Crowdsourcing the Timeline

[Bob Schroeck]

Mark -- I'd have to check my bookshelf at home, but I'm pretty sure I don't have that one. Horror gaming -- despite writing 2/3 of the GURPS WOD books -- was never my interest.

As for IST 2K Seoul, oh, go for it and let us know how the point totals shake out. Maybe we can consider that the first playtest...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Acyl]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

Acyl, thanks also from me for the analysis -- rerendered in more formal language it could well make a good box. 

Glad to help, in any way I can. I'm happy it was useful? I'll rephrase it to be...less colloquial once I get a chance to refresh my memory with the original IST book, probably at the weekend. Same direction, I guess - background, campaign implications, brief note about the possibility of running a game of Chinese supers. 
I'll drop the proper terms in - for example, a quick google confirms I was thinking of the maxim ????(fù guó qiáng bing), "rich (or prosperous) country, strong army". Apparently it was referenced by President Xi just last month. Feel free to cut, slice and dice anything I post, of course, I've got no idea what's apropos. 
Ironically, as it happens...I'm actually poking stuff for work right now on Hong Kong and regional politics. Unfortunately, it doesn't involve people in brightly coloured capes and tights, but hey, can't win 'em all.
-- Acyl

[Mark Skarr]

For the IST 2K Seoul game, these are the events that I’ll be using before the March 19th start date to the game:

A massive explosion (1.5-2 kilotons) in the upper atmosphere in the Yukon, puts all of America and Canada on alert.  Identifying meteoroids falling on Tagish Lake, in British Colombia Canada does little to allay the fears of the two nations.

Alaska Airlines flight 261 declares an emergency over the Pacific near Point Mugu, California.  Quick response from IST Los Angeles and local rescue teams manage to assist the plane into making an emergency landing in the ocean and rescue all 88 persons onboard.

Confederation representatives are interested in human technology, but, due to the vast distances involved are only willing to make agreements for information and media exchange as their trade ships would take over 4 years to reach Earth if it was within range.  The trip is untenable for even the fastest Meeranon vessel.

The American-designed, New York City Fusion Reactor becomes unstable and has to be taken off line.  A small amount of unidentified radioactive material escapes.  Allegations run wild as to the safety and source of American Fusion power.

The Doomsday Cult “Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God” summons the Blue Demon to bring about the end of the world.  The Blue Demon appears, devourers all of the cultists, then moves on to ransack nearby villages.  IST Kampala and local forces are in pursuit of the creature to stop its reign of terror.

This will be the first major event during the game, leading to a skirmish with North Korean, exchange-hired mercenaries:

President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea and U.N. negotiator Dr. Jillian Michaels travel to Pyongyang to meet with North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-il and members of the Chinese government to see about de-escalating the stand-off at the DMZ.

This will happen at the beginning of the second session:

During a break in the negotiations, Jillian reports to her superiors that, while slow, the negotiations are progressing—the Chinese delegation do appear to be genuinely interested in peace and stability in the region. Her report is cut short by a massive explosion devastating the palace. China quickly secures the ruins, refusing any outside, including North Korean, assistance.

A number of skirmishes between North and South Korean forces will ensue, and by the beginning of April:

China declares that Kim Dae Jung had smuggled a powerful explosive device into the meeting and detonated it in an attempt to murder Kim Jong-il and his family. They accuse the U.N. of assisting in this assassination. China seizes control of North Korea and attacks the DMZ.

A stunned world condemns China and demands an unbiased investigation.

And from there, we'll see where the war takes us.

[Mark Skarr]

After a brief discussion with Gold & Appel, Inc. and a bit more research on the DMV . . . Z! DMZ! I’ve got a couple of changes.

Border skirmishes across the DMZ increase significantly due to the US steadily withdrawing its forces from the ranks of U.N. Peacekeepers. While troop increases on the North Korean side continue, the U.N. struggles to fill the gaps left by the US. Mercenary Meta forces, on both sides, sortie and probe their enemy lines looking for weaknesses.

After the explosion, but before the “investigation” is complete:

Numerous cross-border raids and attacks increase explosively. Several North Korean incursions are turned back by joint South Korean and U.N. Peacekeeper forces.

--
I didn’t notice the “DMV” the first time I typed it. When I did my first read-through I caught it, and decided it was funnier to leave it there and correct myself.

