GURPS - 4th Edition - Infinite Worlds

Service is poised to become more
important with Centrum’s new inter-
ventionism, as is the new Uplift
Service (p. 54).

At the top, the Grade 7 coordina-
tors compete to set policy, working
through their general assembly, the
Forum, which holds supreme power.
Unofficial factions determine broad
policy: the Interventionists dominate
at the moment. They introduced the
new policies permitting exploration of
and (largely covert) interference in
inhabited timelines. The discovery of
Secundus vindicated them in the eyes
of the Pragmatics, whose main goal is
protecting Centrum from external
threats or domestic disturbances. The
main opposition group today is the
Progressives, who want further
improvements to Centrum’s resource
base and technology and a general
increase in global wealth and living
allowances before taking on large-
scale projects.

Security Service Colleges, but every citizen showing psionic aptitude is channeled
attends a Lyceum from ages 10 to 16. into a special program run by several
There is no single “Security The keystone of the powerful Services – the Interworld Service
Service.” The Justice Service handles Education Service, Lyceums are essentially drafts world-jumpers,
crime – and trespassing or possession boarding schools (home visits are along with teleporters and astral pro-
of unauthorized items is a crime – but allowed bimonthly), which teach basic jectors. Lyceums also use attention-
each Service handles its own building skills (p. 191) and inculcate correct and memory-enhancing drugs and
and equipment security and many attitudes. During their time at the TL8 sleep teachers, among other
don’t like to call in Justice. Service Lyceums, students are repeatedly test- advanced educational protocols. The
complexes have the usual building ed; the Education Service is skilled at Education Service has tried outright
security systems – ID checks, cameras, identifying aptitudes of all sorts. mental conditioning, but it found that
and so forth. Students are subtly, or sometimes bla- such imposed thought patterns tend
tantly, encouraged to join particular to fade over a few months or years.
The Logistics Service has software Services based on the results. Anyone
that tracks purchases and compares
them with grade income, so the black Indentureds
market has to work in kind rather
than using money. There is no paper Centrum’s population is small enough to have a rough time support-
or coined money anyway: credits only ing its civilization, let alone making efficient use of all the other worlds
exist electronically. within reach. One answer is automation, and Centrum does make fairly
extensive use of TL8 robots – but many tasks require too much flexibili-
Citizen IDs contain encoded retinal ty for machines.
patterns and DNA sequences; they are
extremely difficult to forge at TL8 or Human workers from other timelines are an increasingly popular
below. The computer network which solution. These are not Service recruits; they are not citizens at all.
keeps track of authorizations, on the Rather, Centrum offers contracts of indenture: standard terms are 30
other hand, is not as secure as years of labor with paid upkeep and settlement on a colony world at the
Centrum thinks it is. Hackers who end. Indentureds have few rights, and cannot become citizens (although
have familiarity with Centran systems their children can) unless a Service official buys out their contract and
and an access terminal (both admit- sponsors them. It is illegal to coerce anyone into signing a contract of
tedly difficult to acquire) never experi- indenture, but perfectly acceptable to recruit, say, political prisoners
ence a penalty higher than -5, and -2 is from Reich-2 (p. 142) or future sacrifices from the Tenochca Empire on
more common. Ezcalli (p. 122).

Education

Younger children are educated in a
variety of schools, and older ones go to

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 49

Values and Morality Lifestyles Recreational drugs of several varieties
are legal and common, though
Centrum’s basic values are order, Personal wealth plays little role in frowned upon by the upper grades.
rationality, and success. Order is iden- Centran society, and the complexities
tified with the unified state, and its of the economy have no effect on daily Technology
natural opposites are anarchy and life. Citizens get basic needs free,
war. Most Centrans even view techno- although they only become really Centrum is basically TL8, with a
logical progress with suspicion, comfortable (by 21st-century few TL9 devices. Not valuing rapid
because of its potential for social dis- American standards) around Grade 3 technological progress, it has been at
ruption. Rationality means facing – a deliberate policy to encourage TL8 for almost a century, and its
reality, and is manifest in successfully aspiration to higher rank. Further- machines bear the marks of decades
accomplishing one’s goals. Centrum more, many types of equipment are of slow improvement: they are reliable
admires unclouded vision and illegal for personal use. If you need a and rugged rather than flashy and
unflinching will, of the sort that stun gun, an airplane, or a general- “cutting-edge.” Standardized power
rebuilt the world after the Last War; purpose computer professionally, your cells are used for all equipment that
thus, ruthlessness is very nearly a Service assigns it to you; if you don’t, doesn’t connect to the electricity grid.
virtue to them. you have no business buying one. Computers are very common, but usu-
Centrum’s Control Rating is 5. The ally limited-program; there are lots of
Centrum does ascribe value to Justice Service is commendably devot- special-purpose networks, but no
human life, and prefers to avoid ed, but it sees no point in legal niceties Internet. Aside from communications
killing people. It has no patience with that might stop them from quick and weather satellites, Centrum has
discrimination on any grounds except apprehension and punishment of no space program worth mentioning;
talent. The good of society is assumed criminals; e.g., interrogation under astrophysics is useful solely for what it
to outweigh the good of any single drugs is routine. Personal freedoms reveals about parachronics or high-
member, and a major cause for con- are permitted where they don’t inter- energy physics, and Centrum has
cern is the recent growth of personal fere with public order: for example, plenty of resources on other Earths
ambition, and even corruption, in the there is free speech, but the Services that don’t require vacuum suits.
upper ranks. control all publishing and broadcast-
ing. Centrans work an eight-hour day Centrum is extremely rich as a
Living in a culturally uniform six days out of seven; they get Sunday society and has access to phenomenal
society, Centrans are generally nar- off as a holdover from official amounts of raw materials. It disposes
row-minded, and tend to blame Christianity. (Centrum does not of trash, and much industrial waste,
disagreements on irrationality in acknowledge religion publicly; prac- on the lifeless Q8 world Omega.
their opponents. Even Centrans tice is free but not organized. Radical Nuclear fission is perhaps the most
of opposing philosophies have trou- preaching against Centrum is consid- common source of electricity, since
ble coming to grips with each ered treasonous disunity, just like any the Energy Service doesn’t need to
other’s arguments, and they all find it radical threat.) TV is monotonous, but worry about waste disposal. Some
difficult to conceive of a viewpoint the music, mostly imported from heavy industry has been relocated to
that does not share most of their other timelines, is extremely varied the colony worlds, but ecological con-
assumptions. and surprisingly high in quality. trols are in effect in all the worlds
Centrans inhabit.
Centrans are expansionist for dif-
ferent reasons: some see gaining con-
trol of other worlds as a pre-emptive
strike against any possible threat,
some see it as a humanitarian inter-
vention, and some think any increase
of power is its own justification. All
prefer to concentrate on the more
advanced worlds: those are the ones
which might discover parachronics,
the ones in danger of having their
own Last War, and the ones that are
richest if they can only be organized
properly. In any case, the logic of
Centran expansion has no limits:
only an undivided sovereign power is
adequate safeguard against a repeat
of the Last War. Some coordinators
despair at this – there are, in theory,
an infinity of worlds, and there is no
physical reason that the number of
accessible ones should not keep
growing without bound.

50 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

Most Centrans live in the cities Centrum World
and use public rail systems to com- Classification
mute between their apartment build-
ings and Service complexes. Centrum classifies worlds in two fashions: by Wave and by Zone. The
Although old-style districts still exist Wave is equivalent to Homeline’s “Quantum,” although Centrum calls its
in many towns, modern Centran own level (Quantum 8) Wave Zero, and Homeline’s (Quantum 5), for
architecture tends heavily toward example, Wave Minus Three. Centrum can reach Waves Minus Two (Q6)
gigantic glass-and-concrete boxes. through Two (Q10). (For the sake of clarity, even this section uses
The cities are linked by air, since the Homeline terminology.) Centrum also classifies all parallel worlds rela-
Transport Service deemed rebuilding tive to themselves politically, for purposes of travel and other permitted
the passenger rail network inefficient activities.
and ecologically unsound. Hydrogen
fuel-cell automobiles are common in Zone Violet: The original homeworld.
the countryside, but few are privately Zone Indigo: Colony worlds with no other humans. Unlimited access
owned; the Services, especially available to any Centrum citizen. There are three Indigo lines on Q8 and
Agriculture, assign them for appro- one on Q9; each has a few million people.
priate uses. Cargo transport is by Zone Blue: Empty worlds, including those naturally inimical to
GEV truck and ship, many of them human life. Access restricted by Interworld Service for safety reasons.
equipped with parachronic field gen- One Blue worldline on Q8, Omega, is the official “waste disposal” world-
erators programmed to travel to one line. There are also Q6, Q7, and Q10 Blue lines that could be colonies but
other worldline. have not yet been exploited.
Zone Green: Worlds with natives under adequate control. Travel
Medicine restricted to Interworld and Uplift Service, and Grade 5s of any Service.
Zone Yellow: Worlds without established control, with natives too
Centran medicine is basically TL8, primitive to pose a serious threat. This category includes the five known
with TL9 treatments against conta- post-holocaust worlds on Q8. Access limited to Interworld and Uplift
gious diseases thanks to decades of Service agents of Grade 3 or higher, or to licensed Mining Service agents
experience against wild bioweapons. under I.S. supervision.
Centrans who travel to other worlds Zone Orange: Worlds without established control, with natives who
get panimmunity treatments (Resis- have or could soon develop technology sufficient for parachronics
tant to Disease +8) as a matter of rou- (TL7+). Access restricted to I.S. agents with authorization from an I.S.
tine. Centrum is capable of human Grade 5 or higher.
cloning but lacks forced-growth tanks, Zone Red: Hostile worlds, and those with capabilities (TL8+, psionics,
so clones are only created as a special or parachronics) which make them a potential danger. Access restricted
privilege for sterile citizens, public to I.S. agents with authorization from an I.S. Grade 6 or higher.
heroes, or unusually successful coor-
dinators. The Progressives support Nomenclature
large-scale cloning to increase
Centrum’s demographic base, but Until recently, Centrum used Greek-letter designations for the empty
have failed to win the necessary com- worlds that were its major concern: the three colony worlds in Zone
mitment of resources to rear so many Indigo are Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, for instance. The I.S. now official-
parentless children. Bionic implants ly uses a number/letter/number code that gives Wave, Zone, and date of
are available in Centrum, but most cit- first contact. For example, Homeline is Minus Three/R/2015.16.3. In
izens don’t have any need for them practice, I.S. agents use and imitate Infinity’s system of names based on
(they are, of course, legally restricted) the historical point of divergence or notable features in the present.
aside from pacemakers and the like.
Centrum’s scientists have not yet 9-dimensional space – but para- though parachronic travel to a time-
cracked the neural interface problem, chronic travel can reach only a small line tends to restrict its movements.
though they can manage prosthetics number. Active parachronic technolo- Worlds can even switch quantum, or
with simple, reflexive controls. gy induces a polarization effect, so wander into the accessible band from
Implanted communicators and hold- that travelers from the originating outside – a “new” timeline appears
out weapons are common among I.S. world can only reach the timelines in every few years. Events within a time-
personnel who travel in dangerous an 8-space band. Within this band, line also affect its configuration, so
Zones. the timelines condense into waves that timelines move fractionally clos-
(“quanta” to Homeliners), becoming er with historical events that are “sim-
CENTRUM increasingly difficult to reach. ilar” (a word with a precise scientific
PARACHRONICS meaning to parachronic physicists),
The timelines are configured in a or farther apart with events that are
According to current Centrum mathematically predictable pattern “dissimilar.”
theory, an uncountable number of that changes slightly over time,
alternate timelines are arrayed in

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 51

Timelines can theoretically have Parachronic Communications
very different physical laws, but only
fairly similar ones can ever be acces- To send messages between worlds, Centrum uses 10-lb. message-cap-
sible. Most of them have slightly dif- sule conveyors, often equipped with radio transmitters and a ducted-fan
ferent physical laws, usually on the engine to carry them to a safe height for the jump. Manned conveyors
sub-particulate stage. Centrum can have an independent internal “mailbox” that they use when out-quan-
reach a few worlds with significantly tum, exchanging it regularly with a corresponding mailbox at home (as
different natural laws, and a few time- long as they are still in range of a station). Message drones are not used
lines with science so advanced that it’s as often on Q6 and Q7 missions: Centrum isn’t sure how good Infinity’s
hard to tell if they have the same laws. scanning techniques are, but it’s best to err on the side of caution.
Centrum believed parachronic physics
to be a mature science until the late can reliably detect parachronic jumps require spatial identity within 200
1990s, when a flood of anomalous among all accessible quanta. yards. Two-quantum jumps are diffi-
data from more sensitive detectors (Homeline can only detect jumps cult at the best of times; they can only
called everything into question. In within the same worldline.) After 10 occur during a quantum “window”
2015, the Interworld Service discov- minutes and a successful Physics about an hour long. Centrum comput-
ered the existence of Secundus, anoth- (Parachronic) roll, an operator at such ers can predict windows about four
er timeline of crossworld travelers. a station (or examining its data) can days in advance, but are wrong about
Parachronic technology is so sensitive tell the type of jump – projector, con- the last day about one time in six.
to minute variations in physical law veyor, banestorm, etc. – and its quan-
that it should only function in a few tum of origin. After an hour’s analysis THE
timelines, and Centrum’s paraphysi- and a second successful roll, he can INTERWORLD
cists were confident that these lines determine the specific worldline of SERVICE
would repel each other: none could be origin (or its parachronic coordinates,
closer than Q1 or Q15. So what else if it’s an unfamiliar line), and the phys- All parachronic travel is technically
are they wrong about? ical location of the jump (within a few the province of the Interworld Service,
miles). On a critical success, he can and it runs all of Centrum’s
Centrum Parachronic determine the mass of the jump. parachronic stations. In practice it
Technology delegates much of the routine trans-
Centrum also uses parachronic port among the safe zones to the vari-
Like Infinity, Centrum uses convey- detectors on other worldlines, but they ous industrial Services, but otherwise
ors (which it calls shuttles) and pro- can only detect jumps into the same jealously guards its monopoly. Calling
jectors (which it calls stations) to worldline in which the detector is in the Military Service, although
transport people and goods across the located, assuming the operator makes sometimes necessary, is a serious
worldlines. Like Infinity, Centrum can an Electronics Operation (Sensors) black mark against an I.S. agent; this
only send an unassisted conveyor roll. They can only detect type and can give a bad situation a chance to
between worlds in the same quantum. direction; to get a specific quantum, get far out of control.
Like Infinity, their conveyors need a worldline, or jump location requires
parachronic generator (also about two or more detectors to “triangulate” The Interworld Service maintains
1/200 of the conveyor’s mass) and a on a reading. Local detectors take its own enforcers in order to avoid
pulsed power system to provide ener- three times as long to determine spe- such embarrassments, and trains its
gy for the jump. Infinity conveyors cific information (so determining the scouts and covert agents for combat.
need 200 kJ of energy per ton, but the jump’s type and quantum requires half (That said, the main I.S. weapons are
more efficient and mature Centrum an hour of work), and determining the stunner and the needler; there is a
designs require only 100 kJ per ton. specific worldlines and jump locations strong cultural predisposition toward
Like Infinity designs, however, the requires a Physics (Parachronic) roll subtlety within Interworld.) The I.S.
power system costs $50 and weighs 5 at -3. A local detector can fit into a values finesse as well as ordinary suc-
lbs. per kJ. Centrum parachronics are bulky backpack; it costs $600,000, cess, and encourages the use of local
more reliable than Infinity systems; weighs 45 lbs. and has a 1,000-yard resources. Its agents are supposed to
add +2 to Electronics Operation range. If the operator has time to set take a long view, which accounts
(Parachronic) skill for a Centrum- up antennas at least 12 feet away from for their preference for secrecy
built conveyor or projector. the detector unit in all directions, and infiltration over quick-and-dirty
range is expanded to two miles. Larger interference: they want to maintain
Jumps across quanta require sta- units weigh 125 lbs. and cost $1.2 mil- maximum freedom of action.
tions. Centrum has almost a thousand lion for each extra two miles of range.
stations scattered over its surface, Interworld has millions of person-
mostly around urban centers. It even Centrum parachronic stations can nel – it is far larger than its Secundan
has four seaborne stations that can be retrieve shuttles within a half-mile analog, the Infinity Patrol. However,
towed to any point in the oceans. In of their relative location in space, agents considered adequately trained
addition to serving as transport hubs, except for two-quantum jumps, which
these stations monitor the timelines:
from these main stations, Centrum

52 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

to plan or complete missions on Centrum has no general policy of Interworld
uncontrolled timelines are uncom- secrecy about parachronics. In Zone and the Echoes
mon, and those teams make it worse Yellow, agents usually pose as “visitors
by competing for the limited missions from afar,” and use high-tech equip- Almost 300 Quantum 6 timelines
available. Harsh internal criticism ment almost freely; Centrum doesn’t duplicate Secundus at some earlier
does insure that every mission is thor- really care what the natives think as point in its history. Parachronic physi-
oughly planned, with fail-safes and long as they’re not a threat. In at least cists believe that having Secundus’
backups, but it also cuts down the two low-tech worlds (including parachonics operating so close to
total number of operations. Arachne, a Quantum 7 former echo in Centrum’s is creating an interference
the 16th century) the Uplift Service effect attracting these timelines from
Recruiting in has deliberately revealed the existence outside the accessible band. Granted,
Other Worlds of Centrum in the process of creating these are the same scientists who were
puppet governments. certain Secundus could not exist, but
Centrum respects talent, and there is still evidence for their new the-
Interworld is painfully aware of how In Zones Orange and Red, the I.S. ory: the echoes go through predictable
narrow its skill base can be. Under a is much more cautious, and strictly periods of paratemporal instability.
2012 amendment to the Lockridge forbids revelation of parachronic trav- During such periods (about a third of
Protocols, the Interworld Service has el to anyone who might conceivably the time), an echo can shift configura-
the right to invite “especially worthy” build their own conveyors. If they tion very easily, and outtimers’ inter-
outtimers to sign up as Grade 1 know enough about how the locals ference in their histories can cause
trainees. Candidates then endure a think, they will have a cover story them to shift to another quantum –
battery of tests for existing abilities, planned to fit the local conspiracy sometimes across several at once! (See
potential, and reliability, so the Service mythology in case of exposure. For a Timeline Shifting, p. 104.) After a
knows what to do with them. Testing late-20th-century echo, they would major change to local history the time-
poorly probably means being stuck in bring in a UFO or black helicopter. line tends to stabilize in place,
unimportant roles; failing the loyalty Centrum’s primary goal is always to whether it shifted or not.
test brings either restricted movements attain a level of influence sufficient to
and close monitoring (for those too block the development of parachron- As a result, the echoes have
valuable to lose) or exile – or even exe- ics. But most I.S. personnel also want become the major “front” in the war
cution, if the candidate is viewed as a to be in a position to save any other with Secundus. Most scientists agree
potential danger. (The agent who timeline from a Last War, which that shifting enough of the echoes into
recruited an executed candidate can strengthens their general preference higher quanta will eventually cause
count on nuclear waste disposal duty for timelines with a hegemonic power Secundus itself to shift to a lower
for the rest of his career, at best.) over those with competing states. quantum via an action-reaction prin-
Testing well, officially, can qualify an Centrum usually picks one side (the ciple, possibly even out of the accessi-
outtimer for probationary citizenship. one they think they can infiltrate and ble band altogether. Centrum is also
modify most easily) and subtly builds attracted by the idea of adding to the
Outtimers are the only group who it up while undercutting its rivals. If worlds available for eventual exploita-
suffer from widespread social preju- Infinity shows up on the other side, tion. Operations on many Q9 and Q10
dice on Centrum. Officially, recruits Interworld weighs the options – going timelines have been put on hold while
have the same chance for promotion deep underground to sabotage the the Interworld Service concentrates
as anyone else; unofficially, the I.S. is Patrol, openly providing one side with on the echoes: if Centrum doesn’t seize
likely to peg them to mid-level posi- high-tech weapons and advisers, or them now, it may never be able to.
tions without much chance of something in between.
advancement, especially if they were
chosen in the first place because of a Interworld Thinking
special talent for science, languages,
or psionics. Field agents of the Interworld Service are often more broad-minded
than their coordinators, but they still have trouble understanding radi-
Interworld Policies cally different viewpoints like democracy or fundamentalist religion.
Secundus confuses them terribly because of Infinity’s leasing parachron-
The Interworld Service has no way ics to governments and corporations. Even those coordinators who
of investigating timelines besides might favor negotiation with Secundus see it as an anarchy – between
sending people in to take a look. Infinity, the U.N., and powerful national governments, there’s no one to
Normally the first survey plants sever- sign a treaty with!
al teams in sites where most timelines
have important cities (Jericho, Interworld Service agents are trained to take a long view, which is one
Constantinople, London, Nanking, reason they prefer infiltration to visible intervention. The other is that
New Orleans). After that, they use aer- massive force means losing control of local affairs to the Military or
ial surveys in Zones Blue and Yellow, Uplift Service.
lots more agents in Zone Orange, and
a few hand-picked agents in Zone Red.

It is important to note that

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 53

At present, Centrum has shifted rational worldview. Although it would be remorselessly opposed to
nine echoes to Q7 and six to Q8 or Centrum is a no-mana world, the any threat to its parachronic monop-
higher; two were sent to Q5 by mis- Patrol could always find a mana- oly. (But make sure that it can’t invade
taken calculations. Four more have enhancing reality shard somewhere to directly, to keep the campaign a war of
accidentally been shifted to a higher help bring the fun in. The prize for influence instead of just a war.)
quantum by Secundus, which has success would be information: how Although the Military Service is small
also moved three to lower quanta Centrum thinks in general, how they compared to Homeline armies (only
(and one back to Q6 from Q7): calculate timeline shifts, or perhaps half a million men), it is expert at
Infinity can rarely judge the effects of news of a major Centrum operation to blitzkrieg-style strikes on lower-tech
an intervention. stop just in the nick of time (see foes, and with its TL9 weaponry, it
Centrum Plots to Foil, below). would be a mouthful even for some
The Uplift Service high-tech armies.
The Infinity War
Split off from the Interworld In either case, Centrans can fit any
Service in 2012, with some personnel Generally, however, Centrans show “secret agent” character type. It is
from several other Services, the Uplift up on other timelines. Quantum 6 is often difficult to fit continuing NPCs
Service is assigned the job of civilizing the major focus of the struggle, but the into a crossworld campaign, but a
the less developed timelines where Interworld Service operates every- Centran could be the mastermind
Centrum has acquired control. With where. Centrum has a lot less trouble whose schemes the players cross, the
recent policy changes and the war infiltrating a relatively open society shadowy contact who gives them
against Secundus, there are many like Homeline than vice versa, so they information but has a private agenda,
more such worlds than in the past, might even show up in low-quantum or the misguided professional rival
and Centrum is finding the task more worlds, although they would need a (usually of the opposite sex) who tries
of a strain than anticipated. special reason to risk it. No such rea- to recruit the PCs . . . or at least the
son is necessary on Q7 or even Q6: most attractive one.
Uplift is essentially divided into pri- Centrum gives the Interworld Service
vate fiefs of small coordinator groups, all the resources needed to operate Playing Centrans
each with its own idea of how best to within its natural sphere of influence.
modify a world for immediate Players could also participate in
exploitation and long-term absorp- Centrum can also appear as an the infinity war from the other side.
tion. They are being given an unusual- adversary in other crossworld cam- Some groups may like to play the vil-
ly free hand: the consensus is that the paigns: it would probably just try to lains now and then. Or they could play
only rational way to proceed is to try recruit any independent travelers, but outtimers recruited from situations
many different systems and check
back in a generation to see how suc- Centrum Plots to Foil
cessful they have been. Rather hard on
the natives, but their current chaotic Infinity Unlimited has no idea that one of Centrum’s reasons for
squalor is not very attractive either. “stealing” echo timelines is to try and shift Homeline into a lower quan-
tum. In fact, Centrum is trying to adjust timeline configurations to shift
CENTRUM it from Quantum 5 all the way to Quantum 3. Not only would that strand
CAMPAIGNS all the Homeliners unlucky enough to be on Q6 and Q7, it would make
Homeline easily accessible by conveyor from the dangerous Q3 lines
The most obvious use of Centrum such as Merlin-1 (p. 134), Reich-5, and Shikaku-mon (p. 146).
is as a villain in the default Infinite
Worlds campaign. The home world A group of Pragmatics and Progressives has been arguing for a dif-
generally remains offstage, but ferent approach: build a large conveyor-equipped armada on one of the
Infinity Unlimited would dearly love echoes shifted to Q8, then deliberately shift it through Q6 into Q5 and
to know more about its enemy. invade Homeline directly. The main argument against this tactic has
Patrolmen who prove exceptionally been the expense: although the Infinity Patrol is fairly small, the collec-
good at infiltration (or at ticking off tive armed forces of Homeline dwarf the Military Service. But if
their superiors) may find themselves Centrum were to gain more advanced weaponry (say, from Caliph,
assigned to visit Quantum 8 via a p. 117) or find allies among Homeline terrorists, it might try it.
nexus portal or psionic world-jumper
and report back. The odds of survival, A small faction of coordinators favor offering parachonic technology
let alone success, are not good unless to worlds in other quanta, calculating that a partnership could control
the recon team has an edge – a rogue the other worlds more easily than Centrum alone. This viewpoint is
Centran to train or even guide them, unlikely to gain much popularity in the Forum, but if some setback pan-
at least, and perhaps also special icked Centrum badly enough they might try to create a second front for
resources like psionics, magic, or Infinity on Q3 or Q4. (Reich-5 makes a spookily tempting target for such
strange technology. Centrum seems an offer.) Centran renegades are more likely to try this, since breaking
very vulnerable to magic; it just secrecy would be one way to win high position in a parallel world!
doesn’t fit at all in their technocratic,

