scientific materialism and a scientific explanation for every phenomenon to every corner of the globe.
By the height of the Victorian era, The Veil had become not only commonplace but also traditional across Europe and North America, transforming into the rigid codes of today. Various secret groups like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen were policing possibly high-profile extraordinary incidents while other people (at the direction of Illimunati) were pushing an aggressive narrative that said every paranormal phenomenon must have a mundane explanation, no matter how much more implausible it might be. Accordingly, in these lands the power of magic and supernatural entities reached a nadir. Eventually, they began to fight back.
It is thought that the Sidhe were the first to realize that, if they werent to be totally pushed out of their traditional British realms, they had to create believers again - and fast. They used their waning powers to influence the Romantic movement and to push themselves back into the publics imaginations. Other groups and entities caught on fast and used their last vestiges of magic to inspire the likes of Bram Stoker, Jules Verne, the Theosophy movement and many others. Conan Doyle himself fell victim to the fairy pictures arranged by one Sidhe noble. Even Illuminati groups that wished to use magic themselves found themselves clandestinely planting or inspiring fantastical fiction or a front group of pseudo-magical aficionados. The program of creating a non-supernatural doctrine of explanation for the world also continued as its aim of limiting the powers of magical creatures was still useful - after all, the exploding world population needed both to preserve any balance of power - and so gradually evolved the complex interplay of belief and counter-belief that is so integral a part of The Veil today.
With the rise of communism and fascism it was inevitable that government security organizations would be co-opted or created by various interested factions to enforce The Veil from both the normal and the extraordinary sides. Here it is that we see the beginnings of groups such as the X-Files unit of the FBI, the M.I.B.s of the United Nations and various other shadowy secret government super-led groups. So too, unscrupulous extraordinary actors were set upon using mass belief or mass control to affect paranormal ends. When it was discovered that the Nazis had been using their pseudo-Teutonic mythology of the Master Race and the mass genocide of the Holocaust to summon and control vast paranormal powers in aid of their war effort, the final strictures of the modern Veil were created to prevent a re-occurrence. Apart from some notable incidents during the belief struggles of the late Sixties, the rules have not been seriously challenged these last five decades. Non-human groups of all kinds have, some more and some less reluctantly, been forced to accept The Veil as part of their own lives and actions too.
Now, governments have secret laws which specify the harshest penalties for extraordinaries who bring their world to the notice of normals, ranging from imprisonment through magical and psionic memory and power erasure to execution. Government and non-government agencies, all under the direction of some extraordinary group, enforce these laws and work to prevent major breakthroughs. As of the late Eighties, the term X-Siders for non-normals has gained currency but old hands will still speak of extraordinaries.
Likewise, mages and psis working for governments use mass memory management techniques to ensure that such breakthroughs that do occur are forgotten or remembered as something much different. For instance, with the development of broadcast forgetfulness or suggestion spells imbedded in live TV programs, there has been an explosion in reality shows designed to make the viewing public believe that reality isnt the way they saw it last Tuesday when that mage and that dragon were dueling on Main Street. Instead, they remember the warehouse fire caused by some out-of-town punks who stole a fuel tanker and drove it into the building. Others run conspiracy theory websites or newspapers like the National Enquirer - their aim being to create a predisposition in the populace to not believe reality beyond The Veil even when it smacks them in the face. The mundane explanation, no matter how improbable, is the one now accepted most easily. Anything else is quickly written off as crazy.
This IST world is a normal mana world - its just that normals dont know it and most disbelieve so hard that they make themselves into a low or null mana location! Certain really mundanely normal and dreary places - insurance company offices, military facilities and the like - will be low mana areas. Sidhe lands and areas where it feels like magic is in the air such as ancient sites, ley lines and areas of great natural beauty will be high mana.
Regards, CThe future's so dark, I've gotta wear mirrorshades.
Hey Cernig! Welcome to the forums!
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IST-7 -- "IST Twilight Of The Heroes".
Wow. This bears a strong resemblance to some parts of my defunct
Super Rebels project... (a fragment of which can be seen in
Shapeshifters, btw...)-- Bob
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One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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IST - 8 (aka X-Side) -- IST, The Masquerade Meets IST, Illuminatus
And this is kind of like "Supers World of Darkness"... and the bit about having to cultivate believers reminds me of another defunct project that I worked on for SJG, a GURPS supplement with the working title of
Elfpunk...
Cernig, are you someone I know from SJG or the community around it?-- Bob
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One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Hi Bob,
No, I'm not associated with SJG in any way, although if they offered I'd accept in a heartbeat. I'm just very good with a search engine :-) That's how I ended up here after searching for additional online material I could use for "X-Side".
IST-8 X-Side is my own homegrown Supers campaign, now just a couple of months old. I'm an old CP2020 fan and wanted that conspiratorial/dark present "edge" in the game. The belief thing is actually taken from Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry books about the Sidhe alive and well in present-day America. I really liked her idea that individuals could gain in power from being worshipped and extrapolated it out into GURPS mana terms.
I figure for every x number of devout ('true faith'ed) worshippers (on a log, not linear scale) a character should be able to get either a level of Mana Enhancer or a enhancement to their Energy reserve or a boost to their base powers. Maybe with a parallel limitation for handing out power by way of x number of worshippers with Power Investiture. I've not gotten around to crunching game-balanced numbers yet though. The same could be done for mythic fantasy, In Nomine etc. There simply isn't a game mechanic for worshipper/God or DemiGod or Hero power interactions as yet. Any ideas, or should I ask Kromm? :-)
IST-7 "Twilight" is, as I said in my post, based entirely on the never-used Alan Moore treatment for DC I linked - which is hugely worth the read. It seemed to be a logical next quantum step from IST-3 and then X-Side would be the next quantum step from there.
Regards, C
Oh, BTW - you asked what should be in any new IST book? Definitely tips on alternate campaign settings/flavors. Give GM's some more meat than just the one "compulsory" world-view. You don't have to call them Infinite Worlds quanta if there's no SJG involvement, I doubt the notion of alternate dimensions is held under license :-)The future's so dark, I've gotta wear mirrorshades.