[Mark Skarr]

Wow . . . a lot seems to have happened in 2002.
In La Fayette, Georgia, investigators discover a crematory selling corpses to an unidentified necromancer.  After a harrowing battle, all contact is lost with the investigators and they are presumed killed.  The necromancer and his undead servants, vanish.

Ryanair Flight 296 burst into flames upon landing at London’s Stansted Airport.   Two members of IST London were at the airport for personal business and assisted in evacuating the plane.  Only a single casualty occurred, an Irish man who survivors claim was where the fire started.

Switzerland officially joins the U.N. by a narrow margin.

A coup in Venezuela succeeds in deposing President Hugo Chávez.  As the coup is an internal matter, IST Caracas only provides support and defense of civilian groups, and defending themselves when attacked.  The US immediately recognizes the newly selected Pedro Carmona as the official interim President of Venezuela.  Pedro Carmona asks the US for assistance in securing the country.  The US sends several “all-volunteer” squads of metas and significant numbers of conventional forces to assist the now-pro-US regime.  Rumors and accusations fly that the US CIA and Special Forces instigated and backed the coup.

The Colombian drug lords, now wary of a US puppet state next door, begins attacking Venezuelan borders with jugo victims.  Colombian drug lords make inquiries about directly allying with The Exchange while hiring large numbers of metahuman mercenaries.

A Chinese Boeing 767, carrying refugees and defectors, crashes into Busan, South Korea.  All 128 people on board are killed as are 93 more on the ground near the crash site.  Investigation finds remains of a bomb mounted inside one of the wing fuel-tanks.

At the unveiling of the Man With Two Hats monument in Apeldoorn, Princess Margriet is killed by an unidentified suicide bomber.

The US officially withdraws from the U.N. and indicates its plan to construct new, ballistic missiles.  U.N. agencies (including all US-based IST Embassies) are giving until the end of 2004 to leave the United States.  The U.N. turns off all, remaining, U.N. reactors in the US.  US reactors pick up the slack from the U.N. reactors going off line.

French President Jacques Chirac is assassinated by suicide bomber Maxime Brunerie.  Investigators can find no bomb residue.  Analysis of Brunerie’s few remains lead authorities to determine he was a metahuman.

A group of suicide bombers detonate in Bali’s nightclub district.  More than eight-hundred people are killed and thousands more injured.  The Blue Demon appears and hampers rescue workers.  It is brought down by IST Bali.

Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture in Moscow and takes nearly a thousand civilians hostage.  Because of a bungled rescue attempt, the rebels begin executing the hostages.  The Blue Demon appears—only having been defeated days before—during the attempt and massacres hostages, rebels and rescuers alike.  IST Moscow, already on site, manages to defeat the creature before too many other casualties are inflicted.  The death toll reaches just over 1,000.

After a secret investigation of the Enron Corporation, US authorities discover the Enron board has been in the employ of The Exchange for decades.  Countless documents and secrets about America’s fusion reactors had been leaked to hostile powers, and many flaws and problems with the reactors had been covered up.  When Federal Agents, backed by official US super teams, move to arrest them, they destabilize American fusion reactors in Anchorage, Dallas, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York and Washington D.C.—the same cities where IST Embassies reside.  Quick action by local ISTs manage to shut down all but the Washington D.C. reactor.  With the assistance of NASA’s most powerful teleporter, Roger “Shunt” Evans, IST Washington D.C. is able to extricate the majority of the US Congress and Supreme Court and teleport them to Buckley AFB in Denver, Colorado before the Washington D.C. reactor goes critical and detonates.  More than 10,000 people are killed in the explosion.  Unsurprisingly, the Blue Demon appears in the ruins.

[Mark Skarr]

2003-A shuttle returning Confederation dignitaries to the UNSS Wanderer disintegrates as it reaches orbit.  All passengers are killed.  Investigators eventually discover sabotage leading to the destruction of the shuttle.

A fire-based metavillain detonates a band’s pyrotechnics during a performance in Rhode Island.  The resulting conflagration sets the club they were playing ablaze and kills nearly three hundred people.  The Blue Demon appears and wreaks havoc on first responders before being driven off.

The largest coordinated vigil takes place across the globe as a world-wide protest against the War in Southeast Asia.

US FBI agents raid HealthSouth’s Corporate Headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama.  Unexpected stiff and armed, resistance requires the deployment of a US Super Team.  It is discovered that the company’s CEO was providing access to the company’s records to the Exchange.  The CEO, Richard Scrushy, was found dead in his office, executed by an unidentified metahuman.