54 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

horrible enough for Centrum to seem Alternate Infinite Wars
like a savior. If they want to try fixing
up their home timeline or timelines, The dimension war can be a very stable setting: neither side really has
the Interworld Service allows them to the resources to exclude the other completely, and they are immune to
implement any plan that leaves direct attack. But GMs who want to upset the applecart have several
Centrum in charge. If they are really options, too. First, another timeline could get parachronics and try to
successful, they may be transferred to carve out its own (single-quantum) sphere of influence; Reich-5 is on the
the Uplift Service, and told to do it cusp of being just such a threat, and if the Chronobahn (p. 79) extends
again! outside Q3, it could be an even worse one. To alter the current balance
even farther, perhaps some unexplained shift knocks Reich-5 into
Alternatively, the GM can make Quantum 6, right between Homeline and Centrum!
Centrum nicer, and perhaps get rid of
the dimension war entirely. There is For a major change to the existing setting, have the echo shifts final-
still a basic difference in approach: ly create the backlash Centran scientists theorize and shift Homeline to
while the Infinity Patrol spends most Quantum 4 or Quantum 3. Or have it work, but not quite as expected:
of its time cleaning up other people’s shift Secundus to Quantum 6 and turn the game into an open war. Or
messes, the Interworld Service places shift Homeline out of the accessible band entirely – a victory! Of course,
more emphasis on making messes of then Centrum has to deal with the Infinity personnel left behind, who
their own. suddenly have a lot less incentive to keep parachronics secret, and a rea-
son for revenge on a massive scale. Or shift Centrum to Q9 or Q10
If the players are going to try “steal- (“whoops, inverted the sign in that equation”) and give it a whole new set
ing” an echo, the stereotypical of worlds to worry about.
Centrum mission, they need a histori-
cal change: the GM can assign one, or, A technological breakthrough is another possibility. Psionic world-
if the players know their history, they jumpers can travel between quanta indefinitely far from Centrum or
can try to figure something out them- Secundus: that would let the “Infinite Worlds” live up to their name. If
selves. Anything that makes Homeline the technique (or some other that ignores quantum restrictions) gets
history more like Centrum is fair brought from outside by another crossworld culture, the dimension war
game (see Putting a Little English On would gain a participant that might even force Centrum into alliance
It, p. 87) – but the direction of shift with Infinity.
usually can’t be calculated for nuking
cities and similar gross shifts. Players means like breaking and entering, to examining in depth (usually
should also remember to have a back- theft, or “vanishing” some individual. because they now have someone who
up plan in case their first try doesn’t can stumble through the local lan-
work. Investigation missions are another guages). Some Zone Yellow worlds
possibility: Centrum is continually on surely have undiscovered features – a
The most common Interworld the alert for Infinity’s influence, and in barbarian world might turn out to be
Service mission, actually, is long-term the process has frequently uncovered post-holocaust, with remnants of the
infiltration, building up Centrum’s anomalies in worlds they thought they old high culture still around, or a local
power structure on a given timeline or understood. There are also straight- superstition about magic might turn
acquiring knowledge as safely as they forward survey missions, either to out to be rooted in some sort of fact.
possibly can. Player groups are more newly appeared timelines or to worlds
likely to be assigned brief support mis- Centrum is only now getting around
sions, brought in to provide expertise
that the infiltrators need to improve
their position – often through illegal

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 55

Centrum Dark, with afterthoughts. (“You do have an
Centrum Light entire world of your own; surely you
can find a tank-killing robot some-
Centrans as presented in the default Infinite Worlds setting are not where.”)
nice people. While not especially corrupt, they are faintly paranoid, often
narrow-minded, and definitely ruthless. (Or, in their eyes: concerned Such a campaign features a lot of
with defense, impatient with archaic or senseless practices, and prag- player freedom and a more reactive
matic in their determination to accomplish their goals.) It’s easy enough GM role – but plan on some surprises,
to make them even more villainous; all they need is a suitably vicious and don’t forget that Infinity is likely
ideology. Although that ecological niche would seem well filled by Reich- to interfere if they can. Consult
5, perhaps Centrum is an atheist, Communist technocracy full of gulags Worldline Conquest Made (Relatively)
for recalcitrant Arabic-speakers. This can set up a nice “WWII, Again” Easy on p. 208 for more suggestions.
scenario as Infinity has to ally with its mortal foes to defeat a different Centrans are likely to underestimate
batch of mortal foes. the natives, confusing primitive with
stupid, and being confused whenever
GMs who want a nicer Centrum, perhaps as a home base for PCs, can they don’t act “rationally” – which is to
transform it without too much trouble. Credit it with genuine good say, like Centrans. Centrum’s leaders
intentions towards other timelines (of course, it may still have trouble also underestimate the danger that an
understanding foreign viewpoints), and give Centrum Light more regard Uplift team, in learning to understand
for individuals in place of their end-justifies-the-means communitarian- the natives, might come to identify
ism. Play up their genuine abhorrence of racism and sexism, and their with them. This could lead to some
devout concern for the ecology and for equality of opportunity. Centrum interesting moral conflicts among the
Light could even have a democratically elected Parliament in place of the PCs themselves (or the players!) or
Forum, although it would be fun to with their superiors and subordinates.
play with variant democracy.
Perhaps everyone has votes Renegades
equal to their citizenship grade,
and actual candidacy for office is A campaign could also be built
restricted to Grade 7s. Homeline around a team that breaks away from
can be replaced with a more vil- Centrum. The game could start with
lainous timeline, removed from renegades, or with an agent group that
the setting altogether, or even slowly becomes disillusioned with
kept the same, with both sides their superiors and decides to strike
coming to see past the nasty out on their own. If they go over to
stereotypes each has of the other. Infinity Unlimited, they might tip the
balance of power. Finding a niche for
Perhaps this can lead to true themselves in some other timeline
evolution in Centrum, letting it ought to be possible, but would not
accept partners instead of rivals make for very good gaming unless
or subjects. Centrum and they were trying to carve out an
Homeline could anchor a empire, ran across something unex-
Federation of Worlds, spread pected, or both. Creating a new group
across hundreds of parallel Earths, of crossworld travelers is also a possi-
pooling their technology and resources, planting colonies, and sending bility, but would bring down the wrath
diplomats and scholars to more primitive worlds. The Interworld of Centrum and Infinity together.
Service and Infinity could become multi-world institutions handling
exploration – and defense against a fully mobilized Reich-5 and its
Thousand-World Dream.

Playing the and technical progress (up to a stable
Uplift Service TL5 or 6, anyway); it would be a nice
bonus to make them English-speak-
One possible campaign could ing. The means used are completely
involve a team of Uplift Service coor- up to the players: they have a large
dinators assigned to “civilize” a Zone budget and a few hundred personnel,
Yellow (or possibly Orange) world. In but are unlikely to get much more
order to absorb the worldline eventu- help without impressive intermediate
ally, long-term cultural changes will results. The GM should be generous
likely be needed (see Try to Change the with equipment requested at the
World, p. 105). The basic goals are beginning of the campaign, but stingy
political unity, meritocratic hierarchy,

56 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

This parallel diverged from REICH-5 Seward Collins, formed the Union
Homeline with the assassination of Party in 1936 to bring fascism to
President-elect Franklin Roosevelt by publicly proclaimed that fascism was America. Wallace’s economic radical-
Giuseppe Zangara in 1933, and the the “wave of the future.” America’s ism proved unworkable, and along
return of the United States to isola- socialists and communists opposed with his increasing tendency to rule by
tionism. While America sank further him, and when the Depression contin- the mob, he succeeded only in driving
into depression and despair, Hitler’s ued to deepen, Lindbergh was voted increasing numbers of Americans into
Germany and Imperial Japan out in 1940 in favor of the socialist the Union Party. Pelley joined
destroyed the Western Allies. Democrat Henry Wallace. Lindbergh’s Republicans as the Vice-
Emboldened by this victory, the fascist Presidential candidate in the 1944
Union Party swept to power in the By then, Hitler’s blitzkrieg had election on a “unity ticket” that raced
United States under William Dudley swallowed Poland and toppled France ahead of Wallace in the polls.
Pelley (leader of the Silver Shirts para- in weeks. Had the United States sent
military organization he modeled on aid, Britain might have survived, but Wallace was unable to gain the
the Brownshirts) in 1944. without FDR, America remained support of industry or the military,
trapped in isolationism and depres- which he had thoroughly alienated
After German troops and atomic sion. With the fall of Britain to unre- during his term. An unknown gunman
weapons crushed the American anti- stricted submarine warfare in shot and killed Lindbergh on October
fascist movement, the United States October, Hitler was free to turn on his 22, 1944, and Pelley was swept into
became a partner in the World-Axis ally Stalin, launching “Operation the Presidency amidst rioting and
along with Nazi Germany and Barbarossa” in May, 1941. By chaos while Japanese carrier forces
Imperial Japan. America slowly crum- September, Moscow had fallen to the bombed Los Angeles and Seattle and
bled, never quite able to shoulder its panzers of the Third Reich. Operating blocked the Panama Canal. The
share of the totalitarian burden, but on interior lines, the Nazis easily with- German invasion of Canada in 1945
never quite able to throw off the fas- stood the uncoordinated counterat- only added to the chaos, and Pelley
cist yoke. Germany pursued the iron tacks of the primitive Red Army, and declared martial law and a state of
dream into space, and Japan retreated by the end of 1942, the Soviet Union emergency. Republicans and Demo-
ever further into its bushido fantasies, had been conquered and incorporated crats alike rejected Pelley’s seizure of
the two powers dimly aware that they by Germany as the Reichsostland. The dictatorial powers, and Pelley called
only had each other to blame, to con- Second World War was over. on Germany to help “restore order” in
quer, and to learn from. Corrupt gov- the United States. Senator Robert Taft
ernors and generals began to pursue As Germany swallowed Europe of Ohio emerged as the leader of the
their own ends as ideologies born in (and by extension, Africa), Japan con- anti-Pelley opposition, and was nomi-
war and conquest softened and quered the East, from the invasion of nated by both the Democrats and the
decayed in the endless peace. Manchuria in 1931 to the fall of Republicans in 1948. Pelley’s Union
Australia in 1943. China ground down Party thugs, the so-called “Union
Then came the Ausbruch, the the Japanese Army in guerrilla war- Army,” were more interested in bat-
“breakout” into other worlds. fare, and the invasion of India stalled tling the U.S. Army and lynching
Suddenly, the Reich had new worlds in Bengal, but the Japanese military blacks and Jews than in defending the
to conquer – and the destiny of the commanded virtually the entire country, and only Japan’s continuing
Aryan race to mold on a thousand Pacific rim. Its only obstacle was meat-grinder in China and India pre-
timelines. Fortunately, the Reich as a depression-ridden, unstable, isolation- vented an actual Japanese invasion.
whole doesn’t know it . . . yet. ist America. On September 2, 1944, When Pelley blatantly stole the elec-
the Japanese struck the American tion from Taft, it escalated the situa-
HISTORY bases in the Philippines, Guam, and tion into wholesale civil warfare and
Hawaii simultaneously. The Japanese the Germans sent 40 divisions into
Hitler Victorious attack was the deathblow to American America on Pelley’s side.
democracy.
The Great Depression spawned Even the slightest chance of suc-
demagogues in all the world’s Great America Destroyed cess for the anti-Pelley forces evapo-
Powers, from pacifists in Britain to rated when Werner Heisenberg
socialists in France and fascists in America’s fascist movements, cre- invented the atomic bomb in 1950.
Germany. All three types were active ated by the Depression and energized After secret tests in the Reichsostland,
in the United States. FDR’s assassina- by Hitler’s victories, had grown steadi- the bomb was used on four American
tion left the country adrift, and it ly for over a decade. Their leader was cities on June 27, 1950. Resistance col-
moved from the well-meaning liberal- William Dudley Pelley of North lapsed abruptly, and Nazi Germany
ism of President John Nance Garner Carolina, whose Silver Shirt brigade was the master of three continents
to the “strong hand” of Republican was modeled on Hitler’s brownshirted when Adolf Hitler died on October 31,
President Charles Lindbergh, who SA. Pelley and other American fas- 1951.
cists, including the anti-Semitic “radio
priest” Father Charles Coughlin,
Lawrence Dennis, G.S. Viereck, and

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 57

Deutschland Über Alles their own populations under the heel.) iron from the General-Gouvernment-
However, they keep their domestic Poland in the east to the industrial
Following a brief behind-the- independence only by slavishly follow- furnaces of the Ruhr in the west.
scenes power struggle, Reinhard ing Germany’s lead in all external mat- Germany’s factories, the cleanest and
Heydrich, the second-in-command of ters, no better than the German puppet most advanced in the world, turn out
the SS, became the Nazi Führer and states like Vichy France, Hungary, enormous quantities of aircraft, motor
set about consolidating Germany’s Rumania, Sweden, or Bulgaria. vehicles, armaments, chemicals, plas-
gains, formalizing the division of Essentially, the world has three great tics, advanced composites, and optics.
India with Japan, completing the paci- powers – Germany, Japan, and Germany resembles a gigantic indus-
fication of America and Russia, and America – and only two superpowers. trial park, with enormous green
beginning the German conquest of spaces and forest belts even in the
space. When Japan and America Greater Germany middle of industrial cities like
signed the Washington-Tokyo Axis in and the Third Reich Munich, Düsseldorf, Breslau, and
1961, Heydrich established the World- Brünn. The state scrupulously main-
Axis to cement the three great fascist Stretching from the mouth of the tains wildlife refuges and keeps a cra-
powers’ alliance, increasing the role of Rhine to the borders of the Ukraine dle-to-grave welfare state firmly in
fascist America to balance Imperial and from the Baltic Sea to the Alps, place. Giant stadiums, hospitals, and
Japan. In 1965, Germany transferred Grossdeutschland (Greater Germany) concert halls dominate the skylines of
Canada to American administration to adds Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, the clean, orderly cities of the Reich.
compensate for the loss of Alaska, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, and parts
Hawaii, and the Philippines to Japan. of Belgium and Czechoslovakia to pre- Behind these Albert Speer marble
When Heydrich died in 1975, German war Germany. Only “true Germans” and granite facades, however, the
jackboots had walked on the moon are allowed to become citizens of Reich’s internal politics have curdled
and Mars, and America’s dictators Greater Germany, and the 140 million to poison. Heydrich seized power so
were fully integrated into the German citizens who live in the Nazi heartland completely and effectively upon
world system. lord it over the 35 million Slavs (pri- Hitler’s death that he was able to
marily Czechs and Poles) who purge his rivals and enforce compli-
Resistance to the World-Axis was perform all the menial labor and ance and discipline throughout the
sporadic, the most serious being the household duties in the Reich. Party. He even managed to bring the
“Uprising of ’76” in America, which German citizens (generally loyal and SS to heel, thanks to his own network
the SS only put down after leveling patriotic; Germany is CR4 for within it. Heydrich was confident
five cities and decimating the popula- Germans) have the highest standard enough in his own power to formally
tion in rebel areas. Führer Viktor of living in the world, paid for by nominate a successor, the Baltic
Alchsneiss followed that victory with immense slave labor factories in the German Viktor Alchsneiss, and let him
the destruction of rebels in Afghan- Reichsostland. build a power base first as
istan and Peru; saturation bombing Ostminister, and then as Reichsführer-
with neutron warheads wiped them Germany’s massive autobahns SS. When Führer Alchsneiss died in
out in 1983. Since then, the rule of the speed agricultural produce, coal, and 2001, his own hand-picked successor,
Third Reich over an enslaved world
has run ever more smoothly with the
orbiting of global spy satellites, the
invention of sophisticated computer
surveillance technology, and the slow
but steady expansion of Hitler’s dream
to the stars.

GEOPOLITIK

Although fascist Italy and
Argentina still maintain some freedom
of action, dominating satellite states of
their own such as Turkey and Peru,
they remain essentially appendages of
German imperial policy and econom-
ics. Finland, Suid-Afrika, and Spain
are nearly independent, with their own
corporate cartels, no Gestapo presence
to speak of in their cities, and no
Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine bases on
their soil. (The same could be said for
the Central Asian khanates, or fascist
Eire, Mexico, and Brazil, but these
marginal states are barely able to keep

58 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

Gunther Wallraff, had no such base, order with brutality and massacres, devoted solely to the SS. Himmler
having been shuffled from job to job, while working millions of slaves to intended Burgundy to provide a pure
winding up as Propaganda Minister. death in uranium mines and coffee Aryan homeland for the SS to recruit
Führer Wallraff retains the loyalty of plantations. The RKA is a civilian from, where from cradle to grave no
the “Balts” promoted by Alchsneiss office under the Party, and its security thought but SS orthodoxy would exist.
(who realize that they will all be troops are low-class thugs and bullies Himmler’s mystical beliefs received
purged if someone else becomes unfit for either the military or the SS. full play there, and slave laborers
Führer), but without the SS, the India is a much-preferred posting for rebuilt many medieval castles of the
Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, or the RKA administrators due to its better Teutonic Order stone by stone.
Party machinery solidly behind him, climate and more sophisticated urban
Nazi politics have begun to seize up. life. Although Nazi rule over India is Following Himmler’s sudden death
Individual ministers spend more time harsh, resistance to the Reich is far and the rise of his deputy Heydrich to
spying on each other and jockeying for less common there than in Africa. the position of Führer, Burgundy
power than they do moving the Reich Gangs of Indians work vast textile fac- became a dumping ground for the
forward, and rumors persist of secret tories and plantations under native “occult Aryan” mystics who were pre-
murders within the Reichschancellery overseers, who report to the RKA. The venting useful research into nuclear
and bodies dropped silently into the sizable Wehrmacht garrison in India physics or rocketry. Heydrich promot-
Spree River. both keeps order and watches the ed the head of the Ahnenerbe (the divi-
border of Japanese-run Bengal. sion of the SS concerned with
Reichsostland “Ancestral Heritage” and racial-cultur-
and the Colonies Reichsprotektorate al research, including research into
parapsychology and occultism) from
It is another story in the conquered Reichsprotektorate are nations that Reichsmanager to Ordenführer and
territories: the murders are no secret, exercise some independence in local placed the Ahnenerbe in charge of
and the bodies are left in piles. affairs, but are garrisoned by administering the Ordensstaat of
Although occupied Paris is almost civ- Wehrmacht troops and have internal Burgundy, subject only to the
ilized, and the French farmers have order kept by the SS and local secret Reichsführer-SS. By the 1980s, the SS
not felt a killing famine in almost 20 police. (Most of them are CR5 for good was running Burgundy as a tourist
years, to the east and south the gloves citizens, CR6 for Kurds, Irish, or other center for propaganda purposes and
are off the Nazi fist. (The Reich- troublesome minorities.) Usually, the using its mountains and forests as a
sostland and the colonies are CR6 for head of the local fascist party governs training ground for SS cadets. Since
all non-German inhabitants.) The a Reichsprotektorat, supervised by a the late 1960s, Burgundy has also held
inhabitants of the former Soviet German Nazi Party Reichsleiter. The the secret bank accounts of many high
Union (except for the Far Eastern major Reichsprotektorate are Britain, officials of the Reich who avoid
provinces annexed to Manchukuo Norway, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and German taxation by paying discreet
by Japan) are all slave laborers, Mesopotamia. Local fascist parties bribes to the corrupt overlords of the
the property of the Ostministerium (Union Fascist and Nasjonal Samling, SS State.
(Eastern Ministry) of the Reich. respectively) run Britain and Norway
The Reichsostland is divided into as national socialist states, with The Japanese Empire
five Reichskommissariate (Ostland, small detachments of Gestapo and
Ukraine, Caucasus, Muscovy, and large Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine The Japanese Empire rules nearly
Siberia), each under a Reichskomissar. bases. The German military and half the world’s population, either
Each Reichskomissar is a Nazi Party IG Farben, the chemical cartel directly or through its network of
official, assisted by the overall military responsible for oil production, dom- satellite states and colonies. The
commander and the SS commander inate Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Empire proper includes the Japanese
for the district. Over two million Mesopotamia. Home Islands, the smaller islands of
Germans have settled in the the Pacific from Okinawa to Tahiti,
Reichsostland (especially in the SS Burgundy Korea, Taiwan, Hainan, Sakhalin, and
Ukraine) drawn by the immense sup- Hawaii. (The Home Islands are CR4
ply of free land and slave labor avail- Heinrich Himmler carved the most for Japanese citizens and CR6 for
able to German colonists. Many large bizarre state in Europe out of eastern Koreans and other foreigners, includ-
German cartels maintain immense France in 1944. The State of ing Hawaiian natives.) China,
factories in the East, where the strict Burgundy, with its capital at Bisanz Australia, New Zealand, and Alaska
environmental and worker-safety laws (in the original French, Besançon), is are the “Outer Empire,” which
of Greater Germany do not apply. The essentially a feudal fief belonging to remains considerably more milita-
cartels dump nuclear, chemical, and the SS, comprising the old provinces rized than the Home Islands (CR6).
other wastes in Siberia, especially in of Burgundy and Champagne in The Emperor Naruhito is the divine
areas already strip-mined of their France. Governed solely by the SS, embodiment of the sun god, and rules
mineral deposits. Burgundy operates under SS law and the Empire through a network of aris-
outside German governmental juris- tocratic bureaucrats, interlinked by
If possible, things are even worse in diction. (Its crazy quilt of laws aver- family and career loyalties with the
Africa and India, where the ages out to CR5.) Himmler dreamed keiretsu cartels and the military.
Reichskolonialamt (RKA) maintains of a rebirth of the medieval Teutonic
Order’s Ordensstaat, a crusading state

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 59

The Home Islands are slowly atomic weapons in the Gansu desert Sumatra and Burma. Some of the
returning to a more traditional econo- in northern China, and, like the satellites, such as Manchukuo and the
my of small rice farms as the heavy Germans in Siberia, dumps its toxic Philippines, have moved into heavy
industries move to Korea, Manch- wastes in the Chinese interior. manufacturing, primarily producing
ukuo, or the Outer Empire. Many textiles, chemicals, and steel. Others,
Japanese have also begun commercial Australia, Alaska, and New such as Bengal, Indochina, and Java,
fish farming and whale ranching in Zealand, collectively known as the remain predominantly agricultural,
the vast waters of the Pacific, operat- Shinryodo (New Territories), are being but Calcutta, Saigon, and Batavia are
ing from huge floating factories. turned into Japanese colonies as mil- as industrialized as any Chinese cor-
Japan’s increasing isolation empties lions of native Japanese emigrate from porate hell-city. All of the satellite
its parks, gardens, and Shinto shrines their crowded cities to these wide states have extensive Japanese mili-
(except for students and the occasion- open spaces. Following the wholesale tary bases. However, as the Japanese
al tourist) as its population ages. With executions of the former military, eco- government continues to drift into sta-
the real work handled by “invisible” nomic, and political leadership, Japan sis, more and more of these bases have
foreign slaves and robots, the domes- deported the white population of taken over local industries – first to
tic population has leisure to grow rice, these areas to America or Britain, feed themselves, and then to claim
read classic poetry, and (for those with where they drifted into crime or their share of the keiretsu profits – and
the right connections) plug into joined the security forces. Many emi- cut their own deals with local crime
increasingly violent and pornographic grated to Suid-Afrika, which was in lords or ethnic chiefs. The satellites
holographic simulations. A network of great need of white settlers to police are slowly becoming warlord states
fast maglev trains and hydrofoils con- its newly acquired African territories. outside the sight of the Emperor.
nects virtually all cities in Japan; pri-
vate use of automobiles is severely Daitoa Koei Han’i Fascist Amerika
restricted. Non-Japanese airlines
(Lufthansa, Pan Am, Aerolineas, The entire Pacific Rim from The United States has been on the
Alitalia) are restricted to Nagasaki Vancouver to Vladivostok and from verge of a “complete recovery” for the
Airport, on the western end of Calcutta to Honolulu is tied into a vast last 40 years. Things are better than
Kyushu. economic union coordinated from they were in the 1950s, when
Tokyo, the Daitoa Koei Han’i (Greater President Pelley dictated spiritual
The Kempei Tai, the Japanese mil- East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere). channelings over the radio to a coun-
itary secret police, have gone over the Japanese keiretsu are the engine of try occupied by the Wehrmacht and
last generation from one of the most this economy, operating freely smoldering after atomic bombard-
dangerous intelligence agencies in the throughout the Co-Prosperity Sphere ment and civil war. Under President
world to a bureaucratized homeland and selling their manufactured goods George Lincoln Rockwell, America
security service. Obsessed with count- to a billion-person captive market grew to be one of the three Great
ing foreigners, tracking the slaves and behind a maze of tariff and import Powers in the World-Axis. This was
keeping the others out of Japan, it has regulations. due not so much to Rockwell’s largely
allowed other operations to drift. indolent Presidency as to its large base
Kempei Tai agents overseas have The satellite states provide raw of educated, skilled labor, its high level
mostly cast their lot in with the cor- materials and cheap labor for the
rupt generals and keiretsu bosses who keiretsu – rubber from Malaya, oil
really run the colonies, filing pro from Borneo and Java, minerals from
forma reports to a Tokyo headquarters
increasingly concerned with court
fashion and decreasingly engaged
with anything else. With no intelli-
gence-gathering competition, nobody
at the Imperial Court has noticed.