Over the course of fourteen days, more than a thousand tornadoes ravage the central plains of the United States.  As the UNSS Wanderer moves in to investigate the weather system, it comes under hostile fire from an unidentified space craft.  The Wanderer is damaged, and moves away, only catching glimpses of the vessel dropping back into Earth’s atmosphere and vanishing amongst the clouds.

An earthquake in northern Algeria kills more than 2,000 people.  The Blue Demon appears and nearly doubles that number before being driven off.

A heat wave spreading across Pakistan and India kills more than 1,200 people.  Weather-based supers identify the bizarre weather pattern as “unnatural” and presume the same force that caused the American tornado outbreak to be responsible.

A heat wave hits Europe, leaving more than a hundred people dead in Paris alone.  IST London, Milan and Paris coordinate their efforts and bring down a Chinese orbital shuttle.  It is equipped with some sort of weather control equipment.

A suicide bomber takes out a Wimbledon-area power station, plunging parts of southern London into darkness.  This shuts down more than half of London’s subway system.

In a running battle near the city of Chongquin between IST Commandos and Chinese forces, a natural gas mining structure was hit and detonated a large section of the field.  Thousands of workers were killed in the explosion.  The Blue Demon appeared, eventually heading to the city of Chongquin.  China publically blamed the IST for the “deliberate attack on civilian targets.”

The United States approaches the U.N. for re-admittance.  Unable to protect their fusion reactors from Exchange attack, the US requests reactivation of all U.N. fusion reactors.

[Acyl]

Mark Skarr wrote:

---

The largest coordinated vigil takes place across the globe as a world-wide protest against the War in Southeast Asia.

...

In a running battle near the city of Chongquin...

Southeast Asia should probably be simply 'East Asia' here. Mainly because China and the Koreas are considered Northeast Asian countries. There's a suggestion that the Philippines be invaded in the thread, but that's the only mention of a Southeast Asian country per-se. 
Incidentally, the real-world US has a pretty serious mutual defence treaty with the Philippines, signed in 1951, which would likely still exist in IST.
If you're referring to ??, the romanised city name would be Chóngqìng or Chongqing.  
-- Acyl

[Acyl]

As an aside, thinking about it - a scenario where China goes to war over the need to assert sovereignty over Hong Kong is almost certainly going to spread. I made the earlier statement that China isn't expansionist per-se, and that's true. But what China considers sovereign territory may be what other countries also claim is their turf, such as the Diaoyu/Senkaku and Spratly Islands.
This should be pretty obvious, since China's maritime territory disputes with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have been consistently in the news these past few months. These claims would almost certainly still exist in the IST timeline, since most of them date back to before the Communist Party took power - you want to blame the people that now run Taiwan for that. 

Amusing, some media and academics in China are currently questioning Japan's claims to Okinawa...but this is basically extreme crackpot politics. This stuff is coming out of the Global Times. The international English media tends to characterise the Global Times as a state-owned newspaper and media network. That's true, but everything in China's state-owned. The Global Times is really China's answer to Fox News at its worst. 

Anyway, digressions aside - I mention this because talk about the extent of the war was...what, Hong Kong, spillover with North Korea and South Korea, the Philippines? 

Is there consensus is on how far fighting might actually spread, in the event that a war (or wars) in Asia actually breaks out? 

There's also a lot of focus thus far in the timeline on land war and land occupation. Though personally I think it'd more likely for there to be naval (or maritime aviation) clashes involving China, the Koreas...perhaps Vietnam, the Philippines, maybe Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and so on. I'm thinking WWII with more flying people hijinx, but that's just the war comics fan in me talking.

It's likely Australia would play a role as well; traditionally they've been a major contributor to real-world UN military and paramilitary missions deployed in the region, for instance following the civil war in (and eventual independence of) East Timor.

EDIT: I really really do apologise if I'm at all coming off as a nitpicking know-it-all dick about this. It's just that this is kind of my thing, so I can't help but poke at it. 
-- Acyl

[Mark Skarr]

Acyl wrote:

---

Southeast Asia should probably be simply 'East Asia' here. Mainly because China and the Koreas are considered Northeast Asian countries. There's a suggestion that the Philippines be invaded in the thread, but that's the only mention of a Southeast Asian country per-se. 

Incidentally, the real-world US has a pretty serious mutual defence treaty with the Philippines, signed in 1951, which would likely still exist in IST.

If you're referring to ??, the romanised city name would be Chóngqìng or Chongqing.  

Ah, good point.  When I'm working on stuff, I'm just getting it on paper.
I'll have to check the IST History of WWII.  It may be the U.N. instead of the US, but the point is still valid.  Will read more when I have time (or Bob can make a declaration, if he gets time to).
And, uh, yeah, it was supposed to be that.  It didn't show up as a mispelled word because Word had no idea what it was.
As for "nitpicking," I don't want to over-step my place, but, I think Bob would agree: "bring it on!"  While this isn't our world, knowing bits and pieces about the real China will help us define the IST China.
An important note is that IST China has been pretty secretive--they're not even on the security council anymore.  Right now, I'm just picking up events from the real world and taking the ones that have an IST flair when viewed that that lens. 
As for Australia--I agree.  I figure that Australia will be one of the most important locations of the war.  Which is ironic as that's where my old IST Alice Springs, the IST Mental Instution, is located (hence the reference to "patients" in a previous post.  I-Beam, Johnny T-Rex, Psleeper, Running Gag, and Starchild were all patients there (I'll have to see if my original notes survived the five moves since I ran that campaign).  I-Beam had PTSD.  Johnny T-Rex had suffered a personality collapse and was now "obnoxious."  Psleeper had a nervous breakdown.  Running Gag . . . was Running Gag (and not allowed out without supervision--she wasn't a patient, she was a resident.  "I GOTTA GO WALKIES!").  Starchild suffered from suicidal depression, which was bad for a cosmic-level entity.  They were all, quite powerful, but too dangerous and unpredictable to be let out on their own (it was a humor-centered game that turned out pretty well).

[Bob Schroeck]

Wow. Mark, you're overwhelming me with good stuff. I've barely even been able to look at my own sources -- almanacs and whatnot -- to think about my contributions, and yours are... wow.

And Acyl, nitpick all you want. I certainly won't think you're a dick.

And by the way, anyone reading this -- if you'd like cameos of your own teams or supers, let me know. I'd be happy to slot them in where I can. Especially if you have someone who died in action -- even though it looks like the IST NY memorial plaza has been glassed, I'm still going to list the KIAs.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

Wow. Mark, you're overwhelming me with good stuff. I've barely even been able to look at my own sources -- almanacs and whatnot -- to think about my contributions, and yours are... wow.

Just tryin' to help.
I'm trying to figure out a good 9/11 style attack to have happened against IST NY and U.N. HQ.  Though, I'm not likely to have it happen on 9/11.

even though it looks like the IST NY memorial plaza has been glassed, I'm still going to list the KIAs.

There will be another IST NY Memorial Plaza, I'm sure.

[Mark Skarr]

Okay, so I’m thinking the attack that decapitates the U.N. should come in 2002. That’ll be the 30th anniversary of the Edicts of 1982. I’m thinking that a nuclear weapon should be used, as it would be that “ironic justice” that people would be looking for. It would also devastate a lot of the city.

Who did this? We’ve got a number of nation choices: China and/or North Korea (have the most to gain by a confused, off-balance U.N.), Colombia (waging a Drug War on the U.N.), Cuba (hate the U.N. and hold them responsible for their current, craptastic, circumstances), Guatemala (run by hostile metas), Libya (powered by crazy) and the PLO (they’ve got lots of nukes).

It, however, doesn’t have to be a nation that does this. Metavillians would have the resources, as would The Exchange.

It could also have been from a Psi/Stealth bomber. Just because the US scrapped their plans doesn’t mean that they weren’t stolen or leaked at some point and a nation or Metavillain has built one and takes it on a bombing run of New York City. Sure, it’s a “suicide bombing” but, it would send a powerful message to the world. But, if the bomber also has invisibility . . .. (cue the invisible jet jokes.)

A final option would be to have it be the result of hostile alien activity. Say, the Markran. The destruction of the U.N. would drastically reduce the likelihood that they would be able to discover the Markran base hidden somewhere nearby (the moon or some NEMO).

Oh, and, if you want me to stop, Bob, just say the word and I'll stop.

[robkelk]

Why not just put the nuke on a boat and sail it to Manhattan? One wouldn't have to use a freighter (that would be inspected), just a large cabin cruiser (which could more plausibly slip through any Coast Guard security procedures, which as I understand it concentrate on larger ships).