The Outer Empire

The Japanese military runs China
as a feudal empire, with various gen-
erals leasing slave labor and factories
in their fiefdoms to Japan’s immense
keiretsu industrial combines. Japanese
rule in China is particularly brutal,
with massacres of the Chinese popula-
tion a matter of routine for the
slightest sign of rebellion. Famines are
commonplace, as the produce from
China’s farms is sent to Japan or the
satellite states. Japan also tests its

60 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

The American Resistance in most cities stock a wide variety of
American and European goods priced
The American Resistance was badly hurt following the Uprising of in Reichsmarks. Those without corpo-
‘76. Carefully hoarded weapons stocks were expended, most Resistance rate connections, such as the workers
fighters were killed, and sympathizers and moles within the government in the immense Ring Cities around the
(most notably Governor John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, son of radioactive ruins of Omaha, St. Louis,
Ambassador to Germany Joseph Kennedy) were exposed and executed. and Dallas, shop in “open stores” for
Finally, the extreme brutality with which the SS and the Union Party put shoddy goods often re-imported (at a
down the revolt sent the American population back into a state of fat markup) from German slave facto-
numbed shell-shock reminiscent of the post-War era. Most Americans ries in the Reichsostland. Most of the
simply wished to return to what could be salvaged of their lives. brave new America seems threadbare
and drab to a German (or Homeline)
By the early 21st century, after a generation’s passage, the Resistance visitor.
has managed to rebuild a loose network of cells across the country,
strongest in the Yukon and the intermountain West, New England, and TECHNOLOGY
the rural South. Its activities are restricted to infiltrating the security ON REICH-5
apparatus, inserting bogus data into the national computer network,
once again attempting to build up arms caches, hiding the occasional Reich-5’s technology is more
refugee, drug trafficking, and stirring up resentment against the SS advanced than that of the Homeline
“advisers” still present in the country. The Resistance has learned from 2010s, well into TL8 in most areas,
long experience that any more-overt action brings massive retribution in and early TL9 in many military appli-
the form of hostage-taking and blanket executions. Also, any large-scale cations. Reich-5’s greatest advances
action runs the very real risk of being betrayed by NBSS informers or are in those areas involving the space
ordinary people who covet the $100,000 standing reward for turning in program: not only in aerodynamics,
a Resistance cell. metallurgy, physics, radionics, and
chemistry but in “spinoff” areas as
of industrial and technological devel- Beginning in the 1960s, many well. Zero-G chemistry, medicine,
opment before the War, and substan- German cartels formed partnerships computers, ecology, biochemistry,
tial aid and assistance from Germany, with American corporations such as materials science, and other fields are
which saw America as a white coun- BMW-Ford, Farben-DuPont, Heinkel- also highly advanced. The benefits of
terweight to Japanese Asia. Boeing or Siemens-Westinghouse. these advances are, of course, restrict-
American oil corporations also gained ed to German and Japanese cartels
Rockwell was badly shaken by the a powerful role in the German-domi- and citizens and to the elites of
Uprising of ’76, and came close to los- nated economy, and their favored America. Most of the rest of the world
ing both his nerve and his Presidency American banks brimmed with remains mired in TL7 or lower.
before National Bureau of State German investment capital. The
Security (NBSS) director Roy Cohn Eastern seaboard remains the center Transportation
assumed control of the situation and of German investment and influence.
called in the SS. Cohn supervised the Domestic industries, such as oil and In Germany and America, the per-
final stages of the mass deportation of film, center in Houston and Los sonal automobile is still the king, at
blacks to Africa (and RKA slave Angeles, respectively. Oklahoma City least for middle- and upper-class citi-
camps) and the Final Solution for became a transportation and manu- zens. Advanced computer-controlled
America’s Jews and homosexuals. facturing hub, with a spaceplane port carburetors, ceramic and polymer
Cohn was President in all but name (Lindbergh Field) that is a center for engine parts, and multistroke engines
until his death in 1988. That same high-tech industrial research. A allow smaller, lighter cars such as
year (and perhaps not coincidentally), steady “brain drain” of America’s best Fords or Volkswagens to retain the
Rockwell died and was succeeded by and brightest to those cartels – and “feel” of a V8 muscle car while drasti-
David Duke, the Governor of then to Germany – matches the flow cally lowering gasoline usage and pol-
Louisiana and Grand Dragon of the of American services, oil, and manu- lution. Higher-class citizens still drive
KKK. Duke has actually attempted to factures to Europe, paid for in dollars pure V8 and V12 Mercedes and
run the country, but finds that with pegged embarrassingly low to the Cadillac sedans, and the autobahns
the SS and NBSS handling real secu- Reichsmark. have no speed limits in the lefthand
rity (the CR in the United States lanes. Porsche sports cars are also
remains 5), and the American military The remaining population of quite common, as are Ferraris and
riddled with Resistance cells, his only roughly 220 million (including Mitsubishis. Automobiles are routine-
real power is to dispense government Canada) rebuilds autobahns and ly equipped with satellite location
patronage to people who can’t get maglevs, and clears rubble from the systems for navigation, cellular
good jobs with German or American bombed-out centers of Calgary, San telephone/TV systems, and computer
cartels. Antonio, and Atlanta. “Cartel stores” route-and-speed controls and mini-
radar for night and all-weather driving
capacity.

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 61

Over longer distances, maglev earth-grazer asteroid Neuruhr, moved Japanese firms have mastered the
trains have almost totally replaced into orbit by Heinkel-Boeing and most state-of-the-art hardware
the old-fashioned Kugelbahnen Krupp in 1979. Mass mining has requirements for supercomputers or
(bullet trains) of the 1960s and moved to Neusilesien and Neumesabi, handheld minicomputers, software
1970s thanks to warm-temperature two new asteroids drawn into slightly engineering remains one of the few
superconductors developed by the higher orbits. areas where Americans hold the lead.
German space program. The rail net- This is probably because the German
work covers virtually the entire Military transport from Earth to cartels consistently refused to invest
Northern Hemisphere, due to orbit is still handled by A-20 Engel in software improvements, believing
close coordination between the spaceplanes taking off from in large, centralized mainframe sys-
Axis powers, although transfers on Oklahoma City, Lublin, or Tsitsihar. tems modeled after the German state
the Trans-Siberian and Great Cargo transport, formerly launched in economy. American companies, des-
Indian Railways between Japanese- high-payload orbiters from Kamerun perate for a competitive edge against
and German-dominated territories or Singapore, now runs along the the overwhelming power of the car-
require switching onto other tracks Bifrost skyhook completed in 1994. tels, were willing to take more risks.
and recalibrating electromagnetic Bifrost, named for the bridge connect- Also, the destruction of much of the
potentials. The Berlin-to-Capetown ing heaven to Earth in Teutonic myth, American mainframe network in the
and Pan-American Railways extend is a 31,000-mile-long cable which Uprising of ‘76 led almost by accident
the network to the southern ends of serves as a giant “elevator” from the to the advent of the minicomputer
the Earth. Earth to an orbital station, Asgard, and the development of redundant
22,000 miles along its length. The computer networks.
In the air, giant suborbital Lufth- cable is tethered at its far end to
ansa scramjets cross oceans and con- Eisengard, another mining asteroid Both the security forces and the
tinents in two or three hours. More that holds the Kepler Space Telescope cartels needed to transfer vast
conventional superjumbo jets carry and a Luftwaffe base. Bifrost is amounts of data to widely scattered
less-well-heeled or well-connected anchored to Mt. Kirinyaga, Kenya, sites, and the computer network of
tourists and business travelers, and which has become the center of a fiber optic cables that grew up in the
many vacationers still ride the ZLF huge Luftwaffe research station con- late 1970s and early 1980s soon began
helium airships that make the tourist nected to the Berlin-to-Capetown linking universities, the space pro-
runs from Germany and the United maglev line. The security of Kirinyaga gram, and research corporations. In
States to Brazil and Spain. Such trips is so important that the SS oversees 1984, the Völkische Beobachter estab-
take four or five days, but the airship the slave laborers who maintain the lished an informational service by
lines can successfully compete with facility. Bulk cargo and passengers computer link. The New York Times
the ocean liners in luxury and travel up and down Bifrost in “elevator and Asahi Shimbun soon followed, as
romance. cars” which take five days to go did many other news organizations.
between Asgard and Kirinyaga. The Information Ministries of the var-
Space ious Axis powers strictly control
The German bases on the Moon access to computer systems, and
German exploration and exploita- and Mars are theoretically bases of the secret police forces armed with
tion of outer space began in the 1920s, World-Axis as a whole, and many increasingly sophisticated and power-
and continued with Wernher von Italian, Japanese, Argentine, Croatian, ful AIs monitor transmissions. Most
Braun in the 1930s and 1940s. When or British scientists work at Tycho or private citizens still do not own per-
the military and security applications Descartes bases on the Moon or at the sonal computers due to their expense
of satellites became fully understood, Cydonia research station on Mars. and to the delays in getting clearances.
Germany immediately launched a However, the Luftwaffe controls all Even powerful cartel executives or sci-
full-fledged space program. The base security and access, and German entific personnel usually lease their
Luftwaffe orbited the first space sta- scientists and cartels have priority in computer from the cartel or university
tion, Hitler, in 1959; it is now the core all research or mining activities. The that employs them.
of a permanent geosychronous orbital German colony on Mars is currently
settlement. The Luftwaffe has main- implementing the initial stages of Computers in Reich-5 range from
tained control over the German space Projekt Ymir, which involves ter- the Complexity 2 personal computers
program ever since, although many raforming Mars into a livable world by of the cartel vice presidents to the
cartels and keiretsu have launched the end of the 21st century, expanding Complexity 6 mainframes in the
their own satellites or added research the lebensraum of the Master Race to telemetry centers of Von Braun
or engineering modules onto Hitler. a whole new planet. Spaceport in Kamerun and the cellars
Japan, Italy, Germany, Argentina, of the Gestapo in Prinz-Albrecht-
Suid-Afrika, and the United States Computers Strasse.
have all launched LEO (low Earth and Networks
orbit) stations. Activity at Hitler cen- Medicine and Genetics
ters on completing the Neues Essen Computer technology, which began
space factory and permanent colony in the 1940s in England and America, Although the German space pro-
constructed from the hollowed-out has continued to be an English-speak- gram has accelerated medical
er’s field. Although many German and progress (like most other scientific

62 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

progress), the official ideology of “race fetuses, due to a shortage of trained as well. Imperial Japan, although less
science” has left German genetic tech- personnel, and prefers simply to abort stable, was no less cruel; there were no
nology peculiarly retrograde. “imperfect” fetuses. German obstetri- “friendly powers” to work through on
Although German biologists have per- cians also abort fetuses showing this parallel.
fected the full cloning of human “Jewish” genes such as the Tay-Sachs
beings, only scientists vetted by the marker. The American Eugenics The Patrol and UNIC actually
SS-RuSHA for Party loyalty may con- Board also encourages abortion of mapped out plans for a global mobi-
duct such sensitive research, under “undesirables,” but has far too few lization against Reich-5. Operation
the tightest possible security. trained geneticists to engage in any Firefall called for a full-scale invasion
Currently, cloning techniques are wholesale testing policy. All Axis of Reich-5, using the armies of the
restricted to military hospitals and nations routinely practice euthanasia Security Council nations, Germany,
trauma centers for “regrowing” limbs on mental patients, the terminally ill, and Israel to conquer that worldline
and organs, including eyes and hearts Alzheimer’s victims, and elderly slave after a surprise decapitating
(generally a period of weeks for major populations. In America, the Eugenics parachronic atomic strike against
regrowth). Brain tissue can be Board also sterilizes criminals (espe- Tokyo, Washington, and Berlin. (A
regrown if damaged, but the patient cially including Resistance members), second version of Firefall, Operation
must undergo physical therapy and as does the SS in Germany. In Japan, Dandelion, called for provoking a
re-education to “relearn” skills and sterilization is reserved for the German-Japanese nuclear war before
memories. Chinese and Korean populations. mounting an invasion.) NATO’s plan-
Japanese authorities routinely steril- ning staff, the Russian and Chinese
The greatest advances in genetic ize women after the first child (in armies, and (as a courtesy) the
engineering have come from the labo- China) or the second (in Korea). The Japanese IDF drew up operational
ratories of the Japanese keiretsu. Germans similarly sterilize the Slav plans calling for simultaneous jumps
Japanese corporate scientists and populations of Greater Germany and into Reich-5’s Urals, Appalachians,
engineers have already created petro- the Reichsostland. and Szechuan province by a total of
leum-eating bacteria to clean up oil half a million men with heavy equip-
spills, disease-resistant strains of rice (See GURPS Alternate Earths for ment and cutting-edge air support.
and corn, and new breeds of tuna, further details of Reich-5.)
bluefin, and salmon for their fish Two main objections finally scut-
farms. Genetic alteration of humans is OUTTIME tled Firefall planning. First, in the
becoming more common as well, DISCOVERIES chaos of an invasion, it was almost
although it is still too expensive for certain that some Nazi or Imperial
“cosmetic” purposes. Some small, When the Infinity Patrol discov- Japanese unit would both maintain
elite squads are composed of ered Reich-5 16 years ago, in its local cohesion and capture a conveyor.
“enhanced” super-soldiers called ten- year 1994, they clamped a security Thus, the strategic goal of the war –
shi (literally, “heavenly warriors”) lock on not just the worldline’s coordi- preventing a Reich-5 breakout into the
trained from birth to serve their supe- nates, but also its very existence. Of continuum – would be compromised
riors and the Emperor. Japanese the five known parallels at the time fatally by the war itself. Second, the
obstetricians routinely test for genes with a victorious Nazi Germany (see appalled general staffs wargamed the
tied to birth defects, hemophilia, Reich-2, p. 142), Reich-5 was the most invasion and discovered not only that
retardation, or homosexuality, and horrifying. The Third Reich firmly Homeline would suffer at least
genetically alter fetuses that show any controlled their third of the world, and 250,000 casualties in the first year (to
of these. through their American puppet state, say nothing of the millions dead on
dominated the Western Hemisphere Reich-5 in the opening bombard-
The German medical community ment), but that there was a nontrivial
has not yet begun genetically altering chance that the Wehrmacht (and pos-
sibly the Japanese military) would
throw back the invaders. What was
planned as a short, surgical war could
become a replay of World War II, last-
ing years and killing tens or even hun-
dreds of millions of people on both
worlds. After costing trillions of dol-
lars, the war would leave Homeline
economically smashed, dangerously
remilitarized, and possibly under
threat from rogue Nazis with nuclear
weapons and revenge on their minds.

For now, UNIC and Infinity have
shelved Firefall (although it gets
updated regularly, just in case) in
favor of lower-profile operations or
(better yet) none at all.

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 63

The Infinity recon patrol sneaking through. In Brigadeführer Fest then made his
Patrol on Reich-5 2022 (Reich-5 local year 2001) a second fateful decision in as many
Russian Spetsnaz special forces team months. He offered to turn the whole
The Infinity Patrol, stretched thin got through I-Cop security and was case over to the Ahnenerbe in
as it is, concentrates on preventing loose in Reich-5 for four days before exchange for a transfer out of Siberia,
other Homeliners from reaching it was wiped out by the Waffen-SS and to not report anything unusual to
Reich-5. With Reich-5’s computer net- near Vorkuta. Two scouts went to his superiors, describing the
works more centralized, detection ground and evaded the German encounter as a simple run-in with
technology more advanced, and gov- sweep; six months later they made local partisans. The Ahnenerbe
ernments more powerful, the I-Cops contact with an Israeli recon mission agreed, with the stipulation that he
do not have the resources to mount a in Poland. They reported that at least uncover and bring along their world’s
major operation here. The few I-Cops two of their comrades had been taken Evgeny Karashkin (who, if he existed,
operatives that have been planted here alive, and not all of their parachronic would be a 10-year-old boy). Fest not
concentrate on infiltrating German equipment had been destroyed. only found Karashkin; he arrested his
and Japanese technical laboratories to entire bloodline in a major sweep of
steal technical secrets for Homeline This “near miss,” and the possibili- “subversive elements” across the
and sound the alarm should Reich-5 ty that the SS was now aware of other Reichsostland. With 72 prisoners
researchers get too close to the timelines, led to a reduction in scale of (three of them surviving Homeliners),
parachronic Secret. national operations. For now, a tenta- 82 Spetsnaz corpses, and the wreck-
tive arrangement has been worked out age of a troop-carrying worldline con-
Another headache for the I-Cops between the I-Cops and the CIA, veyor, Brigadeführer Fest transferred
working Reich-5 is the occasional Mossad, the GRU, and the Chinese his command to a new division, head-
attempt by Homeline racists or fas- CCI. The I-Cops allows “dead drops” quartered in Bisanz.
cists to steal a conveyor and bring it to of gold, personal weapons, and micro-
Reich-5. The Patrol’s Security and electronics to the resistance forces in SS RAVEN
Liaison Divisions work closely with the United States, China, or the DIVISION
the FBI, South African CID, Japanese Reichsostland on the condition that
PSIA, and German BfV to infiltrate the source remains untraceable and The Armanen Order
any fascist group that seems to be unknown even to the recipients. In
planning a parachronic theft. Most return, the United States, Russia, With the discovery that parallel
fascist groups, fortunately, have nei- Israel, and China refrain from mount- worlds existed – and could be found
ther the resources nor the know-how ing any further operations in Reich-5. by at least some psychics – the
to mount a conveyor theft, much less Ahnenerbe found a new role for itself.
sneak into Reich-5. A more serious Unfortunately, that agreement Although some wanted to bring the
threat is the possibility that radical came too late. find to Berlin, as justification for all
terrorists such as the Hezbollah or the hundreds of billions of
Hamas might steal a conveyor and The Ausbruch Reichsmarks spent on their seemingly
attempt to elicit Nazi aid in destroying lunatic programs, wiser heads pre-
Israel on Homeline. So far, these One of the Spetsnaz team on the vailed. Führer Alchsneiss was a
threats have been more potential than 2022 mission, Evgeny Karashkin, had Heydrich man who despised the
actual, but the Patrol has had one or a genetically linked psionic world- Ahnenerbe; he would merely have
two close shaves. Additionally, only jumping ability. He had gone through taken over the parachronic program
high-level Infinity personnel and one early to reconnoiter the landing zone, and had everyone shot to maintain
or two people in the major national and an Ahnenerbe psychic had detect- security. Ordenführer Mattern real-
intelligence services know the ed his “anomalous vibrations” while in ized that security had to be his priori-
parachronic coordinates of Reich-5. a drugged stupor. Brigadeführer Karl ty, too. He, Fest, and Doktor Professor
However, a rogue group with a con- Fest, the Waffen-SS commander in the Emil Pauder (the head of the parapsy-
veyor could find Reich-5 by random region, happened to be a believer in chology program in Dijon) formed a
hunting – that is, after all, how Infinity the occult (who had, in fact, been secret society within the Ahnenerbe.
found it in the first place. assigned to Siberia to keep him out of They named it for the Armanen, myth-
any important posting), and he actual- ical warrior-priests who served the
Homeline National ly read the Ahnenerbe code-flash Aesir – the gods, not the kings, of the
Governments on Reich-5 warning him to look out for anything ancient Germanic tribes. Mattern and
unusual in the area. Thus, the Waffen- the others likewise believed that they
The United States, Russia, Israel, SS was waiting when the Spetsnaz served the Aryan race and the Reich,
and China have all mounted covert came through, and attacked the not any specific agency or person,
operations on Reich-5. The four Russian team instantly, harrying it for even the Führer.
nations launched more and more four days until the final stand at
ambitious plans, opposed by I-Cops Vorkuta. Karashkin was killed in the This Armanen Order (which was
both on Homeline and on Reich-5. first exchange of fire, but one of the also the name of a prominent
UNIC pressure, and Patrol maneuver- four survivors captured by the SS Runic society before WWI, for extra
ing, stopped most of those plans knew of his ability, and revealed it to
politically, with only the occasional his questioners before dying.

64 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

confusion and secrecy) reached out to Breeding: The Order was able to disadvantages as listed on p. 194. In
other influential people with connec- find a suitably pure Aryan who carried most cases, the Mule still needs to take
tions in the Waffen-SS, the Gestapo, the marker for the psionic world- a blood-cell stimulant to trigger the
and elsewhere, using the lure of secret jumping gene: Per Havig, a fisherman ability. Recently, Armanen scientists
Burgundian bank accounts as bait. from rural Denmark. He had no living have made progress with fetal injec-
Slowly it built itself operating room in relatives, so they didn’t need to risk a tions into Aryan babies, although
the increasingly Byzantine structure “Karashkin sweep” inside Greater many of the mothers die giving birth
of the Third Reich. Slowly, Pauder’s Germany itself. The Order used their to the baby Mule. The Armanen also
team made progress in unlocking the contacts in the Gestapo to have his raise baby Mules in Lebensborn
parachronic secrets held in the sub- fishing boat “disappear at sea.” The SS creches, except for visibly deformed
conscious minds of the three surviving took Havig to an isolated manor in ones, who they raise at the hospital.
Spetsnaz troopers, and (some said) Burgundy, and put him out to stud
from the dead ones as well. with Karashkin’s female relatives and Brain Surgery: In some cases,
although the brain accepts the new
Making World-Jumpers a selection of other genetically prom- genetic material, the body dies during
ising mates. Of his 14 children from the procedure. The “waste not, want
Pauder also dissected Karashkin the program, two (one by a Karashkin not” response: graft those brain tis-
thoroughly, submitting him to top-of- and one by a Frenchwoman) bear the sues into another volunteer Mule. This
the-line stolen Japanese genetic world-jumping gene; they have been is a two-week surgical process, and
disassemblers and a full battery of taken from him to be raised in SS although the brain-blood barrier
psychometric, magical, and cultic Lebensborn creches elsewhere in means that rejection per se is not a
tests and rituals. The Armanen found Burgundy. The Order has only told problem, the neurons may still fail to
the genetic marker for psionic world- Havig that his blood contains “the knit. The subject must make a HT-1
jumping after a year of study, and future of the Reich”; Havig seems roll to avoid failure (HT+2 if using
some of the other parascientific never to have unlocked his psionic fetal brain tissue from the experi-
researchers also reported promising powers. ments in the previous paragraph), and
results. One of the psychics in the takes -1 IQ per point the roll failed by.
Dijon Research Hospital turned out to Drugs: The simplest, almost rou- Critical failure results in brain death
have been dreaming of other worlds; tine, method is a battery of subdural within 1d days.
her brain chemistry was added to the drug injections into the brain, bone
study list (although she was kept alive marrow, and spinal fluid of the sub- Glandular Implantation: On further
as a lucid dreamer and scout for ject. This stimulates brain hormone examination of various corpses,
future invasions) and advanced other production and retrovirally implants a Pauder discovered that especially for
lines of inquiry. copy of the Havig-Karashkin world- some animal parachronozoids (p. 73),
jumping genes into the Mule. The the world-jumping ability is glandular
A few of the methods Pauder and subject spends three days running a and sex-linked. Rather than rewrite the
the Armanen Order use to cross the dangerous fever (104°) and gets a Mule’s genetic structure, it’s almost as
worlds or create a world-jumper HT-6 roll to resist the retroviruses; if simple to implant a cloned jumper
(derisively called a Maulesel, or he fails, he receives the Jumper gland into his groin and wire an elec-
“Mule”) follow: (World) advantage and concomitant trical trigger to the relevant brain cen-
ters. (Injections of jumper hormone,
sadly, seem to have no effect, although
experiments continue.) This requires a
week in the hospital, along with a reg-
imen of immunosuppressant drugs. In
this case, the subject must fail a HT roll
at HT-8. Subjects with Resistant to
Disease add half their bonus (round
down) to HT for this roll. A successful
roll means the gland and trigger mech-
anism is rejected; the subject must
make a HT-2 roll every day or lose 1
point of ST and 1 HP (1d HP on a
critical failure). Apply none of the
modifiers above to this roll; these rolls
continue until the subject dies, or the
implant is removed. A failed roll means
the subject gains the Jumper (World)
advantage, becomes Susceptible to
Disease (HT-3), and gains further con-
comitant disadvantages as indicated
on p. 195.

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 65

Demonic Seeding: This method is a Still others (those who displease own administrative funds to improve
triumph for the Armanen occultists, the Order, or violate procedure on and fully staff the bases. The Waffen-
who tracked down the world-jumping other worlds, or show signs of trying SS command, possibly amazed to find
“demon” known as Tychiron in vari- to escape) are locked into stalls in the something actually militarily useful
ous crumbling tomes. A Raven Bisanz world-gate. This doorway, being done in Burgundy, put up no
Division team found it in a powered by a fission reactor and objections. He then began to siphon
Transylvanian mountain pass in the focused using the renegade Mules’ off a few men at a time into a new unit
Friedrich worldline (p. 124) and cap- brains, cycles between Reich-5 and its with its own training and barracks
tured it using a thorn web woven into duplicate on the Nostradamus parallel facilities, which he grandly called SS
a many-knotted sphere. After bringing (p. 138) every six hours. It was com- Raven Division. Believing this new
it back to Bisanz, the Order immured pleted in 2009 after four years of con- division (actually closer to regimental
it in the crypt beneath a Teutonic struction; many of the delicate parts strength) merely an overblown “head-
Order castle, in a chamber lined with had to be re-machined on site many quarters guard” to feed Mattern’s ego,
thorns, runes, and mirrors according times as the local quantum flow Waffen-SS command again signed off.
to the ritual developed by Armanen changed, and it requires almost daily
researchers. When prospective Mules maintenance. (It also requires 21 In 2007, after years of test runs and
are brought to the chamber, Tychiron Mules, one or two of whom die every reconnaissance jumps, Raven Division
rapes them (Will-6 to resist), leaving few months.) It can send 10 tons launched its first full-scale crossworld
its egg-spawn roiling in their spine through at a time, mostly components invasion, from the Mesopotamia
and pelvic nerves. (Resisted or not, the and spare parts in trucks (all more Reichsprotektorat into Nostradamus
experience causes a Fright Check, also easily fudged on inventories than self- (p. 138). Local resistance was fierce
at -6; Tychiron might try to rape a propelled howitzers or attack drones). (especially from the Kurdish cavalry),
stunned character who resisted it at The Mules are fatted – and penned – but fruitless against the high-tech
first.) The Mule can’t technically like veal calves, with their brains weapons of the SS, which rapidly took
world-jump, but the Tychiron spawn tubed together in a psionic circuit control of the Euphrates Valley. The
can, and brings the Mule along. Mules tuning the gate. Armanen had selected Nostradamus
who undergo this treatment need to because of the unanimous verdict of
take regular herbal supplements to Pauder’s next project is to use hun- all precognitives that victory was
keep the Tychiron spawn infantile and dreds of cloned fetuses from Havig’s assured; they discovered that
subservient; without them, the advan- sperm as batteries in a much larger Nostradamus also sat at a dimension-
tage becomes essentially Uncontrol- gate, one able to send panzers and per- al highway junction. This “Chrono-
lable. As long as the herbs hold out, haps even heavy transport aircraft bahn” (p. 79) directed the Armanen to
though, the Mule has the Jumper through. This master gate is 18 their next target, Friedrich, where
(World) advantage with the disadvan- months away from completion, unless rather than mount an invasion, the
tages as set out on p. 174. He is also Pauder has a theoretical breakthrough Order decided to strengthen the local
mindlinked with every other spawn or that allows him to develop parts First Reich (the German-Roman
carrier of Tychiron across the worlds; capable of adjusting to quantum flow Empire) into a pure Aryan state.
since most of them have gone mad, alteration, or if the Ahnenerbe
this is not necessarily a bonus. occultists discover a ritual to keep the Between the Nostradamus garri-
gate magically tuned. son, the recon squads along the
Psibernetics: Not all the Mules are Chronobahn, and the advisers in
sent out with the Division to the new The Raven Has Flown Friedrich, the Raven Division is
worlds. Some of them remain behind stretched to its limits. Brigadeführer
in Bisanz and Dijon for various pur- While the energies of Nazi science Fest plans to recruit and train pure
poses. A few, who are reduced to and occultism worked to open the way Aryan soldiers in Friedrich, and arm
immobility or idiocy by the drugs, to new worlds, the subtleties of Nazi them with weapons from the factories
become human gene banks and tissue politics and blackmail built an army to the Armanen have been secretly build-
tanks, doped into stupor and drained invade them. Ordenführer Mattern ing in Nostradamus for the last three
of blood every day by the doctors of expanded the training cadre at the SS years. Until these plans can come
Pauder’s lab. Others (especially those academies in Burgundy, adding more together (the first fully outtime Raven
with the Mass Jumper enhancement) men and more facilities, spending his Division regiment will finish its train-
are wired into psibernetic linkages ing in a few months, but their heavy
that expand their powers to allow light equipment has been delayed by sabo-
aircraft (such as helicopter gunships) tage in Nostradamus), the Division
and small vehicles up to 4 tons or so to has to draw its strength from its
travel between the worlds. These psi- Reich-5 base.
bernetic linkages also have a chance of
rejection, as with surgery; the roll is Training and Doctrine
not modified for Resistant, however,
and the procedure does not convey The Raven Division trains as
Susceptible to Disease. gebirgsjägers, mountain light infantry
tailored for extended patrol operations
with minimal support and a heavy