Yes, I know ground-level blasts aren't as destructive as blasts at altitude are - but that might be an argument in favour of doing it this way in this case. Less immediate destruction means more wounded and fewer outright-dead, which will put a strain on the medical infrastructure and keep supers with healing powers busy.

And that might be just what the mastermind wants...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Dartz]

Put the bomb on Cargo airliner.

Especially from a lower-end carrier, or with bribed ground crew to put the crate in the hold. No need for any weird complexities. Depending on where and what altitude the bomb detonates.... fun could be varied. Metavillains have brains too, and oftentimes, the best form of stealth is what somebody expects to see.

A crate of "Pinball Machine Parts"

Also, it is highly likely this thread is now being monitored by the NSA. Funny that.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Mark Skarr]

I had every plan on the blast happening at street-level. The advantage of a large, cabin cruiser is some of them have garages and can carry vehicles. Take a vehicle somewhere, have a pony put inside it, and drive it to the U.N.

You could load the bomb in a cargo airliner. As it flies off, over the U.N. it nose dives into it. Right at the moment of impact (or the instant before) the bomb detonates. Sure a lot of people would try to escape, but, a 400,000 lb vehicle moving 400 mph is hard to stop. I don’t know if IST New York could react fast enough, or has the power level, to save the area.

A little bit of mind control would allow you to bypassing bribing the guards. This is supers. However . . . if THAMF could pull this off, it would be a major coup—and they shouldn’t have access to metahuman powers.

In our games, all crates with interesting objects are labeled “Playground Equipment.”

[Acyl]

On the question of who's responsible for blowing up the UN, those are all interesting potential culprits. Even if one particular direction's chosen, it'd still be awesome to see a lengthy sidebar or something about the alternative possibilities. I always appreciate that sort of campaign seeding in sourcebooks.
Largely because the implications would be very different. If it's a nation-state behind the attack, it's a more conventional (military) war scenario. If it's drug lords, albeit ones with instant-superpower juice, that's a messier shadow war sort of world. Then there's the alien option, which makes it all into a more existential and possibly more cosmic setting. 

EDIT: For obvious reasons, real-world street-level and building security at the UN complex is extremely tight (I visited as a student). In the IST world, I imagine there'd be even more crazy serious technological defenses. Obviously, the big shiny sphere sculpture near the main entrances is a force-field projector...

Because of that, I kind of like the idea of the place being taken down through stealth and guile, something smuggled into the building somehow. Or maybe crazy technobabble, like a delegate spontaneously having his body convert to antimatter or whatever. I dunno.

Though the idea of all those precautions being irrelevant because excessive explosive force was used from the outside is equally interesting.
-- Acyl

[Mark Skarr]

I agree that a sidebar about alternate bombings would be quite interesting, but I think we should know who did it in the official story.

Making it vague will make it difficult to tie events together.  But, really, that's not my decision.

As for the delegate converting into explosives . . . that is a plot I'm using.  I've been using a metavillain for years named "Bombmaker" (he's responsible for a lot of the suicide bombings).  He's the ultimate terrorist.  In my Super San Diego games, he was working for the Islamic Terrorists, but is actually Serbian.  Money is money.

He turns a person into an undetectable biological explosive (Crushing Innate Attack; Explosive 2, +100%; No Signature, +20%).  They do as much damage as their weight in TNT, which can be quite substantial (a 150 lb person does 147d and some fragmentation).  The trigger (Triggered Delay, choose details at time of use, +100%) is the person being in a certain place.  He is, however, non-nuclear.

As the power that made them a bomb was an Affliction, a powerful Healer (Cures Affliction) could revert it, but they'd have to know about it.  But, if Bob is interested in using him, I would probably build the power with an expiration date as well.
ETA:  And yes, he can use it on animals as well.  Think about him "infecting" a swarm of rats . . .. Or a horse.  Or a whale.

[Mark Skarr]

2004-a Banner Year for the Blue Demon

More than 250 pilgrims are trampled to death and hundreds more injured at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. The Blue Demon appears amidst the confusion.

The Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front captures Gonaïves, Haiti. The popular movement struggles until reinforced by expatriates from the neighboring Dominican Republic. Rumors abound that the US is supporting the rebels. Fearful of yet another American puppet government in the Caribbean, Colombian, Cuban and Guatemalan troops and metas reinforce Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government.