66 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

concentration on force multipliers. Glorious Goals
None of Pauder’s Mules are able to
transport panzers across worlds, for Where Centrum actively plans to impede the Patrol and, eventually,
instance. The largest load that the remove Homeline from the board entirely, the Raven Division follows its
Order can send outtime is a 10-ton own purposes. The Armanen have no interest in going out and picking a
Spähpanzer APC, along with its crew fight with the Patrol; they are content to wait and build their strength
and passengers (six men in all), and it while they pursue goals such as:
can’t send many of those without fill-
ing out some very creative paperwork Find Hitler: Not just any Hitler will do, of course. On some worlds, he
to explain how it “lost” the vehicles. never had his wondrous insights; on others, he became a drugged-out
Perforce, then, Raven Division has to shambling wreck; on still others, he lost the War and is obviously an
strike fast, light, and hard. To avoid unfit specimen. The Order wants to find the True Hitler, the one who
such hassles, the Division keeps a large bears the spirit of Reich-5’s departed Führer.
number of light civilian vehicles
(motorcycles, off-road trucks, etc.) on Find the Ark of the Covenant: Or the Holy Grail, or the Spear of
hand. Destiny. The Spear at Wewelsburg doesn’t seem to work as promised, but
somewhere in the worlds there must be one that will guarantee victory
Training emphasizes mobility to the Aryan race. Actually, the Order takes any reality shard (p. 76) it
without the use of mechanized or air- can, since some may allow their users to jump across worlds.
mobile support, and the Division
ensures that all troops receive special Find the True Aryan Homeland: Although Friedrich is an excellent
training in “antiquated” tasks such as start, even the Aryans there have suffered the taint of mixed breeding
handling horses and mules. In theory and seem puny and querulous compared to the mighty warriors of
the Division gets by with a very light Himmlerian legend. Somewhere among the worlds is the original world
baggage train, prioritizing ammuni- where the original Aryan race was born. That holy place will be an
tion and foraging in the operations impregnable fortress and a boundless source of warriors for the Reich!
area (i.e., pillaging the locals) where
possible. As a practical matter, the hot or cold weather. In high-threat sit- Kerne
Division tends to accumulate addi- uations he can put on an armor
tional animals to hold more ammo, cuirass (p. 27). Completing the uni- To prepare the way for future
parts, and loot as time goes on. form is a pair of assault jackboots and Raven Division assaults, and to steal
a coalscuttle combat helmet. See the technology and valuables from other
Compared to troops in front-line Armor Table on p. 26 for additional worlds, the Armanen have estab-
SS and Wehrmacht units, Raven information. Every trooper has the lished Kerne (“kernels”), self-suffi-
Division troops are horribly under- equivalent of a hideout radio (p. 24) cient bases throughout the nearby
equipped. Logistics is king, and the in the helmet. worlds and all along the Chronobahn.
limited Mule capacity cannot be spent Each Kern is commanded by a
on the large amounts of consumables Field Pack: When moving to a new Gestapo agent from Amt Z (“Office
that are required for TL8 and TL9 mil- operations area each trooper carries a Z”), the secret office of the Gestapo
itary equipment (notably batteries). full pack, freeing up the animals for created by the Armanen conspiracy,
Transport must prioritize the troops heavy and bulky equipment (mortar and staffed by a minimum of one
themselves, medical supplies, small- baseplates, fuel cans, ammo boxes, Mule and three to five Raven Division
arms ammunition and support etc.). This includes, at a minimum, an troopers for security. It has a stand of
weapons. entrenching tool, lightweight shelter, weapons, both local and SS issue,
compressible sleeping bag, two mor- suitable for 20 men, and supplies
Weapons: A typical trooper carries tar rounds, first-aid kit, extra uniform, (food, medicine, etc.) to sustain that
a loaded StG 03 rifle (p. 200) and 10 personal basics (p. B288), rain gear, 3- many men for a year, roughly eight
extra clips at all times. Accuracy is at a gallon water bladder, climbing gear tons of equipment all told. Ideally, the
premium, so all troops receive the best (p. 25), 20 yards of nanofiber rope Kern has an encrypted radio, micro-
sights money can buy – these light bat- (p. 25), and a weeks worth of rations computer, and other useful electron-
tlesights are +2 Acc and provide both (see Meals-in-a-Box, p. 25). Troopers ics. As much of this as possible is
Infravision and Telescopic Vision 2 (2 with special missions (e.g., the bought locally using gold stolen or
lbs.). Officers carry 9mm Luger pis- radioman) carry a bit less as they must counterfeited on site; transporting
tols; all Raven Division soldiers carry haul around the large tactical radios gold across the worlds takes up a lot
bayonets, grenades, and additional used in Reich-5 (they do not benefit of room that could go to TL8+
ammunition for the squad light from the software radios used in weapons and intrusion gear, which
machinegun. Homeline and Centrum). Troopers can bring any Gestapo agent worth
also tend to carry around knicknacks his salt plenty of gold.
Uniform: The basic feldgrau from home and small trinkets that
armored uniform includes adaptive caught their eye.
camouflage (+2 to Stealth when
motionless, +1 when moving) and a
microclimate system to keep the
wearer comfortable even in unusually

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 67

THE CABAL

Somewhere among the quanta takes extreme pains to keep it that conspirators, psionic mandarins, and
there is an Earth under the shadow of way. The existence of multiple Cabals, powerful magi such as John Dee or
a vast conspiracy of monsters, sorcer- each claiming to be the original, might Marie Laveau. Some Lodges are
ers, and psionic masters. That con- also explain why so many of the magi, organized into Grand Lodges with
spiracy claims to date back to the first parachronozoids, and undead who chapters across the world (or worlds).
wars of gods and men that splintered claim to be Cabalists seem, on further A few of the more commonly encoun-
the magical cosmos and hurled frag- examination, to be mainly bent on tered Grand Lodges include:
ments of existence across the univers- doing some unspecified but no doubt
es on plumes of magic and the blood gory harm to some other Cabalist in Amonis Albioni: This lodge is cen-
of gods. It claims to have eyes that can an endless cycle of magical vendetta tered on various Englands, and vora-
see across the planes to the remotest and coup-counting. ciously accumulates maps and charts
Earth and talons that can catch the of the planes and the infinite worlds.
unwary between universes. It is the If its larger organization is a matter The Amonis Albioni also has a great
Cabal, those who bowed before the of theory and contested allegiance, deal of experience at infiltrating
mad Pharaoh Khaibitu-na-Khonsu however, on the local level the Cabal demonic cults – either to destroy
before he led them into battle against can be ferociously loyal to its own. them, or to add their power to the
Ra, the Unconquered Sun, when the Each Cabalist has two members Lodge.
Pyramids were new. whose death he is honor-bound to
avenge, his passers (from the Latin for Blind Haroeris Lodge: This lodge is
TRUTH AND LIES “sparrow,” as in the Biblical verse “Not devoted to quests, seeking out the
a sparrow shall fall without his sight”). Fountain of Youth, the Golden Fleece,
So much for what the Cabal claims. He, in turn, has two ultors (Latin for the Philosopher’s Stone, and other
(See GURPS Cabal for further details.) “avengers”) who are sworn to avenge wondrous items. One special interest
What the Patrol knows doesn’t imme- his death. This strict pattern of of the Lodge is tarot decks; it will kill
diately contradict any of the above – in vengeance may be why so many of the an impressive number of people for a
the infinite worlds, after all, stranger Cabalists plotting against each other unique Boccaccio Deck or a
things have proven to be true, and the seem to do so out on isolated worlds Lombardy Second. Its members sel-
Patrol doesn’t think it’s found the Earth or shiftrealms on the Patrol’s beat. dom have a fixed base, preferring to
the Cabal originates on. operate out of sailing ships (especially
Cabalists organize themselves into “ghost ship” shiftrealms, see p. 79) or
If there is only one such Earth: quasi-independent Lodges of 10 to 20 airships. Some of its members are
Baron Janos Telkozep (p. B320), a Cabalists under the leadership of an swagmen (p. 71).
vampire who works for ISWAT, says Adept. If the local Lodge runs into
he left the Cabal’s home world one something it can’t handle, it calls in its Golden Lodge of Asten: The Golden
step ahead of the Cabal, but his Adept’s allies in the upper ranks of the Lodge operates primarily “east of
description doesn’t match other infor- Cabal, who can be very powerful and Suez” in Singapores, Djakartas,
mation available to the Patrol. The scary indeed. At the top of the Angkors, Shanghais, and Amboynas
Cabal, like some other conspiracies, pyramid are the Grand Masters, on many worlds. Its golden “monkey
may be “native to” a number of world- who are vampire lords, werewolf paw” sign hangs discreetly in twisty
lines at once, parallel Cabals to go queens, deposed gods, billionaire Chinatowns and glasteel skyscrapers
with the parallel Egypts and John
Dees of the alternate histories. On the Active Gods
other hand, the parallel Cabals may all
spring from one ur-Cabal founded While roaming across the Infinite Worlds, both Cabalists and harder-
before a great reality quake or quanta- headed Patrolmen have encountered all manner of “gods,” from sentient
clysm destroyed their original Earth defense computers to immortal pranksters to crashed aliens. Every so
and left shadow Cabals across a score often, they meet a god who meets the more traditional definition – a
of worlds. transcendent entity of immense supernatural power.

Vast Conspiracies Patrol and Cabal protocol is identical in these cases: polite agreement
without committing to anything, especially worship. Fortunately, only a
However many Cabals there are, very few gods seem to have the desire (and even fewer have the ability)
they all seem to have roughly the same to leave their home worldline or pocket universe. For some reason, such
agenda: the secret accumulation of gods are seldom the kindly and benevolent sort. Even if they are, their
magical power and knowledge in the divine paths are strewn with banestorms, reality quakes, and other signs
name of self-defense and self-aggran- and wonders. These rogue gods pose grave threats to the continuum;
dizement. Even on worlds with open ISWAT and the Cabal both give such outbreaks their highest priority.
magic, the Cabal operates in the shad-
ows; on worlds without it, the Cabal

68 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

alike. It seems to be in the occult arti- the blackest of ancient Egypt’s necro- researcher who provides a Wheelman
fact acquisition and disposition busi- mantic cults, the Sons of Imhotep with fresh data or the location of a
ness, and has cordial (if necessarily build magical pyramid chambers in potential banestorm upwelling
discreet) relations with White Star the worst districts of teeming cities. receives an emerald the size of a fist,
Trading representatives on many Clad in robes that (it is said) hide hor- or the death of a rival, in return. Every
worlds. rible animalistic deformities, the Sons once in a while, he gets something he
of Imhotep stalk archaeologists (both actually wanted, too.
Lodge of the Midwinter Aton: This local and outtime) to steal idols or
lodge of Bavarian sorcerers exists on a papyri needed for their blasphemous Across the Planes
few worlds, led by the fearsome were- ceremonies.
wolf-mage Léonard du Sarrazin. Its According to the Cabal’s cosmolo-
emblem is a black left-handed swasti- Wheel of Ptah: This lodge traces the gy, there may be infinite worlds, but
ka in a white disk, and the Patrol fault lines and subtle craquelure of there are only four Realms that mat-
strongly suspects it of having ties to reality quakes across the infinite ter. The Cabal more usually uses the
the Nazi Parties of various worlds and worlds. Occasionally, a Paralabs names shown in parentheses, which
possibly to the Armanen Order of are drawn from Jewish mysticism.
Reich-5. It seeks political power bol-
stered by magical force; its experi- Material Realm (Assiah): The
ments triggered the Hellstorm on Material Realm contains all the infi-
Merlin-3 (p. 135). nite Earths and Marses and so forth,
like pebbles in a beach or knots in a
Sons of Imhotep: These freaks scare rug. Although Cabalists spend plenty
even their fellow Cabalists. Devoted to of time in the Material, they don’t usu-
ally consider it the source of wisdom.
The Cabal The mana level of Assiah varies from
in the Campaign world to world, and sometimes varies
within a given world.
As written, the Cabal plays second fiddle in an Infinite Worlds cam-
paign. Consumed with infighting and with its own arcane and abstruse Astral Realm (Yetzirah): The Astral
researches, it takes no sides in the great contest between Infinity and Realm is “above” or “inside” the
Centrum. Its goal of keeping magic and the supernatural secret keeps it Material Realm, touching all worlds
from threatening Infinity’s Secret. So how can the GM use it if he’d like equally. It holds flocks of spirits both
to? malevolent and benevolent, and whole
cities and planets of its own. Cabalists
Variety: The Cabal adds a strange Hammer Films flavor to the consider the shiftrealm of Faërie
straightforward SF of the Infinity Patrol. If the GM wants to add some- (p. 80) to be part of Yetzirah, even
thing magical to the game, the Cabal can let him do it without creating though its elves seem material enough
a full-fledged fantasy world. to Patrolmen who (cautiously) visit.
The Astral Realm has normal mana.
Unpredictability: Even if the Cabal picked a side, not all the Lodges
would go along. In a setting with two villainous villains, the Cabal makes Iconic Realm (Briah): Separated
an ambiguous one. Patrolmen are more likely to cooperate with a not from Yetzirah by an enormous spiritu-
obviously deranged Cabalist than with a world-hopping Nazi or a ruth- al ocean, Briah is the home of gods,
less Centrum agent. Any Cabal encounter, therefore, might potentially be archangels, and similarly iconic fig-
a social encounter, one about building the game world rather than shoot- ures. Some Patrolmen claim to have
ing off chunks of it. seen Batman or Mao in the Iconic
Realm; the boundaries to Briah may
Flexibility: Anything the GM could possibly want to send the Patrol be more porous than the traditionalist
after, the Cabal might want to steal, break, or shift from world to world. Cabal would like to believe. The Iconic
The Cabal might have its own unguessable reasons for shifting echoes, Realm has very high mana.
summoning banestorms, kidnapping time tourists, killing Centrum
agents, or any other adventure-creating action. Realm of Pure Spirit (Atziluth): No
Cabalists except the Grand Masters
Ubiquity: Anyone might be a member of the Cabal, on any world. This have ever visited Atziluth, the
gives the GM a “Trojan Horse” to hook some NPC into the adventure, a Godhead at the Center of Everything,
fun source for player paranoia, and plenty of possibilities for character and there is some reason to believe
drama. Between the Gates of Thoth and the astral plane, a Cabalist can that the Grand Masters are lying.
show up on any world, in any era.

Power: The Cabal can be a big hammer to smash something the GM
wants smashed, a barely trustworthy ally to help deal with a menace, or
a source for world-jumping abilities outside the control of Infinity or
Centrum. If the GM wants it brought, the Cabal can bring it.

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 69

LESSER THREATS

ORGANIZED well-armed to run kidnap rings in, but industry that gained them their
CRIME there are other Earths with starving entrée to the parallels. With Russia
girls willing to go anywhere as long as jealously guarding its 20% share of
Although plenty of small-time it’s away. One or two Outfit operators offworld mining licenses, and with
grifters hang out on the fringes, real have been working to take over the the Mafiya working hand in glove
connections across the worlds require Chicago mobs in parallel Earths, to with all the major oligarchs and
juice. That’s where the Mob comes in; rake off some of their take for the ben- their paid governors, the result was a
for a price, it can get you your old efit of Homeline, but the technological foregone conclusion. One State
high-school girlfriend from another advantage isn’t as helpful when every- Department paper estimates that
Earth, or sneak you into an illegal one is still using baseball bats and 80% of the Russian offworld mining
dinosaur-poaching expedition. But flick-knives anyway. operations are carried out by Mafiya-
that’s just constituent relations, small- owned or -connected firms, and bil-
time stuff. What the big picture is like Finally, of course, the various blast- lions of rubles flow right into the
depends on the mob in question; not ed, frozen, hell-scarred Earths to gangs’ bank accounts in Switzerland
all Mafias are created equal. which Interworld Waste Transport and Johnson’s Rome. The Mafiya
actually delivers its legitimate cargoes mostly uses these vast rakeoffs to
The Outfit of spent plutonium, tetradioxin, and fund its Homeline operations in com-
beryllium dust make excellent dump- puter crime, racketeering, and extor-
For the Chicago Outfit and its vari- ing grounds for inconvenient corpses tion, rather than expand to other
ous national affiliates, going to other – including a few from the Patrol’s worldlines. They do heavily “recruit”
worlds was just business as usual. Justice Division. soldiers from various battlefields
When White Star Trading needed to across the alternate Russias; there is
spin off its waste-hauling business, the The Russian Mafiya no shortage of desperate, brave,
trucking firm it called in was already doomed warriors willing to get high
an Outfit front. The Outfit slipped into Like the Chicago boys, the Russian pay and modern dental care in
crossworld crime by signing on the Mafiya simply transferred its stan- exchange for only having to shoot
dotted line in Infinity Tower. Using dards and practices offworld. In this unarmed civilians.
Interworld Waste Transport as the case, it was their connections with
licensor of record, the Outfit was able the Russian government and mining
to divert a small fleet of conveyor
trucks to its own use. With bribed and
blackmailed programmers, the sup-
posedly hardwired systems could get
hacked (albeit with a permanent -2
penalty to all Electronics Operation
(Parachronic) skill rolls on those vehi-
cles) to allow free subquantum opera-
tion. Diverting a projector is beyond
the Outfit’s capacity (so far), but
there’s little need for one right now.
Like the Patrol, the Outfit’s “East Side
Express” has more work than it can
handle, even restricted to Quantum 5.

The biggest business is drugs.
From Gallatin, an alternate Earth
where the Midwest is a libertarian
anarchy, the Outfit buys cheap, legal,
guaranteed pure heroin and cocaine –
and ships it by the ton to Homeline.
The most difficult part is laundering
the drug shipments on Homeline so
that the FBI and the Patrol don’t trace
them back to the supplier. A close sec-
ond is prostitution and the flesh
trade; Gallatin is oddly bad at pornog-
raphy (making it acceptable seems to
have spoiled the thrill), and far too

70 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

Swagmen outside the reach of the Communist
government on Homeline. They shift
A crosstime extended “family” of grifters, the swagmen take their things of great rarity but low weight –
name from the Australian slang term for wandering bums. The pirated software and movies, industri-
Australian Outback sprouted boomtowns on Homeline in the early 21st, al secrets, and powdered dinosaur
as miners came through to dig opals and gold on their own, and urani- penis. The Triads do a brisk business
um for Infinity, on alternate Australias across the quantum. Where fast in crossworld poaching, as well – the
money and greed come together, so do confidence men and gamblers. rhinoceros is endangered on four or
One crew of such outlaws managed to coalesce with a series of grifts five more worlds, and the sabertooth
that wound up stranding a Consolidated Mining representative in has been hunted to extinction in Asia
Coventry, and leaving them on their own with a conveyor and a book of on Mammut-3. The I-Cops have begun
coordinates. cracking down on the crosstime
Triads.
They had the same problem every other ambitious crosstimer faces;
too many marks and not enough men. Rather than dummy up, they FREELANCE
reached out to friends of friends and connections from every dive bar on CRIMINALS
three continents. From the Irish Travelers and the Romany, they took
the codes of trust and insularity that kept con games going for decades; There’s plenty of room in the infi-
from the grifters and sharps they took the newest cons and the flair to nite worlds for freelancers in crime, as
reach beyond the pigeon drop and driveway game to big takedowns. well. If one version of Miami gets too
hot for you, try the next world over!
As their contacts expanded, so did their options. Swagmen often take The real bottleneck is access to a con-
jobs on crosstime mining operations, or simply bribe personnel clerks to veyor; if it’s not under the watchful eye
put their names on the roster. As the miners go from world to world, the of the Patrol or some government or
swagmen go with them. Con games can raise the fare for a Time Tours U.N. agency, it’s probably under the
trip, and glib operators can hook onto an academic team as guides or watchful eye of the local mob. Even
translators. There are plenty of ways to get from world to world if you’re the free spirits listed below, therefore,
good at the grift, and the swagmen are among the best. probably need at least one “connect-
ed” street Contact to operate, unless
With an infinity of marks, they can afford to hit only the richest and they have some non-parachronic
most deserving. They’ve run the Spanish Prisoner on a world where the means of world-jumping. (These same
Armada won, and the Two-Ring Gambit with the Bonaparte crown jew- criminal types, and most of the same
els. They’ve conned a parallel Howard Hughes before the Mob could, assumptions, apply in a time-travel
and accidentally-on-purpose gained Australian independence for Ned campaign as well.)
Kelly on Britannica-6 (and a fortune in gold for themselves).
Crosstime Thieves
Every year on April Fool’s Day, all the swagmen who can make it will
hook up for a big party on some rural worldline. There they swap sto- These criminals use their knowl-
ries and trade techniques, keeping their options open and their sense of edge of the other world (or the past)
solidarity intact. and/or their advanced technology to
steal gold, gems, and other highly
An alarming number of Russian When the “historical researcher” or negotiable goods. Time thieves are
mafiosi decide to go “play czar” on the “import consultant” on the passport often clever but unsubtle. A Spanish
primitive worlds their supposedly vanishes, the Triad member surfaces treasure galleon, for instance, is an
secret mines exploit. Since many and makes contact with the local easy target for an armed hovercraft, or
Russian mining operations are mis- Triads in the parallel. Although a cer- even a few men with body armor and
filed, with “accidental transpositions” tain amount of turf war is inevitable, submachine guns in a native sloop.
in the coordinate field for example, it the combination of access to cross- When the gold is secured, the pirates
can be months before reports of black world travel and connections with burn the ship and send it to the bot-
SUVs loaded with gunmen looting the high technology proves too tempting tom, with no survivors and nobody the
ziggurat at Lagash filter back to the to the outtimers. The locals then wiser.
Patrol. So far, one or another wave of ambush a different conveyor in a dif-
barbarian invasions have swallowed ferent area – the Patrol doesn’t know Scavengers
up the outrages, but the danger to The how many “vanished surveys” are
Secret remains ever-present. actually sitting at the bottom of the Many items are quite ordinary in
Haiphong harbor or a quarry in their own time or place, but priceless
The Triads Guangdong on some parallel, but it’s in today’s world. Almost any ancient
more than one or two. weapon, for instance, becomes a valu-
The various Asian crime families able antique a few centuries down the
around the Pacific have found their The Triads concentrate on building line. Likewise, ordinary coins, stamps,
way across the worlds as well. Usually, redundant crossworld connections mechanical devices, and publications
they travel on forged papers to a par- and allies; they heavily recruit Chinese can all become very valuable with the
allel with a large Chinese diaspora. world-jumpers, especially in overseas passing of time.
and outtime Chinese communities

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 71

The scavenger acquires such items acquisitions for their own sake. Most Past times and alternate worlds
when and where they are new. He simply sell to collectors. could be an inexhaustible source of
might then bury them for proper slaves and other victims. A crossworld
“aging,” or just bring them directly to Depending on the game back- trading organization might easily turn
Homeline (or, in a time travel cam- ground and the laws, some sorts of into a slave trade, taking prisoners on
paign, the future). The existence of “looting” may be perfectly legal. If the one obscure alternate world and mov-
scavengers can drive a collector mad. goods are obtained honestly, and there ing them to another in exchange for
Is this Four-Penny Black stamp a is no chance of upsetting history or valuable goods.
“real” one from Homeline, or is it changing the structure of a parallel
from an alternate world? And if it is an world, it may be all right to “import” Individuals – famous people from
alternate, does that make it a forgery? valuables. (And some worlds take a history, or their alternate versions –
more “Elgin Marbles” approach to might also be kidnapped for any num-
Of course, in some campaigns other timelines’ artifacts, tacitly con- ber of reasons. People might also be
scavenging might be legal. In others, it doning looting artifacts from “bar- timenapped for research purposes,
might be illegal – not because it is barous” timelines or cultures to bring legitimate or otherwise.
wicked in itself, but because of the such masterpieces into the light of
danger that any unauthorized time or “civilization.”) In a time-travel game If the timenapper’s “home world”
dimension travel might pose to the (or even on an echo), “stealing” treas- has biotechnology at TL8 or better,
continuum. On Homeline, scavenging ures about to be destroyed, if done human genetic material can be stolen
is strictly licensed (LC2), for “museum carefully, might be a praiseworthy res- with rather less fuss than kidnapping.
replicas only,” but in practice is almost cue mission rather than a crime! There might be a thriving under-
impossible to control. ground market, driven by men who
Timenappers want to own a clone of Cleopatra or of
Looters Marilyn Monroe and by women who
Timenappers visit a historical alter- want to bear a natural child of Elvis
Looters are also thieves, but instead nate world (or the past, in a time trav- Presley or Alexander the Great.
of “ordinary” valuables, they look for el setting), and kidnap victims from Another advantage of gene-napping is
unique ones. They may raid art gal- there, bringing them to the criminals’ that clones can usually be further
leries, libraries, palaces, and mansions own homeworld. The object might be altered to the buyer’s specifications –
for the masterpieces of other worlds. ransom – just another way of getting get a baby Alexander without the gene
Or they may be souvenir hunters, pick- rich in the past. But more likely, it’s for alcoholism, or a naturally
ing up interesting relics. Some looters because someone on the timenappers’ platinum-blonde Marilyn Monroe.
are connoisseurs, treasuring their home world wants that victim.

Where Are the Starships?