A freight train near Neyshabur, Iran catches fire and explodes killing more than 300 people, mostly rescue workers. The Blue Demon arrives and adds to the carnage.

A series of suicide bombers detonate their explosives across Madrid’s rail network simultaneously. Several commuter trains are shattered and three stations collapse due to the damage. Thousands are killed in the blasts. The Blue Demon appears and greatly hinders IST Madrid’s rescue attempts before it is driven off.

Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea, officially surrenders to China.

The masterminds behind the suicide bombings in Madrid are tracked down by IST Madrid. They manage to kill two members of IST Madrid in their own suicide bombing, which levels a city block and kills nearly three hundred people. The Blue Demon appears, killing another member of IST Madrid before being driven off again.

Dr. Jillian Michaels steps into a U.N. COPPF meeting. Thought dead for five years, she claims she has information about the Chinese plans, but desperately needs help rescuing her children. Amidst committee protests, IST New York’s Alpha Team accompanies Dr. Michaels through the door and vanishes along with her. They return days later where Dr. Michaels provides documents and proof of the Chinese delegation in North Korea caused the explosion, beginning the war.

In Yelwa, Nigeria religious tensions come to a head between Muslims and Christians resulting in the massacre of more than 600 Muslim nomads. Yet again, the Blue Demon appears, slaughtering without regard to religious orientation. ISTs Abuja, Niamey and Porto Novo manage to destroy the creature.

A massive tornado strikes the town of Hallam, Nebraska, wiping it out. The record-setting tornado is dispersed by IWO revealing another Chinese weather-altering shuttle. US combat aircraft destroy the vehicle before it reaches orbit.

Hurricane Charley approaches Florida. IWO teams come under fire as Chinese forces drive the hurricane forward. The Chinese weather shuttles are destroyed by orbital fire from a Kronin Battleship psi-jumped into Earth Orbit. Kronin units reinforce U.N. fronts across the war, turning several battles and routing Chinese forces in a number of theatres.

A massive earthquake rocks Niigata Prefecture in Japan. Within minutes, another earthquake follows. Over the next two days more than two dozen earthquakes shake the island. ISTs Osaka and Tokyo uncover a Chinese earthquake machine. With the help of Kronin soldiers and orbital fire, the machine is destroyed.

Kronin sensors detect another Chinese earthquake machine off the west coast of Sumatra. As forces are deployed to destroy it, it triggers a catastrophic earthquake at the Indian and Burma Plates. Earthquakes across the globe trigger. More than a quarter-million people are killed across fourteen countries. The entire world rallies behind the U.N. Kronin shock troops begin assaulting mainland China.

[Bob Schroeck]

Mark, why should I tell you to stop? At this rate, you'll do all my work for me before I have a chance to sit down and do my own!

Seriously, this is good material. I see no reason not to let you keep working up stuff, especially as I don't have to have this all nailed down just to give Steve an outline/proposal. As long as I can provide a good sense of "where we are now", the history can remain fluid and subject to revision all the way up to practically the last minute. Thus this isn't necessary final, just a good starting point.

Anyway, it's clear we're building up to something here. What I think I'd like to see is the danger level here peaking around 2004 or 2005, after which it drops back to comparative peace for almost a decade before beginning to resurge circa 2014-15, the projected "now" for the book.

As for the thirtieth anniversary bomb, yes, that's a good idea, I like it. I also like the idea of the Bombmaker -- but leaving the culprit open for the GM to decide is I think the way to go. Acyl's point about a box detailing all the Usual Suspects is something I would definitely do then.

If the UN has forcefield defenses, that gives us an interesting option -- a nuke which the forcefield contains, except maybe for the radiation pulse. IST NY could still get wiped out, but the building (and memorial plaza) would remain standing...

A bomb on a cigarette boat has been tried once before in the IST history -- Miami, IIRC, a Cuban or Cuban-backed plot.

More if my life stops throwing all kinds of crazy -- like the 2-hour traffice jam I was trapped in last night on my commute home -- at me.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

Well, if I was overwhelming you with the shotgun approach, I could try to slow down.  I’ve got 20+ years of IST games floating around in this morass I call a brain to draw from.  So I have lots of characters who can be heroic or die depending on the circumstances.  But, if you’re happy, I’ll get back to reloading.

As things went writing history, events seemed to play out that 2004 was the crescendo year.  As of my history, the Sumatran Earthquake was a massive crime against humanity that rallies the entire world to beating down China in the next year.  The attack was wildly more successful than China could have hoped for.  And it scared the world.