So far no one from Homeline has reported a paral- No, Really, Where Are They?
lel Earth with reliable, technological faster than light
travel. (Although Azoth-7 (p. 112) has its own strange Like reliable, technological time travel (Can of
alchemical starships, they don’t seem to operate in any Infinite Worms box, p. 153), interstellar campaign set-
normal cosmos at all, being closer to Cabalistic planar tings don’t mesh well with crosstime gaming. The
travel than anything else.) Paralabs physicists have two causality and time-dilation paradoxes alone will drive
main theories on the subject, neither of them anything GMs crazy, and any realistic advanced, interstellar,
like experimentally proven: high-tech civilization is just not going to accidentally
overlook Infinity agents sneaking into its universe in
Delay: Although seemingly unlikely, it might just be parachronic conveyors, emitting all kinds of quantum
that no parallel Earth has invented FTL travel at all. radiation. The Secret would last about an hour and a
Since Homeline is among the most technically half, and then your campaign would be over.
advanced Earths, and FTL hasn’t been invented there,
maybe it just takes another century or two of progress. Finally, the canvas is quite simply a little too vast for
Caliph (p. 117) may be getting close. this book. What about all the parallels where the diver-
gence point happens on Tau Ceti IV? What about
Distortion: Another theory postulates that the local armadas of crosstime alien invaders? What if every one
quantum field can only deform in one direction, either of the billions of worlds has its own quantum cloud of
“timeward” or “spaceward.” Since parachronics came echoes and parallels? One of the fundamental assump-
first (on Earth, anyway), no Earth-based FTL is possi- tions of a crosstime game is that Earth (or one of them,
ble at all – unless the parachronic distortion can some- anyway) is central and important. The vastness of the
how be filtered out. Galaxy mitigates against that. Add FTL to the Infinite
Worlds if you wish, but – be careful out there.

72 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

PARACHRONOZOIDS

Parachronozoids are creatures thing he saw on his travels, or some a time, merging with the roofline and
with natural world-jumping abilities. anecdote about his family. (He is espe- waiting for prey.
They range widely in form, disposi- cially fond of stories about his twin
tion, and nature. Some look like nor- brother, who apparently has done They prefer world-jumpers, but
mal animals, while some are talking, everything from serving in the Army will attack anything with a strange
bipedal beasts. Some seem human or as a buck private to dancing with parachronic “smell.” Failing that, they
ghostly. A few are simply indescrib- movie starlets.) At the end of the jour- will attack anyone alone who looks
able – beautiful (or horrible) beyond ney, Aaron has dropped his passenger like he would spray blood for a very
comprehension. or passengers wherever they were great distance. They love to sadistical-
going, and left them with a gift of ly dangle foes in midair, hang them
All parachronozoids possess the some sort. Sometimes it’s just money from church spires, or attack them in
Jumper (World) advantage (p. 174). or jewelry, but sometimes the story he mid-climb, knocking them onto nar-
Most have the Tunnel enhancement, told holds a crucial clue to the prob- row ledges or rooflines for extra fun.
allowing them to create interdimen- lem waiting for the traveler. And
sional paths that can be followed. sometimes, the traveler finds a key ally Some Cabalists are reputed to have
Often, these paths close behind them waiting for him, or his true love, or trained gargoyles as coursing hounds
after a time, with potentially drastic both. or “carrier pigeons.”
consequences for the unwary follower.
Many parachronozoids also have the Aaron may be a ghost, or a tulpa
Warp advantage (p. B97), giving them created by psionic projection or mass
the ability to jump across space as well wish-fulfillment, or he may just be a
as the dimensions. world-jumping bodhisattva with an
idiosyncratic personal style. Nobody
Some parachronozoids seem has ever tried to harm Aaron in his
drawn to those with latent or active own car, and he has never offered
psionic abilities (most often ESP or harm to anyone, even the deserving.
Teleportation). Others seek mana-rich
areas, and there are rumors of ways to Gargoyles Gargoyles
magically summon or lure them.
Certainly, wizards have trapped and Gargoyles are either the pigeons or ST 20+; DX 16-18; IQ 7; HT 16.
tamed such entities, using them as the rats of the parallels. Possibly both. Will 10; Per 16; Speed 8; Dodge 11;
mounts or harnessing them to create They are slightly smarter than chim-
world-jumping chariots. panzees, with the aggression and Move 8 (Ground).
trooping instincts of baboons. They SM 0; 200-300 lbs.
There are almost as many different have widely varying facial and body Traits: Automaton; Body of Stone;
kinds of parachronozoids as there are structures, but all have wings and
worlds for them to hail from. This talons. Chameleon 5 (Stone only);
mere smattering includes two unique Enhanced Move 1 (Air Speed 32);
beings and one fairly common (and Gargoyles have a gray, shifting Flight (Winged; Air Move 16);
unpleasant) species. complexion that blends well with old Jumper (World); Long Talons;
stone (rather less well with concrete). Magery 0; Silence 5.
“Aaron” They prefer to flock in the older sec- Skills: Brawling-14; Stealth-18.
tions of cities, especially old churches.
Aaron is the name most often given They can roost stock-still for hours at
by a man in dark glasses who appears
on lonely roads driving a black His voice had risen to a scream. “Frank,
automobile. Sometimes it’s a hearse, Frank, a terrible and unspeakable deed was done
sometimes it’s a coach and four, and in the beginning. Before time, the deed, and from
sometimes it’s the iconic black the deed –” He had risen and was hysterically
Cadillac Seville. He only appears to pacing the room. “The deeds of the dead move
travelers on foot, and only at night or through angles in the dim recesses of time. They
noon. Aaron shows up at the moment are hungry and athirst!”
when the walker’s spirits are at their
lowest . . . when they have received – Frank Belknap Long,
some deadening setback that crushes The Hounds of Tindalos
what little hope they had.

Aaron begins by offering a ride
and, if accepted, conversation. He
talks in generalities, but they center on
the importance of love and virtue.
Occasionally he tells a story of some-

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 73

The White Stag Spoor and Stigmata

The White Stag has romped Although parachronozoids vary widely in form and feature, there are one
through the mythic history of or two ways to identify many of them, and a few reliable indicators that
many an Earth. It led Magor and something has walked through worlds nearby.
Hunor to the steppes of Scythia to
found the tribes of Hungary. It Parachronozoid spoor includes:
tried to warn Pwyll away from the
lands of Annwn, and led Peredur • Odd bare patches in the shape of footprints, especially cloven hooves or
to the Grail Castle. It launched canine tracks. Sometimes they appear in naked rock.
quests by Sir Geraint and other
Arthurian knights. And it has • Unusual growth of crossworld plants such as Puck’s Cap mushrooms,
appeared every so often to tradescantia creeper, and Queen Marie’s clover. Rings or lines of more nor-
Patrolmen on leave or otherwise mal mushrooms and flowers sometimes indicate a jump or running land-
not on duty. ing by a parachronozoid.

Unfortunately, it has yet to • People near the entry or exit point often have dreams of large black cats.
appear to a Patrolman with any This can happen even when the parachronozoid is small, pale, and non-
great skill at woodcraft (it feline.
requires at least Tracking-16 to
follow successfully), so nobody Signs that a creature may be a world-walker include:
knows where it’s trying to lead
him. It creates a trod (p. 79) • Pure white fur, without other albino features.
under its hooves; anyone who can • Violet or mismatched eyes.
track it can follow it to another • Unusual perception or intelligence for its species or, on worlds where it’s
world with no other roll needed.
Anemones spring up along its not normal for the species, human speech.
trail three days after it passes by. • An unusual appetite for oats or strawberries.

OTHER HAZARDS

Not all the dangers between the THE SPACES the “jump space” that conveyors tran-
worlds are human, or even sentient. BETWEEN sit has any characteristics, they don’t
Simply traveling the continuum can show up on Infinity’s instruments.
be a harrowing experience, especially Although the worlds vary widely,
without a handy conveyor. Even nexus they are all still worlds, and usually The Current
portals don’t always open onto the Earths. The spaces between the
same place twice, and dimensional worlds, however, can be anything at all The other type of space between
highways thread through some – or nothing at all. the Earths that the Patrol has encoun-
uncanny turf indeed. The continuum tered so far is “the Current,” a rushing
doesn’t stay the same from place to Nothingness flow of charged particles that runs
place or time to time; banestorms and “back” from Homeline through all
reality quakes shift even the scenery The most common experience of other worlds. (Centrum may also gen-
that doesn’t shift by itself. the space between Earths, for the erate a Current of its own.) Paralabs
Infinity Patrol anyway, is nothing. calls these “oz particles,” after the
Charting these hazards and their (For which they are profoundly twister that took Dorothy Gale to
effects remains an inexact science. thankful.) If it’s working correctly, a another world (which, unnervingly,
Surveyors can determine deforma- conveyor simply vanishes from one exists on Quantum 4) in The Wizard of
tions of the physical landscape, and point and reappears instantaneously Oz. Powerful eddies of the Current roil
map them to field strengths of various at the same point on another Earth. around Merlin-3 (p. 134) and some
quantum energies. Paraphysicists, Whether it travels through a micro- other worlds; travel to or from those
meteorologists, and geologists find wormhole at billions of times the worlds by any means is always at -1 or
their disciplines merging as the con- speed of light, or simply transposes more to skill.
nections between physical and para- itself like an electron when nobody’s
physical phenomena teasingly flit looking, or ravels down the super- The Current mostly appears on the
through the available theories and strings that knot the Earths together various Earths in the form of
data. Pure mathematicians offer help- beneath even the quantum level, banestorms (p. 75), which are proper-
ful comments on catastrophe and nobody knows for sure. The math ties of its much more massive and
chaos theory, and rather less helpful explains it all three ways, depending dangerous flow. Although only a few
comments about “nonbirational on which figures you emphasize. If especially hardened Patrol conveyors
mappings.” have breached the Current (entering

74 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

through larger and more stable critical failure, 1d points. Your fea- Vortices
banestorms), it may be possible for tures may turn monstrous or ethereal-
other vehicles (like the Time Sphere ly beautiful and strange. These daring Patrolmen seek out
on p. 163) to somehow ride it between vortices, points on the Earth’s surface
the worlds. With conveyors so much E: Overwhelming temporal decay. which, for some reason, tend to attract
easier and less dangerous, Paralabs Make hourly aging rolls; double above or manifest banestorms more fre-
hasn’t put too much effort into design- damage. quently. Nobody quite knows why vor-
ing an “oz ship,” although the threat of tices appear, or even if they actually
some barbarian crosstime culture Some materials grant oz shielding. exist outside Patrol superstition –
descending onto Homeline in oz-rid- Unlike radiation shielding, the wearer banestorm surveying is a necessarily
ing pirate vessels does preoccupy a does not usually need to cover all difficult job. Patrolmen often notice
few UNIC planners. exposed areas to gain the benefit of its their compasses begin to spin around
Protection Factor (p. B436), merely when a banestorm is brewing up, and
Exposure to oz particles works like have a few ounces of the material other anomalous readings begin to
radiation exposure (see pp. B435-436), exposed to the oz field between the hash delicate sensors. The best
with “oz” instead of “rads.” Some oz field and the wearer. Silk or amber has Paralabs guess is that vortices appear
sources include: PF 7, steel has PF 10, silver or where the Earth’s magnetic field
hawthorn has PF 32, and cold iron has fluctuates more than usual; such
Unprotected (no conveyor) time or PF 100. Also unlike radiation shield- fluctuations may have a geological or
dimension travel: 1 oz per trip. ing, not all materials grant the same tectonic component.
protection against every banestorm;
Downwind from a banestorm: 1-6 individual oz frequencies may vary Commonly appearing vortices
oz per minute, depending on storm tremendously. include the Bermuda Triangle, the
strength. After a banestorm, oz levels Devil’s Sea (a triangular stretch of
in the air and water drop to 1-6 oz per BANESTORMS ocean centered on Iwo Jima), the
hour over the next day, and 1-6 oz per Hoggar Desert in central Algeria, Lake
day over the next month. A “banestorm” is a localized event Erie, the mouth of the Indus River, the
that transports everyone within a cer- interior of Madagascar, the Kermadec
Inside a banestorm: 300-1,800 oz tain area to another dimension or Islands north of New Zealand, and the
per hour, depending on storm worldline. Most often circular, two magnetic poles. On mana-positive
strength. A twin-charged banestorm banestorms range in size from a few worlds, vortices tend to show up near
(p. B534), however, delivers little or no yards to a few miles across. Within an ley line junctions or at sites such as
(1-6 oz per hour) oz charge to those atmosphere, a banestorm tends to Stonehenge or the Pyramids.
inside it. manifest as a thick fog bank, mysteri-
ous thundercloud, or heavy electrical REALITY QUAKES
Oz effects are as follows, using the storm that builds up slowly and van-
Radiation Effects Table on p. B436: ishes suddenly. When the banestorm A reality quake (or, as Paralabs
vanishes, so does everyone within its prefers to call it, an “ontoclysm”) cre-
–: No effect, but doses continue to radius. These “passengers” reap- ates such an upheaval in the path of
accumulate. pear . . . elsewhere. Banestorms do not time or worlds that history itself is
necessarily send their passengers to upthrust and overturned, leaving a
A: Minor fortune or misfortune, at the equivalent spot in their world. new past in its wake. Not just history
quirk-level. Roll 1d to determine good can change in a reality quake, of
(1-3) or bad (4-6) luck. Something With the oz charge they carry, course. The laws of nature and physics
goes right (or wrong) for no reason. banestorms often have a major effect can alter; worlds can go from high
Superstitious activity (rubbing a white not only on the unfortunates caught mana to no mana (or the reverse),
rabbit’s foot, for example) can “posi- up in them and the countryside gods can die or be born, and new stars
tively spin” the effect. through which they plow, but the and planets appear in the heavens.
quantum field around the Earth they One good sign of reality quakes in
B: Major fortune or misfortune. You strike. A banestorm interferes with progress is an anomalous eclipse,
gain 15-point Luck, or Unluckiness quantum jump windows, giving a unpredicted comet, or other strange
plus Ham-Fisted. Roll as before. penalty to Electronics Operation astronomical (or astrological) portent.
Superstitious activity (as a (Projector) skill from -1 to -6! Some Another effect of imminent reality
Compulsive Behavior) can affect the Patrolmen still risk it, because a quakes is to “blank out” precognitive
random roll by +1 or -1. These effects banestorm also masks parachronic or psychometric abilities, since history
last until the oz dosage decays. detection, drowning out the jump sig- literally “doesn’t exist” on the far side
nal in an ocean of parachronic of the quake. Volcanism and conven-
C: Temporal decay. Make daily “noise.” The banestorm gives the same tional earthquakes also seem to follow
aging rolls (p. B154). On a critical suc- penalty to the Electronics Operation or precede reality quakes; Paralabs
cess, you “age backward.” You also (Sensors) skill to detect a jump and nervously admits that on some Earths,
have Magic Susceptibility 3 until the half that penalty to any Physics they might cause reality quakes!
aging stops; your ears may also get (Parachronic) skill roll to analyze data
points, your hair turn green, etc. gathered during a banestorm.

D: Rapid temporal decay. Roll as C,
above. The charged particles begin to
do actual physical damage. Even on a
successful roll, you suffer 1 point of
injury; on a failure, 2 points; on a

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 75

Much as an earthquake leaves in a field near Glozel, France. Mostly on that world, which is under the care
breaks in the strata and fractures in strange stones, brick, and bones, of the conservative Catholic Opus Dei.
the geology, or flings up material from they bore carvings in an unknown
deep in the earth onto the surface, a alphabet. That same alphabet is used Vinland Map: In 1957, a curator at
reality quake leaves breaks in civiliza- as a Phoenecian creole in Ezcalli, Yale University bought a handwritten
tion or fractures in the historical and on one or two other worlds. tome known as the Tartar Relation. In
record. It can also and fling up anom- Some fragments show signs of sud- it, a map, dated to 1440, showed the
alous fragments of other realities – den, intense heat; some Cabalists in east coast of North America, labeled
“reality shards” – into the new/old the Wheel of Ptah throw Glozel frag- “Vinland.” Various analyses have
past. After each shift, only the reality ments for divination. revealed it as authentic, or as a mid-
shards remain, and the fossilized 20th-century forgery. The original of
traces of the previous reality survive Shroud of Turin: Thought to be the map is now in the Duncorne
only in the subconscious mind and both the winding cloth of Jesus Christ Foundation collection. Under the
myths of surviving cultures, and in the and a pious forgery from the 14th cen- right wavelengths, it is rumored to
strange artifacts rejected by the inhab- tury, the Shroud of Turin remains an show the dimensional highway to a
itants as oddities or forgeries. Many enigma. The presence of Palestinian pocket universe of Norse gods and an
reality shards show up in multiple pollen grains and the afterimage of “eternal Vinland the Brave.”
versions on more than one Earth. Roman coins over the eyes of the fig-
ure contrast sharply with radiocarbon Magic Bullet: The 6.5 mm bullet
Reality Shards dating demonstrating the Shroud’s that passed through John F. Kennedy
creation around 1350. Although the and John Connally appeared, almost
Patrolmen who find reality shards Vatican refuses to allow further tests completely intact and unscathed, on
are supposed to bring them to on the Homeline version of the the gurney at Parkland Hospital in
Paralabs for study. However, given Shroud, the one in Turin Cathedral on Dallas. Conspiracy theorists call it the
their weird, anomalous effects on Ariane (p. 128) gives every sign of “magic bullet.” Some conspiracy-
conveyors (and Patrolmen!), they are being a major reality shard. Eerie minded Paralabs analysts think that
often “accidentally” left behind in lights, the smell of incense, and fre- Oswald (or whoever) might have trig-
hidden caches, or (if seemingly lucky quent nexus portals to first-century gered a reality microquake, recreating
or useful) “accidentally” left off the Jerusalem pervade the Shroud’s home the 535 A.D. event (see below) and
incident report. sending shadow bullets winging

Reality shards tend to give anom- Mathematical Bafflegab
alous readings under scientific testing,
especially carbon-14 or thermolumi- For GMs and players who crave technobabble and jargon for the full
nescence dating. Many seem to be pal- roleplaying experience, we proudly present this excerpt from An
pable forgeries, “given away” by their Introduction to Ontophysics, by Dr. Joseph Franecki (University of
anachronistic composition, construc- Wisconsin Press, 2026, third edition, revised). The topic of the learned
tion, or artistic technique. Of the real- doctor’s disquisition is the mathematics of reality quakes, but it can
ity shards known to Paralabs, a apply to echoes, puzzle worlds, and other paraphysical phenomena with
notable percentage are made of crys- equal facility.
tal, or have some sort of glaze on
them. Whether this is a function of Pioneered by Margaret Steed in 2004, quantum combinatoric geom-
crystal’s general ruggedness or of the etry relates directly to the parachronic upheavals, which may occur
meta-geometry of reality tectonics when two or more realities are brought too quickly into proximity (as
remains unknown. determined by the L8 metric).

Sample reality shards include the Steed’s equations themselves are an invaluable basis for the calcula-
following, most of which have tion of the intersection indices of Leinster co-bundles in hemi-projective
Homeline equivalents: varieties, which may not seem relevant, until one appreciates that our
current model of the 8-dimensional meta-space in which the known
Nineveh Lens: An optically ground alternate worlds reside is an 8-dimensional projection of the compactifi-
crystal lens initially discovered in the cation of a generally positioned smooth 9-dimensional hemi-plane, and
ruins of Nineveh in 1853. The Nineveh individual vector chains in the Leinster co-bundles correspond to the
Lens predates by millennia other conditions under which parachronically stable worlds can (and did)
known lenses; archaeologists have dis- develop (our own included).
covered it (or a lens very similar to it)
in Nineveh in many different years on Intersections, then, would indicate locations in meta-space and time
a number of Earths. Looking through where the probability of nonbirational mappings between worlds or
it lets the viewer see invisible quasi-worlds is maximized, leading to a real possibility that information
Akkadian demons, or reality quake (in the form of history-changing events, cultures, concepts, or individu-
stresses, or an imprinted recording of als) can be destroyed or erroneously created, that is, transported from no
August 12, 605 B.C. real antecedent in this or any world.

Glozel Fragments: In 1923 a farmer
dug up hundreds of enigmatic artifacts

76 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

across the continuum. If loaded into a Greek history simply disappears into a forms, may be such a reality shard, as
rifle, a magic bullet supposedly grants Dark Age for 300 years until Homer might the wizard Merlin, who accord-
an instant kill (a critical hit to the writes the Iliad about the siege of Troy. ing to the stories lived backward from
brain) when fired at a king. Did his song “knit together” a reality his senescence (in which he was frozen
fracture? in time by Nimue) to his youth in
In game terms, reality shards Britain. Another such quantaclysm
almost always act as Mana Enhancers Etruria, c. 750 B.C.: The legendary may have blown a world of evolved,
(p. B68), and may grant other advan- founding of Rome takes place here technologically advanced dinosaurs to
tages (with the Can Be Stolen and and now, with the customary accre- pieces, and sent the survivors hurtling
Unique modifiers, perhaps) such as tion of omens and signs from the deep into the past. Such an event
Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, gods. A “shield of Mars” fell to Earth might have left almost all Earths with
Extraordinary Luck, Omen, Jumper, during the reign of Rome’s legendary legends of “talking snakes” or “drag-
Unaging, or Blessed. (They make second king Numa Pompilius – was it ons” who bring wisdom and knowl-
excellent “origin items” for world- a reality shard? Interestingly, magnet- edge from “under the earth,” and the
jumping supers.) Of course, they ic analysis of pottery from the region U.S.L. worldline (p. 148) as the only
might also carry disadvantages, such seems to indicate a reversal of the remnant.
as Delusions (“I am rightwise King of Earth’s magnetic field around the time
England!”), Flashbacks, Cursed, or of Numa’s reign. Reality Quakes
Unluckiness. Any reality shard is guar- and Time Travel
anteed to be a Weirdness Magnet. The Corfu and Jerusalem, 29 A.D.: Off
GM is free to introduce his favorite the Adriatic island of Corfu, Plutarch Reality quakes would also be quite
artifact or enigma as a reality shard – records that passengers heard a “great dangerous for time travelers. Of
the Piltdown Man skull on Homeline howl” announcing the death of the course, in a sense, any time traveler
may be a forgery, but that doesn’t Great God Pan. This date also roughly who changes the past causes a reality
mean there’s not a “real” shard just matches the date of Jesus’ crucifixion, quake, but (in the commonly under-
like it out in the continuum some- which was accompanied, according to stood versions of temporal physics),
where. the Bible, by an anomalous eclipse. time “pastward” of his change
remains unaffected. A true reality
Fracture Zones Britain or Java, 535 A.D.: The vol- quake, on the other hand, changes the
canic island Krakatoa may have erupt- past as well; it more often only
The fracture zone is the “epicenter” ed cataclysmically around the time of changes the past, leaving history after
of the reality quake, a location in the death of King Arthur. The century the fracture unaltered, but historians
space-time usually a few square miles after that date was almost a global unaware that their past is now differ-
and around six days in extent. After Dark Age; the Byzantine Empire lost a ent. Such a reality quake could change
the quake, it technically becomes a third of its population in the Plague of the past while a traveler was still in it,
“reality subduction zone” where the Justinian, Rome lay in ruins, China trapping him in a reality cyst with lit-
old reality is “sucked under” the new and India descended into chaos and erally no future. Some eras of the past
one. In practice, everyone calls the civil war, and even Teotihuacan and might be ontically unstable, especially
area a fracture zone regardless, issues the Maya states collapsed. Famines in fracture zones, leading to time-slips
of chronology being what they often and storms swept over the world. or chronal storms.
are around reality quakes.
Armageddon: At the natural choke GOING
A few space-time locations seem to point between Egypt and Asia, the ELSEWHERE
be especially vulnerable to reality plain of Megiddo in Israel sees battles
quakes, such as: in all eras in almost all Earths. (On Nexus Portals
Homeline, they range from Pharaonic
Ajalon, c. 1400 B.C.?: According to campaigns in 2350 B.C. to the Yom A “nexus portal” (see pp. B534) is a
Joshua 10:12, during a battle against Kippur War in 1973.) This may be hole leading from one dimension to
the Gibeonites at Ajalon in Canaan, enough to twist it permanently out of another. It is usually circular and less
the sun stood still for an entire day. space-time; soldiers missing after than 10 yards across, and allows light
This is either pious myth, miracle, or these battles may have fallen into a to pass through from both ends (that
prima facie reality quake evidence. “reality sinkhole” to emerge on some is, you can see its destination). Like a
The battle, interestingly, has yet to be other field, or recruited into a cross- conveyor, a portal crosses realities
convincingly dated – or even men- world brigade. without crossing space. Portals can be
tioned in other local chronicles. one-way or two-way; open all the time,
Estimates range from 1439 to 1131 Quantaclysms or accessible only on Durin’s Day or to
B.C. those with the Key of Time, or sum-
The 535 A.D. event (which may also monable by the person who knows
Troy, c. 1200 B.C.: An earthquake have involved a mysterious comet) is which kabbalistic sequence of elevator
may have caused the “fall of Troy,” and one possible quantaclysm, a reality buttons to push. Some portals go a lot
the Odyssey reports that the Greeks quake so severe that it actually obliter-
ceased to honor the gods after their ates the worldline on which it takes
victory. The traditional date for the fall place, and flings reality shards to tens
of Troy is 1179 B.C.; shortly thereafter, or even hundreds of other Earths in its
wake. The Holy Grail, in all its myriad

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 77

Reality Quakes in the Game

In essence, reality quakes are a GM’s tool to allow 12-13 – No immediate result, but if the zone is
things to happen outside the normal rules of the set- not stabilized, roll again in 1d¥10 hours, at +2.
ting. Want to massively retcon your campaign? Reality This moifier is cumulative if rolled more than once.
quake. Want to put the Holy Grail into a resolutely
hard-SF setting? Reality quake. Want to have a world 14-15 – Reality temblor in 2d hours; a banestorm
where ancient Romans fight the Confederacy? Reality may blow up, 1d reality shards appear, or 3d
quake. This also happens to be the explanation used by beings from another reality emerge (possibly
most “flung into the past” stories, no matter how they hostile and supernatural).
may gussy it up with lightning bolts or Druidic curses
– it happened because it’s just too neat for reality to get 16-17 – Reality quake will occur in 2d days; reality
in the way. Providing hard and fast rules for reality temblor will occur as above.
quakes, therefore, would seem to be beside the point.
18 or more – Reality quake will occur in 2d hours;
But, if you want to have a game centered on the reality temblor will occur immediately.
quakes – their cause, their cure, their uses – here are
some rules mechanics to govern their appearance, all Further local modifiers to the Quake Roll are at the
neatly tied into the existing paraphysics of the setting. GM’s discretion but might include: +1 or more for a
cult devoted to the zone’s previous (or coming) reality
Reality Stress Level (+1 for 100 members, +2 for 1,000 members, etc.) in
the area; +1 or more for a being from another reality
Compute the basic Reality Stress Level as follows: becoming known to the local population (gruesome
add 1 for every level of local mana above no mana (low murder spree, strange lecture tour, etc.); battlefield
is +1, normal is +2, etc.). Add the SL modifiers for cos- modifiers for a battle going on during a potential
mic energies, historical murk, and magic use (though quake; +1 or more for a reality shard in use; +1 to +3
not magically significant days) from the Chronal for strange eclipses, astrological conjunctions, etc.
Storms section (p. 164), as written. If the area has been visible in the area.
a fracture zone in other worlds, add from 1 to 5 points
(from a minor slip to Armageddon). Add 1 or 2 points Stress Relief
if the area is on a geological fault line.
Immediately after a Quake Roll results in a 6 or less,
Reality Quake Roll cut the RSL by two-thirds, and subtract 3 from any
Quake Roll made in the next year. If a Quake Roll
The GM should make the Quake Roll when local results in a 3 or less, cut the RSL to just the local mana
conditions seem to threaten a quake, usually due to level, and subtract 6 from any Quake Roll made in the
one or more of the modifiers below. Take the total RSL next year. Over that year, the RSL builds back up to its
and divide it by 5 (round down). Apply that as a modi- normal “background” level.
fier on the Quake Roll; roll 3d and apply the results as
follows: Stabilizing a fracture zone may involve super-
science “warp dampers,” magic, or simply trying to
6 or less – Pressure relief stabilizes zone. remove potential quake stimuli (weird cults, reality
7-9 – No result, but add 1 to any further roll made shards, monsters, nexus portals) from the area. It
might involve resolving the area’s historical enigmas
within a week if stimulus continues. and mysteries to clear up any rubble from previous
10-11 – No result, but add 2 to any further roll made quakes. The GM should determine when an area
counts as stable – a whole campaign could center on
within a week if stimulus continues. stabilizing a major fracture zone!