As for the force field at the U.N. holding in the blast:  That would be one helluva force field.  This being supers, that’s par for the course.  But someone would have to know about the bomb to invert the field and envelop the nuke.  Which brings us two questions, one of which kinda has an answer:

How do they know about the nuke?   Why didn’t they evacuate the facility?

Answering the second question first is somewhat straightforward.  You just don’t evacuate a nuclear detonation site.  They’re too big.  However, that leads to the “why not disarm the stupid thing, then?”  I don’t have a good answer to that as one would assume that inverting a force field would be about as difficult as disarming a thermonuclear weapon.

Now, if we switch this to the force field containing the damage to the U.N. Building, and protecting the rest of the city (including the IST New York building), that makes it a little easier.  Until we come to the issue that the nuke will destroy the force field generator and then wreak havoc across the city.  Albeit, severely weakened.  I doubt the IST NY building could still stand up to the blast as it’s across the street.

Now, having a force field projecting super find the bomb and try to contain it (knowing there’s no time to evacuate or disarm), burning themselves out mitigating the worst of the explosion would also be deeply supers.  I have several events from previous games (including the origin of a super) that could easily be melded into this:

Jennifer and Patrick Wright, visiting the U.N. on vacation while awaiting the imminent arrival of their first child, stumble across a suspiciously parked delivery truck.  Checking to see that the driver is all right, Patrick discovers the bomb.  Jennifer, a private citizen with metahuman powers, sends her husband off to find the authorities as she encases the bomb in an energy diffusing shield.

Before help can arrive, the bomb detonates.  Jennifer sacrifices herself to contain as much of the blast as possible, burning her powers, and her life, out in the process.  The weakened thermonuclear blast still devastates the U.N. building and saturates the surrounding area with a lethal dose of radiation.  Emergency Hazmat responders discover Jennifer’s remains and an unharmed infant girl leaking a steady, lethal dose of radiation from her body.

[Acyl]

The joke I made about a force-field refers to the Sphere Within Sphere sculpture outside the UN complex in New York - that's probably not the best image, but it's the first that came up on Google that gives some sort of context to where it's located and the scale. The other side of the thing, not in that photo, is an unbroken mirror-finished reflective surface. It's a fairly prominent feature, since you have to pass by it to get into the place.
Having to stand in line for waiting to get into the building, a friend and I made many terrible geek jokes about the true sinister significance of the object - from it being a ritual magic foci, to an alien artifact, part of the building's automated defense systems, and so on. I was there for a model UN thing, so basically you had enough university students to make up a full faux-general assembly trying to get past security all at once. We were waiting for a long time, had very little sleep, and were really loopy.
-- Acyl

[Mark Skarr]

Acyl,

Don't forget to post a release in the Release of Right thread.

[Mark Skarr]

We need to make sure that the U.N./China war adds to the world. 

There seems to be a strong resistance to having the war go nuclear—with some good points.  We want IST25, not Fallout IST.  Nukes have been used, so there’s not much mystery in their use.  But, okay, we won’t use too many nukes.

So, we keep the war conventional.  Albeit non-conventionally conventional.  We’re dealing with supers and superscience, so there’s no reason that this war doesn’t get strange.  In my snapshots I’ve already got the Chinese using weather control devices and earthquake machines.  I’ve put together a method for the Chinese to mass-produce metahumans and destabilize the catalyzed fusion reactors.  I’ve brought the Kronin in as allies of the U.N. 

How far does the Pacific war spread?  Is it just World War II all over again?  I hope not.  But, really, it’ll have a lot of similarities.  I don’t see Korea lasting too long, honestly.  Maybe falling in 2002 at the latest.  I know my snapshots have them holding out until 2004, but, that’s kinda silly, when you look at it.  China’ll likely spread through the area quickly as they’ve been preparing for a war.  I don’t think Hong Kong will last too long either.  So, then the U.N. falls back to Japan and Australia.

How deep into Asia does China go?  Do any of their neighbors ally with them (Hey, Acyl, any idea if anyone in that area, other than NK would be on that bandwagon)?  Do any of them resist exceptionally violently.  Are any of them likely to use nukes (keeping in mind the IST world, and not our world.)?  Do any of them put up token resistance and let China roll over them?