of different places (at random or by tals if the situation seems to demand many cases. (Even if it doesn’t close
selection), and some are invisible until it. Individual Patrolmen take various the portal, it can effectively block
after the unwary traveler has tumbled approaches to that question: some like access to it.) Some portals go “offline”
through them into another world. having a bolthole available in case during nuclear blasts or very intense
something goes wrong with the con- fires or electrical storms. A few por-
The Patrol has encountered every veyor; others don’t like the thought tals require charged-particle blasts,
sort of portal mentioned above, and that the “back door” to the world is left magic, or other methods to close, and
some even stranger than that. So far, open and unlocked. even then they can reopen after a few
the Patrol has found at least one years. If possible, locking the portal
potential portal on every world it has Most nexus portals can be makes the best compromise between
surveyed except for Coventry. Patrol destroyed with sufficiently high ener- access and security; this often takes a
doctrine allows Patrolmen to seal por- gy release; dynamite does the job in

78 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

magical ritual, psionic attunement, or (p. 124); the Raven Division has sent interstate highway system. It can only
tuning a quantum flux capacitor to scouts along its length for about a be accessed through patches of fog
match the portal’s signature. thousand miles in all four directions. along a rainy highway somewhere in
America, although there are certain
Dimensional Highways Eleusis Alesia: This ley line runs radio frequencies that draw an on-
through a number of worlds on a ramp closer to your automobile.
The same basic strictures apply to number of quanta, including
dimensional highways, the paths that Britannica-7, Johnson’s Rome, and SHIFTREALMS
run across the parallels. They are Wyvern. It can be accessed many
almost always much harder to close places along its length, between la Shiftrealms are geographical fea-
than mere nexus portals. They are Aliseda, Spain, and Kalisz, Poland. tures (and some artificial constructs)
somewhat less common, although Only women can travel it, and no vehi- that move between the worlds.
almost all mana-positive worlds have cles past TL4. Shiftrealms usually travel on a regular
at least one minor dimensional high- schedule, although it may be a fairly
way usable by anyone (or sometimes I-776: “This psionic construct was impenetrable and complex one. A few
any mage or supernatural being) who built by the subconscious will of the shiftrealms are either entirely ran-
knows the way. These “faerie trods” United States just before the Great dom, or their schedule is so abstruse
mostly run between forests, their path Awakening of July 4, 2076.” That’s that no pattern has emerged yet. Some
strewn with Puck’s-cap mushrooms what the Roadside Historical Marker famous “ghost ships,” such as the
and Queen Marie’s clover. says, anyway; all the Patrol knows is Flying Dutchman, may also actually be
that it runs along the old Route 66 shiftrealms.
Less decorative are the “ghost from Chicago to Los Angeles on
roads,” straight paths leading through almost every worldline with a U.S.
misty declivities. The fog on either
side of a ghost road resembles the Gates of Thoth
clouds of a banestorm, and has similar
effects if you step into it. In the clouds, Mysterious triangles that appear and disappear in an indecipherable
travelers see shadows and familiar pattern, the Gates of Thoth are doorways through time. Members of the
faces – possibly quantum shadows of Cabal believe that Khaibitu-na-Khonsu, their first Grand Master, opened
their alternate selves – that alternately the Gates during his war with the god Ra in the third millennium B.C.
entice and mock them. Walking a Opinions differ on what he thought he was doing, and on whether the
ghost road usually involves a Fright Gates were even his intended result. If a person steps through a Gate, he
Check, at -2 to -4. Ghost roads nor- usually moves backward in time to another Gate appearing at the same
mally appear in normal-mana or high- place. Occasionally, travel occurs across space or even forward in time.
er areas, but they sometimes drift onto Gates can span hours or millennia, but a slim majority open across one
the path (or vice versa) of particularly to three centuries. A Gate may also open to another world or plane
bloody massacre sites, plague pits, entirely. No Magery is necessary to utilize a Gate.
and the like.
Gates of Thoth often open in high-mana worlds and high-mana loca-
One subclass of dimensional high- tions on normal-mana worlds, but have also been known to materialize
way, called the “time tunnel,” is just in any world with even a trace of magic. A Gate appears as a “hole” in
like a nexus portal, except that the the air in the shape of an equilateral triangle. Their height from base to
journey is not instantaneous and pass- apex is usually around 10 feet, but the Gates rarely appear at ground
es through a tunnel. The tunnel level, often materializing dozens of feet above the ground. A Gate usual-
resembles a natural cavern, with walls ly remains open for three to 18 hours, during which travel is permissible
of raw stone occasionally enlivened by both into and out of the Gate. When used in conjunction with the Planar
graffiti, carved runes, or paintings of Summons spell (p. B247), the gate increases the skill roll by 6 and
bulls and dinosaurs. What, if any- reduces the energy cost to 10.
thing, is on the other side of the tunnel
walls remains unknown. Gates of Thoth can allow a GM to introduce time travel into a cross-
world campaign on a one-shot or limited basis, strictly under his control.
Some fairly well-known or signifi- Gates of Thoth can also bring dinosaurs, historical villains, or even
cant dimensional highways include: unearthly Things from beyond the stars into a game, as part of some evil
Cabal scheme or simply to spice things up. GMs who like the idea of ran-
The Chronobahn: Two roads, com- dom gates opening and closing under the GM’s control, but don’t want
posed of fitted hexagonal basalt to deal with time travel even a little bit, can recast the Gates as magical
blocks, run through a number of nexus portals (p. 77). These Gates of Psais (named for the Egyptian god
worlds on Quantum 3. Each road is of destiny) only grant passage between parallel worlds.
about 20 yards wide, and runs
through each world for about 300
miles before moving into the next. The
two roads cross near Carchemish, in
the upper Euphrates valley on
Nostradamus (p. 138). Its western end
on Nostradamus leads to Friedrich

ENEMIES EVERYWHEN 79

The Ouroborous Car spellings) was the “fortunate island” of those with elven blood, even normal
golden palaces and wise enchanters, mortals can find themselves stum-
Perhaps this subway car fell rich in sheep and glass, wreathed in bling into Faërie from an Irish hilltop
through the geometry of a subway sys- fog to the west of Ireland. Every seven or a Tuscan grove. The relative solidi-
tem. It now rattles between subway years it would appear, sending a sweet ty of Faërie makes it a common desti-
stations on the infinite worlds. wind of spice and apples across the nation for material travelers in the
Nobody can tell what city it originally ocean. As it happens, this is another Astral Plane, as well, since it touches
came from; the interior is dimly lit and legend with a basis in a shiftrealm; the the Astral Plane on all sides.
smells bad. All its advertisements are island actually exists, floating between
in English and Spanish; the outsides various Earths on a long circuit Wanshijieshan
of the car are painted over with graffi- through the quanta. Seemingly TL2 at
ti and unreadable. It may be an intelli- most, the natives need only murmur Wanshijieshan, the “Ten Thou-
gent parachronozoid rather than a or gesture to find their desires ful- sand Worlds Mountain,” seems to
shiftrealm, as Patrolmen who have filled; higher technology, meanwhile, have flowed out of some Tang
taken it report that it somehow often fails (all rolls to use devices or Dynasty print, wreathed in the mists,
“knows where you need to go” and equipment on Huy Breasil are at -1 to clad in impossibly slender conifers,
makes the required stop. skill for every TL the tool is above 3). and mounting gracefully up to heav-
Huy Breasil is a very-high-mana en like cloud turned to stone. Along
Silenzia island. its ridges and ravines, a thousand
caverns open – some wide and yawn-
The Silent City, Silenzia flickers The mana differential between ing, some softly glowing with phos-
between many Earths, but only Huy Breasil and most of the worlds it phorescent fungi, some narrow and
between two locations. In June and visits kicks up a cyclonic banestorm rimed with lime and lichen. Some of
July it appears, wreathed in fog and around its coastline, which further them are fouled with mephitic
rainbows, on the flank of the Muir shrouds it from visiting ships (and vapors or flooded with glacial runoff;
Glacier in Alaska, above Glacier Bay often sends ships right through the others are closed off by landslides or
and below the St. Elias Mountains; island, none the wiser). If it drops into blocked off by curiously shaped
Midsummer Day at noon is the best a low- or no-mana world, it generates walls. Through every passage lies a
time to try entering it there. In a banestream, a current of higher different Earth, although some of the
December and January, it manifests mana flowing east out of the island caves end in holes in an icy river in
on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily, that can last for years or decades, even America, or ponds in a forest in
above the Straits of Messina; midnight after Huy Breasil has moved on to England, rather than mountainsides
on Twelfth Night it is most accessible another Earth. The banestream usual- and canyons in the rocky west of
there. Silenzia’s architecture is a ly dies down by the time it hits the China’s Shanxi province, where dedi-
strange but organic mixture of European continent, although in cated or worthy travelers may find it.
medieval Arabic and Gothic, although some bad years, gales and high waves
some of the buildings appear to have churn up ports and dockyards from The Mountain is home to a small
been constructed as late as the 1890s. Glasgow to Lisbon, sending monsters community of monks who have
The Silenzians claim that their city and merfolk up onto the land. retired there. Asking them about the
was founded by Roger II of Sicily, but Particularly strong banestreams can caves is useless; they have retired to
stolen by Morgan Le Fay in anger at affect weather patterns (and mana lev- forget the Earths, not act as tour
his refusal to renounce Christianity. els) as far inland as the upper Danube guides. It is the gravest possible dis-
(Less romantic theorists believe it to valley. courtesy to recognize a monk, and
be a large reality shard, although it is especially to call him by a name he
a low-mana zone.) For at least 200 Faërie may have held once long ago. The
years, Silenzia has quietly prospered abbot speculates, with respectful vis-
selling Yukon gold in Naples, Messina, Faërie is a timeless kingdom of itors, upon the nature of the
and Palermo; local fishermen (both elves (also called fae) ruled by Queen Mountain itself, and the omens seen
Sicilian and Inuit) do well selling their Titania and King Oberon. Although in its trees and skies and rivers.
catches on Silenzia’s docks, and do not mutable by sufficiently powerful fae, it Perhaps the lightning that flickers
speak of it to strangers. Silenzia is a usually resembles a rural area of around its top bears witness to some
popular hangout and rendezvous medieval northwestern Europe on a great disruption, or to the birth of
point for swagmen, and dimension perfect spring afternoon. The palace some great majesty. Perhaps each
travelers can find a surprising variety of Oberon and Titania rises in the cen- new spring that bursts out of the
of goods from all over the multiverse ter of the shiftrealm, with a “goblin rock is a dimensional road being cut,
for sale (for a surprising variety of cur- marketplace” on the border. Many or a new set of minds learning to
rencies) in Silenzia’s quaint shops and trods (p. 74) run from Faërie to vari- move around the continuum.
narrow bazaars. ous northern Europes. Other trods Perhaps, he suggests over his tea, the
link Faërie to other shiftrealms such mountain is not a shiftrealm at all,
Huy Breasil as the Forest of Arden, which moves but the only fixed realm in all the
between Englands whenever the infinite worlds, the true navel of the
In Homeline legend, Huy Breasil leaves turn. Although the trods to cosmos.
(also Hy-Brasil, among other variant Faërie tend to open only to magi, or to

80 ENEMIES EVERYWHEN

CHAPTER THREE

PRESENT AT
THE CREATION

Angela and year to finally teach Bobby Lee how think like we do, but they understand
Suleiman – Agents to lose like a gentleman.” Suleiman, war pretty well. Gettysburg is a
Polk and Erdoglu, who had a soft spot for Lee, respond- sideshow. Even if Lee wins, he’s still
as their records ed, “More to the point, the lost in the middle of Pennsylvania
chip read, or “Mrs. Mississippi doesn’t get cut, and that with no logistics and no cavalry sup-
Banning and her opens up some troublesome develop- port, and two Union armies over the
manservant ments in Missouri that could tweak next ridge.” He trailed off, realizing
Pompey” as they the 1864 election. All the numbers that Angela had neatly trapped him
were known here- show that Vicksburg is the key nexus, into calling Lee’s eternal genius into
abouts – were so why hasn’t Centrum made its question, and changed the subject.
mostly concerned move by now?” “Maybe they’re not even thinking
with the rain. about the Civil War, though – Britain
Specifically, at its “Well, they’re all medieval screw- is the really important country here
annoying tenden- heads; maybe this is a bluff, and and now, and Palmerston is still
cy to fall through they’re trying to save Pickett’s Charge holding on to Centrum-style hierar-
what was left of or something.” Suleiman grinned, chy by the skin of his teeth.”
the plantation but demurred: “Look, they don’t
house roof, onto
their very accu-
rate, and hence
not at all water-
proof, clothing.
“Nobody can
be expected to
perform clio-
dynamic
analysis
soaked to the
skin like this,”
Angela groused.
“Look on the bright
side,” her partner respond-
ed, hunching a little deeper into his
topcoat, “Nobody’s trying to kill us
right now.” It was true; the Union
artillery had found somewhere else
to obliterate for the time being, and
the two Patrolmen hadn’t seen hide
or hair of the Centrum agents known
to be swarming all over this particu-
lar stretch of Mississippi in this par-
ticular 1863. Angela sneezed.
“Except maybe with pneumonia.”

“That’s right, though. Where the
Hell are the I.S. boys, and why aren’t
they trying harder to save the Rebs?
If Vicksburg doesn’t fall to Grant,
Gettysburg doesn’t matter a bit, and
worse yet, Grant doesn’t go east next

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 81

“Plus, they’re supposed to be sign- Had I been present at the Creation, I would
ing a free trade pact with Belgium have given some useful hints for better ordering
and France this year – of the Universe.
didn’t Vanderlyn say that World War
One really begins because Britain – Alfonso X, called “the Wise,” of Aragon
has too much cash tied up in Belgian
ports?” Union wounded. The besieging contains a myriad of parallel Earths,
Union Army of the Tennessee was each one with its own potential for
“Vanderlyn? He’s crazy, and he’s eroding away in the downpour, or riches, adventure, mystery, or danger.
triple crazy about Belgium. If you drowning in mud. Ulysses S. Grant This chapter lays out some of the basic
want to find World War One starting looked at the sky in frustration, and types of alternate worlds, and some
in 1863, go to Denmark, where King cursed to himself. principles (based, as far as possible,
Christian is being ass enough to give on historical research) for designing
Bismarck a pretext for a war that will It was supposed to be sunny today, or constructing them.
wind up unifying Germany.” dammit. Somehow I just know it was
supposed to be sunny. Throughout this chapter, various
“Is that this year?” “Yep.” tables and metrics can help the GM
“No,” Angela sighed after a long Even the most heroic I-Cops, or the to randomly or mechanically create
thought, “that just seems too subtle most fiendish interdimensional Nazis, another timeline. It should go with-
somehow. Too long-term. I can’t get need a stage for their actions. In the out saying that these systems exist
away from the notion that Centrum Infinite Worlds setting, as in most solely for the GM’s convenience, and
is involved here and now, at crosstime campaigns, that setting is if he has a better idea, or wants to
Vicksburg. Otherwise, who’s to say the alternate world, an Earth where tweak the results to produce some-
they’re not murdering Henry Ford in history took a different turn. Many thing that sounds interesting, he
his crib, or conniving to delete the examples of such worlds appear in fic- should do just that. However, just as
penalty kick from soccer? No, I don’t tion, speculative history, and film; some of the fun of “space merchant”
think they’re in Denmark.” GMs can have their hands full with games is randomly discovering plan-
“Plus, it’s probably raining in adventures set in a single world of ets, some of the fun of crosstime
Copenhagen, too.” Nazi victory or Roman survival. adventures is randomly discovering
The two Patrolmen pondered that However, the canvas of the Infinite alternates. Hopefully, this chapter
gloomy prospect, and watched more Worlds setting is vaster than even one and these systems can add to that
of the carpet return to the Delta mud world where history turned aside; it fun.
that had no doubt produced it in the
first place.
“Let’s recheck the numbers again.
Maybe the computer has something
for us.”
For miles around, the rain had
turned Mississippi’s roads to burgoo,
bogging down the Union wagons and
cannon, and pneumonia had begun
carrying off more and more of the

TYPES OF ALTERNATE WORLDS

Both crossworld travelers and GMs any number of random worlds. To world, roll 1d twice and consult the
tend to classify worlds into various randomly generate an alternate following tables:
types, depending on their use, nature,
and inhabitants. This section primari- Random Quantum Table
ly approaches the topic from the GM’s
perspective, although it uses some 1 Quantum 3 (Q8 for Centrum)
Infinity Patrol terminology rather 2 Quantum 4 (Q9 for Centrum)
than reinventing the wheel. For specif- 3 Quantum 5 (Q10 for Centrum)
ic Infinity world classifications, see 4-5 Quantum 6
the box on p. 83. 6 Quantum 7

A world might be a pre-existing Random World Type
element of the game, or one custom-
designed to fit a given scenario. A lost 1 Empty
conveyor, or a more free-form setting 2-5 Echo/Parallel (if on Q6, roll again: 1,2 – Echo; 3-6 – Parallel)
than the “default” Infinite Worlds 6 Challenge
campaign, might drop Patrolmen into

82 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

Infinity’s World Classes Bauxite ($20/ton): Bauxite (alu-
minum ore) deposits occur globally,
The Penetration Service gives every surveyed worldline a class rating, the richest being in the Ural
to guide future Infinity activity. UNIC can, in theory, override a Mountains, the Guianas, Guinea,
Penetration Service classification, but never has. Sometimes, newly dis- Ghana, and Jamaica. Although alu-
covered (or defeated) dangers in a timeline can shift its class rating up minum itself is dirt cheap, bauxite
or (less often) down the scale. contains valuable gallium, widely used
in computer technology and worth
Class O (Open): Worldlines declared safe to enter, and available for about $200/lb. Recovering gallium
trade, colonization, or other activity. without refining the bauxite into alu-
minum is economically unfeasible.
Class P (Protectorate): Generally applied to parallels with “autochro-
nous” populations (those native to a timeline, as opposed to Homeline Beryllium ($300/lb.): Found in the
colonists and their descendants). Many lower-tech Class P worlds have mountains of Utah, Sinkiang, and
limited and licensed trade or tourism openings. Kazakhstan.

Class R (Research): Set aside for special study, but not immediately Chromium ($500/ton): 95% of the
threatening. Such worldlines usually have strange physical laws or wild- world’s chromium deposits are in
ly variant cultures, dinosaurs or other exotic ecologies, or pre-Bronze southern Africa (South Africa,
Age human populations. Zimbabwe, and the Katanga province
of the Congo). Minor chromium
Class Z (Closed): Worlds that pose a danger to Homeline, or to The deposits appear in Greenland,
Secret. This class includes most hell parallels (p. 128), very high-tech Montana, and Kazakhstan.
worldlines, the Reich parallels (p. 143), and worlds with aliens, magic, or
open psionics. Cobalt ($25/lb.): Cuba, Zaire,
Zambia, New Caledonia, and the
Within each class, worldlines have Access Ratings. These denote northern United States (primarily
which outtimers can enter the timeline, and range from 1 (Patrol per- Minnesota) contain most of the easily
sonnel with specific orders only) to 10 (free visitation by any Homeliner). accessible cobalt in the world. It also
Intermediate stages 2 (Patrol personnel only) and 3 (Infinity, personnel appears in nickel mines.
only) restrict the world to Infinity, although with enough pressure from
national governments or UNIC, outsiders might be allowed access. AR4 Gold ($4,400/lb.): South Africa has
allows only Infinity-licensed researchers; AR5 allows accredited research about half the world’s gold deposits;
staffs from any major corporation or university. At AR6 through AR8, the Yukon, California, the Amazon
Infinity allows outtime trade in ever-larger amounts and in ever-less reg- basin, and Mexico share another 25%
ulated goods; AR9 allows guided tourism. No Class Z world has a Access of the total. Major Old World gold
Rating above 4. deposits include Spain, Nubia,
Bactria, and southern India. One
EMPTY WORLDS 1-4 Resource exploitation. advantage of gold is that societies at
5 Homeline colony or colonies. all TLs value it; it makes a near-ideal
Empty worlds have no intelligent 6 Disaster world. medium of crosstime exchange.
native life – or, at least, none that the
cross-dimensional visitors have found Resources Platinum ($6,400/lb.): Over 90% of
yet! How Infinity, or other world platinum deposits occur in
crosstimers, use such a world depends Most Earths have the same geo- South Africa or Zimbabwe. The Ural
on their own procedures and on the physical history, so the same mineral Mountains, Kola Peninsula, and
nature of the empty Earth in question. resources exist in the same richness Montana also have viable platinum
An Earth where mankind never and the same locations across the par- mines. Other platinum-group metals
evolved – or hasn’t yet – is very differ- allels. (Major exceptions include the (palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, irid-
ent from an Earth on which some hor- Lucifer parallels, most of which were ium, and osmium) appear in the same
rible disaster cleansed the world of hit by major asteroid or meteorite deposits.
intelligent life or derailed hominid strikes. In the impact zones of such
evolution. disasters, very rich, pure veins of Silver ($220/lb.): The richest silver
many different elements occur.) The mines in the world were in Potosi,
Within the Infinite Worlds setting, major industrial minerals, their rough Bolivia; other major silver lodes
a random empty world breaks down value on Homeline, and their primary appear in Nevada, Mexico, Peru,
as follows; roll 1d and use the discus- deposits, are as follows: Greece, Turkey, and Spain.
sion below to refine the basic result.
Titanium ($4/lb.): Ilmenite (titani-
um ore) occurs in Australia, Sri
Lanka, Norway, and South Africa.
Ilmenite sands in California and
Florida also produce commercial-
grade titanium.

Uranium ($7/lb.): Almost all of the
world’s uranium comes from Niger,
Namibia, or Australia; other lodes
include South Africa, New Mexico,
and Saskatchewan.

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 83

Other minerals worth mining from cargoes to be shipped (legally or, more licenses to open (strictly guarded)
settled areas near Homeline colonies, often, on the gray market) to more mines in those regions, even on worlds
or in pre-existing mining complexes, advanced Earths in tankers fitted with with substantial native development.
include copper, iron, manganese, nick- subquantum conveyors. Swagmen Rumors about the mines spread, but
el, and zinc. Gems, although tempting often work with, and sometimes work usually evolve (or dissolve) into the
for smugglers (especially between as, crosstime wildcatters. standard legends of King Solomon’s
primitive Earths) have little or no Mines, El Dorado, and other “lost
industrial value, since artificial gems The ability to mine other Earths for cities of gold” familiar from Homeline
equal or exceed their hardness and valuable resources contributes mighti- history and folklore.
purity. Iron and nickel, on Homeline, ly to Homeline’s high standard of liv-
come almost exclusively from asteroid ing. Mineral combines, and politicians Colonization
mining, and manganese comes from interested in keeping prices low and
seabed mining; there is little export technology booming, steadily pressure Given a world without any native
market for crosstime mining of these UNIC and Infinity to open more and humans, but otherwise hospitable,
metals. Similarly, the wide use of more worlds for exploitation and Infinity has the power to open it to
fusion power makes petroleum far less extractive development. Since areas permanent habitation from Homeline.
valuable on Homeline than it is on such as the American West, Australia, Although most colonies also maintain
most developed Earths. A large per- and especially southern Africa were some mining or research facilities,
centage of petroleum extraction on outside the “known world” of most their purpose is settlement, not mere
parallel Earths is “wildcat” drilling for civilizations, these pressure groups extraction or study. In general, the
have successfully gotten Infinity specifics of the colony parallel depend
on the colonizing power or organiza-
Dinosaur Hunting tion, but all crosstime colonies can fall
into one or another general colony
Although many Homeline organizations protest the practice, one of type.
the most lucrative and romanticized fields of crosstime tourism is big
game hunting. Not only lions and elephants in empty Africas, but Overflow colonies from nations
aurochs in the primeval European forest, tigers in India, and mam- such as India, China, Indonesia, and
moths in prehuman America draw the rich and bored of Homeline for Nigeria allow surplus populations to
elaborate safaris. Most hunting worlds are Class O empty worlds; jung- settle otherwise empty alternate ver-
ly Shikari and Miocene Mammut-2 (both on Quantum 5) are the most sions of their homeland (and usually
“developed,” with hunting lodges, airfields, and permanent popula- the surrounding areas). Bhuvarlok
tions of guides and zoologists. (see p. 32) is an overflow colony.