However, the most important thing to happen in the war is that the U.N. has to come out of it stronger than it went into it.  Without that, the IST world crumbles around us.  Not that the world falls apart because the U.N. is all that keeps it together, but the U.N. is all that keeps the IST together, and that’s the point of the world.  The U.N. is the central pillar of the world and we have to keep in mind that it needs to come out on top.  If it doesn’t come out on top, then the defining focus of the world has been lost, and we’re not playing IST anymore.

[Bob Schroeck]

However, the most important thing to happen in the war is that the U.N. has to come out of it stronger than it went into it. Without that, the IST world crumbles around us.

Exactly.  Which means that even if China rolls over all of Asia, we need an exceptional response or set of responses.  Resistance movements come to mind as one element to put into play, now that I think on it.
Ooooh, ooooh, evil idea.   This probably is not nearly as good for an established timeline as it would be for a game playing out that timeline as it develops, but if we were to have the rise of a counterpart to Conqueror, and leave his actual loyalties in the dark until the very end...
And since we're bringing up the weird science aspect of the war, you know it's going to drive the TL of the world up. I've been very seriously considering having the world circa 2015 at TL10, albeit just over the line. What do you guys think? Is it too far ahead? Will it make the setting too different from the "real world"? Admittedly, we can "insulate" a lot of TL10 by saying it's not in the mass market yet, but still... Conversely, can we avoid raising the TL without looking like the world's been deliberately retarded in that regard?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

The weird-science aspect doesn’t have to drive the TL up, but it should.

TL10 is a massive step up, but, I think we just might be okay.  If it’s anything like our world, TL is going to range across the planet.  Even so, the majority of the first world will probably be firmly TL9, with a few TL10 objects.  The U.N. will be firmly TL10.  I thought this bit from UltraTech was fairly interesting.  

Superscience: Gravity control technology leads to artificial gravity and contragravity being used in personal vehicles, houses, and weapons, as well as reactionless space drives. Nuclear dampers can neutralize the threat of nuclear weapons. New superscience weaponry becomes available, notably plasma guns and exotic sonic beams.

If the U.N. develops artificial gravity/contragravity, that would give them another “Fusion Power” cash cow to draw upon.  Assuming that it hasn’t been discovered by the Meeranon or the Confederation, it could provide the U.N. a place of authority and respect amongst them as well as a hefty income from off planet.  That was actually where I was taking them with Unity Station.

As for the Nuclear Dampers . . . tell me the U.N. wouldn’t be “frothing at the mouth” to get those.

However, if the technology gets too much higher, we’ll be looking at my Supers Trek game . . . as opposed to IST.  Which I always thought was an interesting world idea.

As for your Conqueror, I’ll see about getting you a copy of Creatures of the Night so you can look up Fabricants. 

With my method of metahuman manufacturing, China takes about 2.5 months to spit out around 25,000 low-powered (200-300 points, with some higher) indoctrinated, trained methumans, at the cost of 100,000 attempts.  Dr. Fox’s Fabricant army can grow every 2d6 days, with no fatalities (though he’d “lose” some people, citing problems, just to have extra spare parts), and they’re fully indoctrinated as he re-writes their programming to be loyal to him.  Plus they’re natively TL10 to boot.

Though, he’s not likely to be much better than China (Fabricants hate the living), he’s smart enough to take the opportunity to grow his army with the help of any group who will provide it . . . until they discover his ultimate plan of world domination and human extinction.  Mwa ha, ha ha ha!

As an aside, a few other culprits who could be responsible for the bombing of the U.N. are good old Centrum and Homeline.  Okay, according to the Infinite Worlds: IST pamphlet, the world is inaccessible to Centrum, so, they’re sort of off the table.  Regardless, neither of them wants to have to deal with reality-hopping supers, and the U.N. is organizing them into a military force the likes of which no non-conquered metahuman reality could stand up to.  That was where Dr. Michaels was between 2000 and 2004.  Her dimensional travel powers activated and she was found and impressed by ISWAT to work for them.  When she figured out how her powers worked, she went to get help, coming back with IST New York’s Alpha Team to rescue her children who were being held hostage.

We could also consider Centrum and Homeline as potential backers for China.  A China/Centrum alliance would be pretty frightening, but not untenable.  While Centrum would be interested by the manufacturing metahumans ability, they wouldn’t want a process that kills almost three-quarters of the potential supers.  Just because Centrum can't get to China doesn't mean that China can't get to Centrum.