However, the biggest game of all is dinosaur hunting. This pastime is Separatist colonies allow groups
theoretically only legal on Lucifer-4, a late-Cretaceous parallel where the that do not wish to (or are not allowed
iridium meteor has already fallen, and the native dinosaurs are in the to) remain in their Homeline nations
process of dying out. But Lucifer-4 has terrible weather, a dwindling to set up their own communities.
game supply, and a serious absence of romantic flavor. Its other trouble Religious and green movements such
is difficulty of access – since it is well out on Quantum 3, visiting Lucifer- as the Mennonites, Mormons, neo-
4 is expensive. Druids, and Sustainabilists comprise
most voluntary separatists; their
Many hunters apply for “guard licenses” on research worlds with colonies sometimes purposely regress
thriving saurian ecologies, such as Rex-2 and Sereno. Guards at the to TL4 in all areas save medical care.
research stations on these worlds are allowed to kill stragglers or runts Some separatist colonies such as
for meat. At some stations, the management looks the other way (for a Lysander or Tebuguo (see p. 32) are
consideration) if a guard takes a long “vacation” into the mountains with primarily politically motivated.
“visiting friends.” The mother lode, however, for the would-be poacher is
Crichton, a Class R world with a theoretically impossible mix of Clandestine colonies are not quite
dinosaurs from all eras of their evolution. Tyrannosaurs and colonies, in that they are usually per-
dimetrodons, pterodactyls and apatosaurs all share Crichton’s steaming manent military bases, smuggling
swamps and warm savannas. Crichton is on Quantum 7, and Centrum depots, or slave markets. They are not
uses it to contact Homeline’s criminal elements. Its coordinates are one on the official maps, and some are not
of the worst kept secrets in Infinity records, and although dangerous and even on charted timelines! Cland-
unregulated, lucrative “pirate safaris” depart for Crichton several times estine military bases are usually the
a year. The Patrol has its hands full there, and has broken up kidnapping work of a major Homeline power, and
plots and attempted murders (a combination of rich hunters and law- may be secretly located on a worldline
breaking seems to draw such incidents), as well as more conventional associated with it. The world of
smuggling rings feeding the substantial East Asian market for dinosaur Lysander (see p. 32), for example, is
glands. widely rumored to be the site of a
major clandestine parachronic base
for the U.S. and British military, called
“Camp No-When” in Net legend.
Clandestine criminal colonies attract

84 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

large transient populations when the When we realize that the actual outcome did
heat is on elsewhen, or when there are not have to be, that any alteration in any step
major cargoes to sell or divide; they along the way would have unleashed a cascade
usually have a small or medium-sized down a different channel, we grasp the causal
“permanent floating” population of power of individual events . . . Contingency is
whores, distillers, and muscle. the affirmation of control by immediate events
over destiny, the kingdom lost for want of a
Manor colonies are those devoted horseshoe nail.
to the privacy of the very rich.
Many Homeline billionaires buy or – Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life
lease million-acre (or larger) “manor
estates” on empty worlds. Prime oxygenated, or has no moon and DNA priceless resources for historical
estates, such as all of Tahiti or Oahu, never formed in tide pools, or are the researchers – and since historical
go for tens of billions of dollars unim- wrong distance from the sun for life to research is a key underpinning of
proved; your own Rocky Mountain or exist, are also considered “disaster” Patrol success, Infinity does allow very
a lesser Greek island can be a relative worlds. They can be cleared for entry carefully supervised research teams
steal. Corporations also buy or lease faster than plague worlds, and robot access to echoes wherever possible. In
manor colonies for retreats or execu- mining or dumping operations (with a the final analysis, it often takes a
tive country club housing. Many few well-paid, miserable technicians trained historian to notice the
worlds devoted to other colonies make in pressure domes) can continue to beginning of an echo’s shift!
some money selling or leasing prime exploit them. Most disaster worlds are
manors to rich Homeliners, with iron- cleared only for toxic waste disposal That, of course, is why researchers
clad privacy and airspace agreements by automated conveyor, which is on echo timelines need to be even
(going both ways in the case of some about all they are usually good for. more careful than usual. An echo can
separatist colony worlds). Every so often, one of the mining sta- shift out of its current quantum coor-
tions goes silent, or a waste conveyor dinates, and into an entirely new
In many cases, several geographi- doesn’t return, and then the Patrol has quantum level, if history is changed on
cally disparate countries or organiza- to suit up and see what happened. it. (Very minor changes, like the pres-
tions pool their resources for one ence of Infinity researchers ordering
common world. The resulting timeline ECHOES breakfast in 1793 London, fortunately
might host an overflow colony in its “damp out” in an indeterminate haze.)
India, a separatist religious retreat on An echo is an alternate Earth Unfortunately, since echoes are inher-
the American East Coast, and a num- apparently identical to Homeline at ently unstable, it’s not a matter of “if”
ber of European-chartered manors some earlier point in its history. history changes, but “when.” If it
scattered around the Pacific islands Although detailed records down to the shifts by itself, or through accidental
and Mediterranean. individual level are not available for Infinity interference, that’s one thing,
any era (even Homeline’s civilized 21st and the team’s biggest worry is getting
Many colonies support themselves century), no echo has been proven to back to Homeline in time for their rep-
by leasing their world’s (or region’s) deviate from “known history.” In the rimands. If Centrum shifts a timeline
mineral rights to Homeline consortia. few cases of apparent deviation, later out of Infinity’s reach, a team can be
A world can thus have a seemingly research determined that Homeline’s trapped there forever, or killed in the
utopian and pristine separatist colony records or interpretations were in “mopping up” process as Centrum
in its North America, supported by error. This factor alone makes echoes asserts its control.
dirty, miserable – but unseen – extrac-
tive labor across the continent or
around the globe. Colonial govern-
ments that can use such leases to fully
support themselves can wind up with
very low tax rates – but often have
similarly little incentive to listen to the
wishes of their citizens.

Disasters Naming Echoes

This general term encompasses Infinity names echoes based on the number of years the echo’s local
not only worlds depopulated by present lags behind Homeline. An echo with a local present date of 1776
some cosmic impact, plague, or eco- would be Echo 251, or 251 Minus (both names get used interchange-
logical shift, but also worlds too mar- ably), since 1776 is 251 years behind Homeline’s present date of 2027.
ginal to support colonization. Most Once the echo shifts (or, if it turns out to be an anchor, once its history
disaster worlds that result from actu- changes from Homeline’s), it gets assigned new coordinates – and usu-
al disasters are functionally “chal- ally picks up another name based on whatever the change point was –
lenge worlds” for the PCs (p. 94). assuming anyone in Infinity ever finds the echo again.
Earths where the atmosphere never

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 85

Echoes therefore make good set- translate to most years before 1450 or its tampering plots at the opening of
tings for subtle scenarios of investiga- so), but such periods aren’t terribly a window. To determine if a window
tion, mystery, and indirect action. well documented, which can run his- of instability is open for a given echo
Wild, maniacal gunplay and city-shak- torically minded games onto the takes a week. Either a week of “back-
ing explosions are more than normal- shoals. For a system weighted to pro- ground readings” with a parachron-
ly dangerous (except during wartime duce more recent presents, add a ic detector and a successful
echoes, of course). Echo settings also modifier to the Starting Era die roll, or Physics/TL9^ (Parachronic) roll, or
reward lots of close integration just pick the Starting Era you’d like to a week of checking newspapers and
between the heroes and the world; begin with. a successful Current Affairs roll for
they have to have local allies, local the local culture plus a successful
sources of information, and local Tampering Cliodynamics roll (p. 182) works.
clout to detect and prevent Centrum (To randomly determine if the echo
interference. The great danger (and opportunity, is in a window, roll 1d; on a 1 or 2, a
from a story perspective) on an echo is window of instability is open. Roll
It’s wise, therefore, to select an historical tampering. Although minor 3d on the Shift Delay Table on p. 104
echo based on a historical milieu that shifts, like renting a room or hiring a to determine the window’s length.) A
the GM and players know well or a maid, don’t usually change anything, if critical success on either roll lets the
milieu for which they have reliable, you rent the room where Edgar Allan agent predict the next window open-
useful resources. However, some GMs Poe was planning to sleep off a bender, ing, though not its length.
(and players) like the seat-of-their- or hire Emiliano Zapata’s mother as a
pants feel of random reality-hopping; maid, you run a certain risk. Major A divergence that hits during a
for such randomness, use the follow- changes are more likely to send things window of instability has a chance of
ing system to create a “present” off the rails, though there have been shifting the timeline. This chance gets
between 3400 B.C. and 2001 for a cases of echoes where change after greater with the degree of divergence
random echo. change mounted up before a shift caused by the shift.
occurred. (And there are echoes that
Roll 1d repeatedly on the Random just never change no matter what; see Minor event (+1 to shift): A change
Present Table, incrementing the year Anchors, p. 87.) Infinity doesn’t know of the sort encountered in most close
forward as indicated from the initial why some changes cascade into quan- parallels (p. 88).
Starting Era. After the third incre- tum shifts, and others seem to damp
ment, if a specific year is desired, roll themselves out – the only thing the Important event (+2 to shift): A
a final die and add the result. Patrol can do is keep a wary eye on change of leaders in a minor power;
any changes they notice. the career of a major artistic figure; the
Once the GM has the year figured founding or bankruptcy of a large cor-
out, he can use a timeline or world his- Centrum, however, does know. poration; a seminal scientific theory.
tory text to find someplace exciting for Echoes go through windows of
the party to arrive. In our example, the paratemporal instability, during Major event (+3 to shift): A change
era 554-560 A.D. is suitable for post- which they are vulnerable to shifting of leaders in a great power; a battle in
Arthurian grit in Britain, a decadent out of their quantum. Changing his- a major war; a new political philoso-
game of intrigue behind the scenes of tory on an echo during other periods phy; scientific discovery or invention.
Justinian’s Byzantium, or high-flying damps out; echoes outside a window
wuxia martial arts action against the have a higher degree of temporal Historic event (+4 to shift): A revo-
backdrop of China’s Three Kingdoms. inertia than most parallels! Centrum lution or civil war in a great power; a
thus sets up their agents during decisive battle; a new scientific para-
This system produces a lot of high-inertia periods, and launches digm in a given field; a new industry.
“ancient” echoes; this can be handy
for fantasy-genre crosstime adventur- World-historic event (+5 to shift):
ers (whose swords and sorceries The defeat of a great power in a major
war; a TL shift; the destruction or

Random Present Table

Starting 1st 2nd 3rd
Roll Era Increment Increment Increment
+0 years +0 years +0 years
1 3400 B.C. +150 years +25 years +4 years
2 2500 B.C. +300 years +50 years +8 years
3 1600 B.C. +450 years +75 years +12 years
4 700 B.C. +600 years +100 years +16 years
5 200 A.D. +750 years +125 years +20 years
6 1100 A.D.

Example: The first die comes up 5, 500 A.D. The next roll is a 3, adding desired, can add a few years, but the
so the Starting Era is 200 A.D. The +50 years (550 A.D.); the fourth die echo is clearly in the mid-sixth
next roll is a 3, so the present is comes up 2, adding +4 years for a century A.D.
incremented up by +300 years, to present of 554 A.D. A final die roll, if

86 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

birth of a civilization or mass religion; Putting a Little
the founding or aborting of a future English on It
great power.
Since Centrum is attempting to advance a specific ideology rather
Agents can use Cliodynamics to than shifting timelines randomly, Patrol doesn’t have to watch every pos-
find something that starts small but sible change point equally. Some signs of Centrum interference, with
will ripple up the scale as the shift pro- examples, follow:
gresses. This helps prevent their ene-
mies from noticing it until the shift is Transnationalism: Centrum believes that all nations should unite; it
well advanced. The GM is free to move tries to strengthen global forces such as the British Empire, Napoleon’s
events up or down this scale, which empire, the U.N., the early Communist movement (but not Soviet
roughly corresponds to alternate Russian imperialism), environmentalism, medieval Christendom, and so
history as presented in fiction and forth. Genuine patriots and nationalists like Queen Elizabeth I or George
gaming rather than any specific (or Washington (who committed the extra sin of breaking up a global
rigorous) historical theory. For exam- empire) attract Centrum assassins or intriguers.
ple, Shakespeare’s career might well
be a genuine +4 historic event. Equality: Centrum doesn’t like hierarchies, except for meritocratic
ones. It helps out leveling revolutions like the French and Russian ones,
For the results of Centrum (or acci- and then try to steer them in the direction of technocracy. It works (in an
dental Homeline) tampering, see orderly way) against ossified hierarchies like medieval China, the Incas,
Timeline Shifting on p. 104. or Bourbon France – unless they have managed to build a unified glob-
al empire, of course.
Anchors
Moderate scientific progress: Too much scientific advancement, too
An anchor is an echo that, for some fast, leads to social turmoil. Centrum silences or diverts controversial,
reason, does not shift quanta when the revolutionary figures like Galileo, Newton, Darwin, or Einstein while
course of normal Homeline history is supporting technologists and pragmatists like Tycho, Hooke, Wallace, or
changed. The leading theories assume Bohr.
either that anchors are actually poten-
tial parallels with misleading quan- Rationality: Centrum loves reason and the rational; it distrusts the
tum signatures (and were thus never religious and emotional. Centrum prefers Hegel to Nietzsche, and
really echoes at all), or that they are Frederick the Great to Hitler. The existence of a transnational Muslim
the “original” worlds from which the
other echoes actually resonate – possi- caliphate frustrates Centrum immensely – it
bly including Homeline and Centrum! would be perfect if it weren’t so religious!
Discovering that an echo is actually an Attempts to secularize Islam in the ninth cen-
anchor usually triggers a stark escala- tury – or the 20th – get wholehearted aid from
tion in the contest between Centrum Centrum agents. Centrum also knocks off
and Infinity, since both sides can poets who cause trouble as well as celebrate
“change history” at will without risk- the emotions: Shelley, Byron, Blake, and
ing a timeline shift. At its most dra- other Romantic radicals are often Centrum
matic, such a contest can trigger an targets of opportunity. The Centrum has
international crisis, or even precipi-
tate a major global war, as Infinity and much the same objection to the Confederacy,
Centrum “choose up sides” and get although its social conservatism and corrosive effect on American
ready to rumble by (heavily armed) nationalism are both positives in Centrum’s eyes.
proxy.

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 87

There was inherent in the course of history a To generate a random close
certain element of going off course. parallel, roll 1d on the table below to
determine which changes are most
– Robert Musil, significant (or visible). Some possible
The Man Without Qualities examples of each result follow.

In practical game terms, the GM Close Parallels 1 Popular Culture
can make an echo into an anchor 2 High Culture
(either after the fact or in the original Close parallels have only minor dif- 3 Economic or Corporate
adventure plan) if it seems like more ferences from Homeline Earth. 4 Technological
fun to explore the consequences of a Further, those differences are primari- 5 Political
change than to consign the echo to its ly cultural or microeconomic. If polit- 6 Geopolitical
new quantum and move on. (For a ical divergences exist, they are minor,
random method, once a timeline is creating small ripples rather than Popular Culture: Elvis Presley
determined to be an echo, roll 3d. On mighty waves. Although a close paral- died at birth (instead of his twin
a 5 or less, the echo is an anchor. Post lel might have a superior stapler Aaron) and rock and roll still com-
hoc, the GM can declare an echo to be design, it probably won’t have anti- petes with “big band” jazz for audi-
an anchor if he rolls a 3 on the gravity, or magic. Often, the change ences; Fritz Leiber and Harry
Timeline Shifting Table on p. 104, or if comes about due to one person’s death Fischer invented roleplaying games
he makes three rolls in a row that or life taking a slight detour from in the 1930s. Reality Holly (p. B526)
don’t wind up shifting the echo.) An Homeline history: Pete Best stayed in is one example.
anchor can also make an excellent set- the Beatles and broke them up before
ting for adventures involving ever- they hit America, or Sir Arthur Conan High Culture: Charles Dickens
increasing cascades of technological Doyle became a Spiritualist earlier in completed Edwin Drood before dying;
or geopolitical change. A team of life, so Sherlock Holmes investigated Frank Lloyd Wright died in the
Infinity Special Operations agents only haunted houses. Not all small Iroquois Theater fire of 1906 and
tasked with uplifting Persia to TL5 causes have small effects, however. American buildings are generally
and causing the fall of a Centrum- Occasionally, a single death or career much uglier; Orson Welles’ moody
backed Roman Empire will have their change by a seemingly minor cultural 1946 film The Batman made comics
hands full – especially when the figure creates a farther parallel (see serious art to the New York critical
Centrum agents in Rome begin to Campbell, p. 119). Cliodynamics is not establishment.
introduce their own innovations. an exact science, and the GM should
feel free to let the entire world turn on Economic or Corporate: Clever
PARALLELS a single horseshoe nail or lost exploitation of the fur trade funded a
Shakespeare play. golden age of art and wealth in 17th-
Most of the worlds one thinks of century Norway; Coca-Cola became a
when one hears the phrase “alternate From a story perspective, close par- moderately popular health tonic and
Earths” are parallels. On a parallel, allels basically serve as scenery – sports drink; Studebaker replaced
history turned aside from its course reminders that this is, indeed, a game Chrysler as the number three U.S. car-
on Homeline at some divergence of alternate Earths. A brief snippet of maker. Reality Cherokee (p. B526)
point in the past. Parallels span the “the country stylings of Miss Britney- offers other examples.
gamut from client worlds such as Lynn Spears” on the radio, or a movie
Johnson’s Rome to isolated dangers based on “the best-selling romance Technological: Archimedes invent-
like Reich-5, and from close parallels novel by Tom Clancy” nicely conveys a ed a water mill that nobody improved
where only Bob Dylan’s discography frisson of difference in an alternate on until the 1300s; typewriter key-
is different to worlds with varying world. It’s possible to use them as boards standardized on a different
laws of physics and surviving deeper settings for crimes (ripping off pattern than QWERTY; home video-
Babylonian monarchies. slightly alternate artworks), conspira- taping never caught on because Sony
cies (untangling the twisted skein of introduced recordable DVDs in the
To randomly generate a parallel, the Nixon assassination), or similar early 1980s.
roll 2d and consult the following table: stories that likewise depend on sur-
face detail for their interest. And cer- Political: Congress put Ronald
2-4 Close parallel tainly, any adventure you can set on Reagan on the nickel after he died in
5-10 Farther parallel Homeline you can probably add a lit- 1998; the Tranby Croft Scandal forced
11 High-inertia parallel tle something to by setting it on a close a reshuffling of the British Cabinet in
12 Myth parallel parallel instead, unless Homeline-spe- 1891; Hitler made Göring his succes-
cific institutions like Infinity sor rather than Dönitz before commit-
Unlimited need to play a role. ting suicide in 1945.

Geopolitical: Malta is still a British
colony; the states of Tennessee and
Kentucky are called Franklin and
Transylvania, and have different bor-
ders; an earthquake leveled Aden in
1540, eventually moving the capital of
Yemen to Mocha.

88 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

Skerries representative result, roll 2d: on any
result but 12, the TL is 0. On a 12, roll
Skerries are clusters of parallels, usually on the same quantum and 3d: 3-9 is TL1; 10-13 is TL2; 14-15 is
sharing common historical or cultural elements. TL3; 16-17 is TL4. Roll 3d again on an
18: 3-9 is TL5; 10-13 is TL6; 14 is TL7;
Sometimes a skerry is created by a reality quake sliding different 15 is TL8; 16+ is TL9+. It’s probably
worlds into close contact both historically and paraphysically. Other more fun to go with fiction this time
skerries are actually joined by nexus portals, dimensional highways, or around. Speaking of fun, weird or vari-
other links. These close ties disrupt the quantum flow around skerry ant technologies can be a pure GM
worlds. In general, travel between two worlds in a skerry is at +4 (or call; alternately, roll 1d. On a 5 or 6,
higher) to skill; travel to any other outside world from a skerry is at -4 consult Technology Variants, below.
(or worse)! Banestorms, reality quakes, and other parachronic disrup-
tions are usually more common in skerries, although some become After defining the leading TL, deter-
hyperstable thanks to fortunate quantum geometry. mine which civilizations predominate
in the parallel. A civilization, generally
A thematically unified campaign can be set entirely within a skerry, speaking, is a society with cities and
or an adventure exploring different outcomes of the Battle of Antietam, trade. In the plural form, “civiliza-
for example, can chase through component Earths of a skerry. tions” are the larger cultural groupings
described by world-historians such as
Spengler, Toynbee, and McNeill. Such

Farther Parallels Technology Variants

Farther parallels diverge farther To randomly determine variant technology, roll 2d on the following
from Homeline history than close par- table, based vaguely on a survey of the genre:
allels. They may also have variant
physical laws; if they have it, open 3 or less Magic
magic often drives society and tech-
nology even farther from the 4-5 Divergent Technology
Homeline historical path. Farther par-
allels can play any role in a game, 6-7 Split Technology
from the sole setting to a brief men-
tion in swagman gossip. (“You’ve got 8 Psionics
to see the matriarchy that Boadicea
founded over on Britannica-7 – talk 9 Supers
about your swinging Londons!”)
Design them to last, or just write a 10+ Superscience
one-line description and move on;
you’ll never run out of things to do Modifiers: -1 per TL below 5. +1 per TL above 5.
with farther parallels.
For magic, psionics, or supers, roll 1d¥25 to determine the average
Randomly creating a farther paral- extra point value of a mage, psi, or super in the world.
lel begins by defining its “present,”
rather than selecting a divergence Apply the results as follows:
point and branching its history for-
ward from there. (For some discus- Magic: Roll 1d or select: 1, theoretically accepted or covert; 2-3, open
sion of “change forward” parallel but rare; 4, open and common; 5, mages rule the Earth; 6, universal
design, see p. 96.) To randomly create magic ability. Roll 1d for mana level: 1, low; 2-4, normal; 5, high; 6, very
a farther parallel, first define its lead- high.
ing TL by rolling 3d on the following
table: Divergent Technology: Randomly determine the technological diver-
gence point. For example, in a TL7 world, roll 1d and subtract the result
3 TL1-3 (roll 1d/2) from your TL; if the die comes up a 4, the world is TL(3+4). For a TL6
4-5 TL4 world, roll 1d-1, and so forth. Re-roll a result of 0 or less.
6 TL5
7-9 TL6 Split Technology: Roll 1d and apply the result to the indicated field
10-14 TL7 from p. B511: 1, communications; 2, transportation; 3-4, weapons; 5,
15-16 TL8 power; 6, medicine. Randomly determine whether the split is “forward”
17+ TL9+ or “back.” Repeat as desired; if you repeat a result, add airships to your
world’s technology regardless of the TL.
This table is designed to give results
matching alternate history literature, Psionics: Roll 1d or select: 1, theoretically accepted or covert; 2-3,
which is overwhelmingly biased open but rare; 4, open and common; 5, psis rule the Earth; 6, universal
toward 19th- and 20th-century diver- psi ability.
gence points. For a more historically
Supers: Roll 1d and apply the Psionics results, reading “super” for
“psi.”

Superscience: Roll 1d or make something up: 1-2, antigravity, 3, force
fields, 4, ray guns, 5, zero-point energy, 6, Martian canals and reaction-
less drives. Roll another 1d: on 1-3, aliens or ancient astronauts brought
the superscience.

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 89

civilizations consist of groups of TL2 (1d+3 civilizations) This table reflects an Earth similar
nations, city-states, or tribes that usu- 3 Mississippian ecologically to Homeline; altering ini-
ally share at least a few of the following 4 Andean and/or tial global conditions (see Empty
characteristics: ethnic descent, lan- Worlds, p. 83, and Ecology, p. 103)
guage or linguistic stock, religion or Meso-American changes these probabilities – perhaps
mythic pattern, artistic or literary style, 5 Celtic drastically! Note that a result
and a coherent territory. For the pur- 6 Bactrian indicating a dominant Andean,
poses of timeline creation, this chapter 7 Indic Meso-American, or Mississippian
uses a modified version of Toynbee’s 8 Iranic civilization after TL0-1 indicates
list of civilizations, which has the 9 Hellenic cross-Atlantic contact and travel.
advantage of including “abortive” and 10-11 Chinese
“arrested” civilizations, somewhat 12-13 Roman Civilizations
more suitable for alternate histories. 14 Steppe
For most purposes, civilizations are 15 Mesopotamian Andean: A series of increasingly
the same as cultural familiarities 16 West African complex cultures in western South
(p. 173). 17-18 Survival; roll on America from the Chavin (c. 850 B.C.)
to the Inca, who fell to plague and
Depending on the TL of the paral- TL0-1 table. Western conquest in 1533.
lel, roll 3d on the Parallel Civilizations
Table to determine the dominant or TL3-4 (1d+2 civilizations) Bactrian: A polyglot, possibly
leading civilization. This is the civi- 3 Mississippian, Andean, and/ multiracial, urban trading and horse-
lization with local military superiority breeding civilization arose in the
to the others, with the highest local or Meso-American seventh century B.C. in Central Asia
technology (world TL or TL+1, possi- 4 Malay and maintained a precarious existence
bly higher in some areas) the one most 5 Japanese despite numerous conquests until it
emulated by other civilizations, the 6 Norse became the battleground between the
one with the widest trading links, or 7 Indic Islamic and Chinese civilizations in
the one with the most territory occu- 8 Orthodox 750 A.D.
pied in other civilizations’ areas. 9-10 Chinese
11 Islamic Celtic: Celtic civilization (building
At different TLs, the Earth can 12-13 Western hill-towns by 550 B.C.) was almost
“support” (or has room for) a different 14 Steppe entirely assimilated by the Roman civ-
number of major, independent civi- 15 Roman ilization by 100 A.D. Increasingly
lizations, as given in parentheses. 16-17 Survival; roll on TL2 table. Westernized outliers survived in
Other, lesser, civilizations exist, but 18 West African Ireland and northern Britain until the
don’t affect global affairs (or even 13th century.
regional affairs, sometimes) unless TL5-6 (1d civilizations)
outtimers vault them into the lead, 3-4 Malay or West African Chinese: The oldest civilization still
meteors wipe out the other civiliza- 5 Japanese in existence, the culture that began
tions, or some other catastrophic 6-7 Indic with Lao Tzu and Confucius in the
change occurs. After determining the 8-9 Chinese seventh and sixth centuries B.C. still
dominant civilization, pick the others 10-12 Western predominates in East Asia from Timor
by any method you like: further rolls, 13 Islamic to Tibet.
geographic proximity (civilizations 14-15 Orthodox
often have civilized neighbors) or bal- 16-18 Survival; roll on Egyptian: Egyptian civilization
ance (if all your major civilizations are spread along the Nile from 3100 B.C.
in Europe, add China or India), or TL3-4 table. until its absorption into the Hellenic
desired world flavor. civilization by Alexander the Great in
TL7+ (1d-2 civilizations) 330 B.C.
Parallel 3-4 Malay or West African
Civilizations Table 5-7 Indic Hellenic: The barbaric successors
8-9 Chinese or Japanese to Minoan civilization created their
TL0-1 (1d civilizations) 10-12 Western own urbanized, adventurous, quarrel-
3 Andean 13 Orthodox some culture after 800 B.C. that even-
4-5 Hittite 14-17 Islamic tually spread from southern Italy to
6-8 Chinese 18 Survival; roll on Afghanistan. It fell to the Roman civi-
9-10 Egyptian lization in the second century B.C.,
11-13 Mesopotamian TL3-4 table. but strongly influenced its con-
14 Indus Valley querors.
15-16 Minoan On a “retrogression” or “survival”
17 Meso-American result, leave the base TL alone, but Hittite: Hittite civilization arose in
18 Retrogression or Dark Age; advance (or regress) the rolled civiliza- Anatolia around 1800 B.C. The Hittite
tion to fit. For example, a result of Empire fell around 1200 B.C., and the
roll on TL2 table. “Hellenic survival” while rolling on the Iranic and Hellenic civilizations
TL3-4 table might indicate a TL4 absorbed its successor states by 550
Alexandrian Empire that survived into B.C.
the Renaissance – or caused it to
flower early. Indic: After a lengthy period of
chaos and religious ferment, a com-
mon civilization extended across all of
India by 320 B.C. and the rise of the

90 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

Maurya Empire. It has withstood sev- B.C. Islamic conquest wiped out its Steppe: Only seldom urbanized,
eral invasions by the Islamic civiliza- last remnants. save for caravanserais, the steppe
tion, and conquest by the Steppe and tribes (of many cultures and ethnici-
Western civilizations. Minoan: Little is known about this ties from Scythians to Mongols)
bull-obsessed civilization centered on shared characteristics (especially mili-
Indus Valley: Very little is known Crete. It may have founded the tary tactics) driven by their nomadic
about this civilization, centered on Mycenean pirate kingdoms or been lifestyle and common environment.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro between destroyed by them, or both. It Independent steppe civilizations exist-
2500 and 1500 B.C. It may have trad- flourished between 2600 and 1400 ed from 600 B.C. or before; by 1650
ed with Mesopotamia, and may have B.C.; the Myceneans themselves fell to the last of them had been subdued by
fallen to barbarian invasion, but barbarians by 1100 B.C. the Orthodox Russians or fully assim-
neither is certain. ilated by their “subject” civilizations in
Mississippian: A loose multi-tribal Mogul India and Manchu China.
Iranic: The same “Arya” barbarian trading network rose along the
invaders who produced Indic civiliza- Mississippi-Ohio Valley in North West African: Iron-working, gold-
tion built Iranic civilization in Persia America by 800 A.D.; it may still have mining, industrious traders spread
in the sixth century B.C. It rapidly been too diffuse to be a true civiliza- along the Niger, Volta, and Senegal
conquered everything from the Nile to tion by the time its main centers col- Rivers during the seventh century A.D.
the Indus. Although its influences lapsed in ecological exhaustion By 1700 A.D., their urban centers
spread even farther, wars with the around 1350. Its final outliers fell to (which eventually reached the Congo
Hellenic and Roman civilizations Western settlers in the 18th century. and Sudan) had all fallen to Islamic or
reduced it to its core territory until it For game purposes, the GM can add Western conquest, although succes-
fell to the Islamic civilization in 640 Algonquin and Siouan confederacies sors resisted assimilation until the late
A.D. Its assimilation remains like Pontiac, Tecumseh, or the 1880s.
imperfect to this day. Iroquois to this civilization.
Western: Born by 550 A.D. out of
Islamic: Although it began as a Norse: The last vigorous, expand- the mix of German invaders and the
puritanical, leveling culture in the sev- ing pagan civilization probably arose fallen Roman civilization, Western
enth century A.D., its conquest of in the sixth century A.D., but became civilization fought off a series of inva-
lands from Spain to Bengal produced thoroughly Westernized and Christian sions and then began expanding out of
a sophisticated, even discursive civi- by 1100. western Europe. By 1100, it had
lization that remains dominant in reached the borders of Russia and
north Africa, central Asia, and the Orthodox: The successor state to invaded Asia; by 1500, it was planted
Middle East today despite Western Roman civilization incubated in its in Africa, India, and the Americas. It
influences and pressures. eastern half (Greece, the Balkans, and has dominated the globe since the
the Middle East) around 330 A.D. In 19th century.
Japanese: An outlier of Chinese civ- the 10th century A.D., it successfully
ilization developed its own combina- spread to Russia, which became its Civilization Unity Table
tion of aesthetics and brutality in the new center after the conquest of its old
Heian period (794-1192). Since the core by the Islamic civilization. 2 Unitary
mid-19th century, it has been slowly Survives in Russia and the Balkans 3-4 Empire
assimilating into Western civilization. today. 5-6 Empire with satellite states
7 Empire with rivals
Malay: A vibrant, hybrid trading Roman: Began around 600 B.C. 8 Bipolar
civilization grew from Chinese, with the Etruscan League of Cities, 9-11 Multipolar (1d+2 powers)
Islamic, and Indic outliers in the and built a unified empire and expand- 12 Diffuse
Malay peninsula and Indonesia, start- ed over Europe, northern Africa, and
ing with the kingdom of Srivijaya in the Middle East. Religious disputes, Once you’ve determined the major,
700 A.D. Since the mid-17th century, it plagues, and barbarian invasions com- independent civilizations, roll 2d on the
has been assimilating into Chinese pounded the stresses of empire, and it Civilization Unity Table to establish
and Western civilization. collapsed around 450 A.D. their internal geopolitical structure.

Meso-American: A number of small
city-states spread from central Mexico
and Yucatan into a common civiliza-
tion by 200 B.C., but never unified
politically. The various Meso-
American cultures all fell to Western
conquerors during the 16th century.

Mesopotamian: Urban civilization
was born with the Sumerian culture
around 3500 B.C. Its ritual and politi-
cal structures continued (with the
occasional dark age) through the
Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and
Chaldean cultures that followed until
being imperfectly assimilated into the
Iranic civilization in the sixth century

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 91

Modifiers: -4 for Japanese or Deciding on the great powers within a
Andean civilization, -2 for Egyptian or civilization or on a parallel Earth helps add
Orthodox civilization, -1 for Chinese concrete detail and flavor to a game setting.
or Roman civilization, +1 for Islamic
civilization, +2 for Western, Bactrian, individual states (if any) set their own great powers can project war-win-
Hellenic, or Indic civilization, +4 for course and run their own risks. Steppe ning military force to the farthest
Celtic or Norse civilization. These civilizations, or collections of city- extent local technology allows.
modifiers are based on historical per- states, usually fluctuate between Deciding on the great powers within
formance; obviously, in an alternate diffusion and empires. a civilization or on a parallel Earth
history, this performance can change! helps add concrete detail and flavor
The GM should disregard them for Any degree of unity (except diffuse) to a game setting. It also provides a
“wilder” alternates. may be “fragmenting” – the old order handy list of “usual suspects” for
is collapsing, but the new order has high-tech experiments, moon shots,
Unitary: This civilization consists not yet defined itself. The GM can global wars, spy plots, and so forth.
of one, essentially homogeneous, make this call based on desired flavor, Quite often, the divergence point of a
state. Although powerful and advan- or roll 1d: on a 6, the system is parallel (or a place to influence it for
ced, it has no significant colonies in fragmenting. (Add +2 for Steppe your own ends) comes in a great
other civilizations’ territory. The civilization rolls.) power’s political or military history,
Japanese civilization has usually been or at the contest point between two
unitary, except for a brief period from The GM may also decide that some great powers.
1890 to 1945. civilizations have been conquered, but
not assimilated by others, like the Randomly determining great pow-
Empire: This civilization is unified Indic civilization under the Western ers would be a massive task well out-
under one state, which has conquered (British) rule between 1757 and 1947. side the scope of this book, but the
all the other states in this civilization. Although part of another civilization’s following list of examples (including
An empire usually has colonies or mil- empire, they may still be very impor- some near-great powers) in rough
itary bases in other civilizations’ terri- tant, and constantly simmering with chronological order for the various
tory, but not always: the Chinese rebellion and separatism. Other civi- civilizations may help GMs create
empire seldom has, except for Tibet lizations (or empires) may be true great power rosters for their world.
and occasional forays into the steppes hybrids; the Roman civilization might Fictional powers are in quotes.
of Central Asia. have been such a hybrid with Hellenic
civilization if Mark Antony had defeat- Andean: Chavin, Moche, Tihuanaco,
Empire with satellite states: Some of ed Octavian and moved the imperial Inca Empire, “Amaru Republic.”
the states under the empire’s umbrella capital to Greek Alexandria. If
maintain local independence, but do Alexander the Great had lived, he Bactrian: Ferghana, Sogdia,
not (or cannot) chart independent for- might have tried to build such a Bactria, Tocharia, Kushan Empire,
eign policies. The Roman and Soviet hybrid Hellenic-Iranic civilization. Bokhara, Balkh, Samarkand.
empires both used this model. Usually hybrids either assimilate the
weaker civilization over time or Celtic: Cisalpine Gaul, Galatia,
Empire with rivals: Although the become a new civilization, as Western Nervii, Vercingetorix’s league, Icenic
empire is by far the most powerful civilization evolved from the confederacy, “Camelot,” “Holy Eirish
state within the civilization, other Germanic conquest of, and hybridiza- Empire.”
states retain considerable independ- tion with, Roman civilization.
ence and might conceivably ally Chinese: Various Chinese dynasties
against it, or back other civilizations’ Great Powers (Han, Tang, Sui, Song, Yuan, and
empires against it diplomatically or Ming), Jin, Funan, Champa, Korea,
militarily. Imperial states are not nec- Each dominant civilization Khitai, Manchu Empire, Taiping Holy
essarily dictatorships; the United (except diffuse ones) contains at least Empire, Nationalist China, People’s
States, under this definition, has been one great power. (Some multipolar Republic of China, “Hongkong LLC.”
a democratic empire with rivals dom- civilizations may have so many local
inating Western civilization since great powers that they don’t actually Egyptian: Khemet (ancient Egypt),
1945. have a true great power.) A great Upper and Lower Egypt, Canaan,
power is a nation capable of Keftiu, Kush, “Aigyptos,” “Coptic Sun
Bipolar: The civilization is divided militarily defeating or economically Kingdom.”
between two great powers, with less- dominating any other nation, except
er states unable to chart separate a fellow great power, with minimal Hellenic: Athens, Sparta, Syracuse,
courses. effort. Usually, though not always, Thebes, Ionia, Magna Graecia,
Macedonian Empire, “Alexandrian
Multipolar: There are a number Oikoumene,” Seleucid Syria,
(1d+2) of great power states within Ptolemaic Egypt, Greco-Bactria.
this civilization with substantial
capacity for independent action
against other civilizations, or other
lesser states in their own civilization.

Diffuse: This civilization has no
central concentration of power; its

92 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

Hittite: Old and New Hittite Great Britain, United States, Mexico, strong caste flavor no matter their
Empires, Hurrian Empire, Mitanni, Empire of Brazil, Confederate States, official form. Any structure can be
Aram, Urartu. Australia, Nazi Germany, European “feudal,” from democracies like the
Union. pre-Constitution United States to dic-
Indic: Maurya Empire, Malwa, tatorships like the Mongol Empire;
Gupta Empire, Maharashtra, Chola, Political Structure roll again to determine the underlying
Delhi, Bengal, Mogul Empire, structure. (A “feudal feudal” result is a
Mahratta League, Punjab, “United If desired, roll 3d to determine the collection of independent fiefdoms
India,” India. political structure of any states you with no overlord, such as the Greek
have created in the foregoing process. city-states before and after Alexander,
Indus Valley: Harappa, Mohenjo- or with a completely powerless one
Daro, “Dilmun.” 3 Anarchy such as the German states from 1648
4 Technocracy to 1806.) In other words, do not feel
Iranic: Elam, Persia, Media, 5 Caste constrained by these results. It is
Achaemenid Empire, Scythian Bosp- 6-8 Feudal important to remember that even a
orus, Chorasmia, Parthia, Sassanid 9-11 Dictatorship relatively restrained monarchy such
Empire, Safavid Empire. 12 Oligarchy as the 17th-century Swedish kingdom
13 Representative democracy counts as a dictatorship for this table,
Islamic: Umayyad Caliphate, 14-15 Clan/tribal as per p. B509. Use pp. B506-507 to
Abbasid Caliphate, Buwayhid Empire, 16 Theocracy determine CRs, if desired.
Ghaznavid Empire, Andalus, Almo- 17 Corporate state
hade Empire, Fatimid Egypt, Khwar- 18 Athenian democracy You may want to differentiate the
izm, Sultanate of Delhi, Ottoman various political systems by region or
Empire, “Nasserite Union,” Iranian This table uses the government historical era; political structures do
Republic, “Neo-Caliphate.” type categories on pp. B509-510, plus seem to change as TL does, for
Oligarchy (rule by a small group of instance. As an applied example, see
Japanese: Tokugawa Shogunate, rough equals). It maps roughly to his- the Western Political Structures Table,
Japanese Empire, “Greater East Asia torical frequency, modified for great p. 94. Entries in quotation marks indi-
Co-Prosperity Sphere,” “Japan, Inc.” powers only. Individual civilizations cate theoretical political structures
differ: for example, representative actually developed (but not fully insti-
Malay: Srivijaya, Majapahit, Java- democracy was invented by the tuted) in Homeline history; italicized
nese Empire, Malacca, Indonesia. Roman civilization but spread via entries are purely fictional (at least on
Western civilization to many Homeline), but not inherently less
Meso-American: Teotihuacan, Zap- others; Steppe cultures flip between plausible.
otecs, Mixtecs, Maya, Toltec Empire, dictatorship and clan/tribal struc-
Tenochca (Aztec) Empire. tures; all Indic systems have had a

Mesopotamian: Sumer, Ugarit,
Akkad, Amor, Babylon, Assyria,
Chaldea (Neo-Babylonia).

Minoan: Knossos, Mycenae, Troy
Mississippian: Adena, Hopewell
culture, Tuskegee, Muskogea, Caho-
kia, Natchez.
Norse: Norway, Denmark, Sweden,
Holmgard, Koenugard, Iceland,
“Vinland”; England, Scotland, and
Ireland (at times).
Orthodox: Byzantine Empire,
Bulgarian Empire, Kievan Rus,
Serbian Empire, Muscovy, Russian
Empire, Soviet Union, Russian
Republic, Ukraine.
Roman: Etruria, Roman Republic,
“Sertorian Spain,” Roman Empire,
Kingdom of Syagrius, “Arthurian”
Britain.
Steppe: Scythia, Saka, Sarmatia,
Yueh-Chih, Hunnic Empire, Khazar
Khanate, Seljuk Empire, Mongol
Empire, Golden Horde, Timurid
Empire.
West African: Ghana, Mali, Audo-
ghast, Dahomey, Yoruba, Hausa,
Kongo.
Western: Frankish Empire, Vene-
tian Republic, France, Poland,
Crusader states, Portugal, Hapsburg
Empire, Dutch Republic, Prussia,

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 93

Western Political Structures Table

Political Structure TL3-4 TL5-6 TL7+
Post-disaster Autoduel
Anarchy Iceland New England town meetings “Cybertopia”
U.S.A., U.K. E.U.
Athenian democracy “Free towns” Mormon Utah “Communitarian network”
“Enlightened despotism” Reichsostland
Representative democracy Dutch Republic Bonaparte, WWI Germany Nazi Germany
“Philosopher-kings” Gernsback (p. 126)
Clan/Tribal Scotland Puritan Massachusetts Fundamentalist dystopia
Steampunk Cyberpunk
Caste “City of God” Austria-Hungary Post-disaster
Georgian England, C.S.A. Banana republics
Dictatorship Hapsburg Spain, Louis XIV

Technocracy “Alchemical kingdom”

Theocracy Papal States

Corporate state Flemish towns

Feudal Frankish kingdoms

Oligarchy Italian cities

Although providing a full network Parachronic theorists aren’t sure myth parallels are built by unknown
of randomized historical junctures is what to make of high-inertia parallels. powerful figures such as Cabalistic
outside the scope of this (or perhaps Some believe that some forms of magicians or even “gods”.
any) book, the GM can use this table as magic or superpowered psi have a
a possible guide to the political history damping effect on temporal change Like high-inertia parallels, myth
of a randomly generated (Western- rates. Others consider high-inertia parallels should be selected by the GM
dominated, at least) alternate. For worldlines proof of the “law of very rather than randomized. The GM
example, suppose the tables generate a big numbers” and argue that if needs to choose the myth, the version
bipolar, TL6 Western-dominated paral- Ezcalli, for example, exists, there of it the parallel follows, and the
lel. Further, the two superpowers are must be tens of thousands more par- degree to which the parallel remains
an oligarchic power and a dictator- allels than current quantum theory true to literature or folklore. The
ship. Looking at the table, one example predicts – possibly in a “dimension” Parallel Civilizations Table can per-
of a TL6 oligarchy is the Confederate perpendicular to the standard quan- haps give the GM a nudge toward a
States of America. In this parallel, per- tum array. Still others argue that random culture for the parallel’s leg-
haps the Confederacy won the Civil some agency, perhaps time travelers endary source, but choosing a familiar
War, and now leads a coalition of sim- or an unknown dimension-hopping myth is easier for the GM, and usually
ilarly “aristocratic” powers (Brazil, group, has meticulously built Ezcalli more fun for the players.
Britain, and France, say) against a dic- or other high-inertia parallels for an
tatorial Russia or Germany that has unguessable purpose. CHALLENGE
absorbed or cowed its neighboring WORLDS
states. The rump United States would Since high-inertia parallels are, by
be a minor power, either within the definition, idiosyncratic and strange, In a sense, any world is potentially
Confederate sphere or vengefully sup- creating them randomly doesn’t work. a challenge world; it presents a prob-
porting the dictators across the You might get a result from the lem or an opportunity for the Infinity
Atlantic. Parallel Civilizations Table that Patrol to solve or attain. True chal-
requires a high-inertia parallel to lenge worlds, however, are all problem
High-Inertia Parallels explain, of course! Essentially, howev- and little opportunity. In dramatic
er, they provide excuses for otherwise terms, they exist to warn, to add flavor,
Some parallels remain relatively unrealistic or implausible parallels or to pose obstacles.
close to Homeline history despite that the GM nevertheless just wants to
major divergences such as magic or put in his universe. Hell Worlds
supers, or changepoints centuries in
the past that should ordinarily have Myth Parallels Hell parallels are those on which
produced much greater variances in humanity is dead, devastated, or
history and politics. The classic exam- These parallels mirror the settings dwindling to extinction. Usually, the
ple is Ezcalli (p. 122), which somehow of Homeline fiction, mythology, and Earth’s surface, climate, and ecology
produced an Aztec empire culturally folklore. Infinity paraphysicists aren’t also bear horrific scars. Infinity
almost identical to that in Homeline’s sure whether the existence of myth exploits a few relatively benign (or
15th century, despite a divergence parallels means that famous authors utterly dead) hell worlds as empty
point two millennia earlier and mas- are latent psionics who see other worlds (see Disasters, p. 85). If such
sive cultural contamination of Meso- worlds in dreams or subconscious operations go badly (or mysteriously)
America by European and Near clairvoyance, or whether it provides wrong, PCs may be chosen to investi-
Eastern civilizations. The so-called powerful evidence for the Williams- gate, which gives the GM an excuse to
“United States of Lizardia” parallel Khor Hypothesis (p. 21). Neither get out the depressing adjectives on a
(p. 148) is another – even though the explanation is particularly convinc- global scale. Adventures in a hell
inhabitants are sentient, evolved ing, or particularly comforting, and world can encompass disaster movie
dinosaurs! some Homeline theorists believe that

94 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

Unusual Civilizations

None of the following civilizations appear on any of Heavily influenced by Egypt, it expanded commercially
the tables or systems in this chapter. They serve as over the Mediterranean coast. Iranic, then Hellenic, civ-
examples of curve balls the GM can throw into high- ilization absorbed its homeland from the sixth century
inertia parallels or puzzle worlds, or use as strange B.C.; its most successful outlier, Carthage, lasted until
enclaves in more normal timelines. 146 B.C. and Roman conquest. Some scholars see
Hebrew, and thus much of Western, civilization as a
Mysterious Civilizations Punic offshoot.

These civilizations, although real, remained “off the Sheban: A trading network of theocratic monarchies
map” of history. Like many ancient civilizations, they in Yemen and Ethiopia emerged beginning in the 11th
have been exoticized in adventure fiction and century B.C. Mostly absorbed into Islamic civilization
occultism. by the seventh century A.D., its last descendant, the
Ethiopian kingdom, fell to Soviet Orthodoxy in 1977
East African: This syncretic blend of urbanized, mer- and remains culturally shattered.
cantile Islam and East African pastoral tribes created a
number of small urban centers such as Zimbabwe and Tibetan: Beginning in the seventh century A.D.,
Zanzibar. Such centers were usually near gold mines or this Indic-Chinese border outlier (oddly influenced
along trade routes. It flourished between 1100 A.D. and by Iranic civilization) became a theocratic Buddhist
Western conquest in the 19th century. civilization alternating between military and religious
expansion. It survives, barely, under Chinese
Gothic: This cattle-herding culture of warriors along overlordship.
the Danube and Dniester valleys emerged about 100
A.D. but only urbanized after conquering Rome in the Weird Civilizations
fourth century. It or its outliers may have given rise to
Norse civilization; it was quickly subsumed into the These civilizations never existed, but can sneak into
nascent Western civilization. sufficiently strange parallels either as mysterious ruins
in the past or truly bizarre actors in present-day geopol-
Khmer: A Cambodian civilization descended from a itics.
blend of Indic, Chinese, and Malay influences. From its
capital at Angkor, priest-engineers built temples, canals, Atlantean: Sorcerous and aggressive, the Atlanteans
and irrigation systems between 790 and 1400. After that left pyramids and solar kingships all along the Atlantic
date it declined relative to its outliers in Siam. Chinese and Mediterranean coasts. They vanished by 4000 B.C.
and Western civilizations encroached upon it until the
French conquest in the 1880s. It remains only partially Megalithic: These matriarchal, earth-centered mages
assimilated. erected standing stones as observatories and ley trans-
formers from the time of the Flood to about 1500 B.C.,
Olmec: Considered by many to be the first emer- when patriarchal Aryans destroyed them.
gence of Meso-American civilization, the Olmecs (who
flourished between 1150 B.C. and 800 B.C.) had enough Sirian: Seeking gold for unguessable reasons, these
variance in art and design that others have claimed only aliens ruled earthly civilizations as gods, building
an ancestral relationship between the two civilizations. strange structures and tampering with human DNA.
They arrived in 10,000 B.C. and left on their own (or
Punic: This outlier of Mesopotamian civilization after a human revolt) in 1200 B.C.
emerged on the Phoenician coast in about 3000 B.C.

action sequences, tense investigations plague worlds such as Attila (p. 110), Cosmic Catastrophe: Although
of toxic ruins, heartbreaking encoun- Ariane (p. 128), and the terrifying Earth seems to dwell in a pretty safe
ters with devolved savage humans, or Gotha-parallels (p. 128) exist, human- neighborhood, cosmically speaking, it
all three. ity (if not civilization) usually begins only takes one asteroid impact to ruin
recovery within a few generations. your whole species. Most of the
For a random global catastrophe, Such plague worlds are still very dan- Lucifer worlds (p. B528) suffered
roll 3d and consult the following table: gerous for unprotected outworld visi- asteroid or comet impacts (although
tors, of course, and Infinity maintains not all of them are hell worlds; see
3-4 Disease strict decontamination procedures for p. 133). A nearby gamma-ray burster
5-6 Cosmic catastrophe returning conveyors, just in case. or supernova sterilized Lucifer-3
7-8 Ecological disaster Plagues that actually eradicate (p. B528). Solar flares, dark energy,
9-15 Global war humanity are usually either bioengi- black holes, and any number of other
16-18 Odd disaster neered war-plagues or paranormal dangers wait out there.
ones.
Disease: A disease capable of wip-
ing out all of humanity is, evolutionar-
ily speaking, highly unlikely. Although

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 95

Ecological Disaster: Whether man- (or submen), nuclear winter, or magi- puzzle. Narratively, a puzzle world is
made or natural, global climate shifts cal manastorms, as well as piles of its own justification for existence; it
or extinction events can wipe out civi- corpses and charred cities. exists to add color, drama, or weird-
lization in under a century. If the ness to the game. Solving the puzzle is
atmosphere dies, it can wipe out all Odd Disaster: Unclassifiable or therefore often beside the point. With
multicellular life. A returning Ice Age, unusual events crop up fairly often in some worlds (such as Enigma on
runaway global warming, catastroph- the Infinite Worlds, and some of them p. 140), a solution may be a larger goal
ic species depletion, and catastrophic doom humanity. Drexler (p. B528) and of the campaign, perhaps to prevent a
volcanism are the four most common Leviathan (p. 129) are two examples of similar fate overtaking Homeline or
conditions on ecological hell worlds. strange new hells; the GM’s fiendish- some helpless parallel. A puzzle world
Asteroid strikes or uncontrolled sor- ness and creativity are the only limits should be entertaining (or creepy)
cery might replicate any of these to what possible disasters the Scouts enough, however, that one or two pro
effects. might encounter. Unleashed demons, forma “travelogue” adventures there
angry gods, and powerful Things Man can still be fun and challenging for the
Global War: To truly endanger the Was Not Meant To Know would fit in team. Otherwise, there’s little point in
human race, a global war has to be this category, although some cosmic visiting it in the first place. The GM
fought at TL7 or higher (or with equiv- catastrophes might be indistinguish- can simply drop its existence into
alently deadly magics). Most such able from the return of the Ancient Patrol gossip or a Paralabs briefing
wars begin as (or include) nuclear Ones to near-Earth space. and move on with the real story. The
wars; almost all of them kill their bil- GM needs to decide on a good puzzle
lions by plague and famine after the Puzzle Worlds (and, if desired, a solution) that fits the
bombs have destroyed cities and game’s tone; again, randomized
crops. On some worlds, nuclear war- Figuring out what doomed human- results are little help.
fare produces evil mutant supermen ity is a specific, if unpleasant, type of

HISTORY, ALREADY

IN PROGRESS

The basic structure of an alternate can be as easy as opening a history things seem retroactively plausible, at
history is simple enough: a historical book and pointing, but most designers least. Don’t get too hung up on plausi-
event happens differently, its changes begin with at least some idea of what bility: there are enough bizarre twists
echoing down the years to a radically the change is intended to accomplish. of fate in real life that any event can be
changed present. While a single There’s little point, for example, in made to seem inevitable.
change point is generally desirable, carefully designing an alternate histo-
the specific reasons for subsequent ry in which Napoleon wins at Another common divergence point
changes might be obscure. This sec- Waterloo and is then immediately cut for change forward designs is the out-
tion discusses some principles of alter- to pieces at Mechelen two weeks later lier. This is a small colony or offshoot
nate Earth design, and some issues by a regrouped Allied force. If you’re of a larger civilization left alone to
that the would-be worldbuilder might beginning with Napoleon, you are pre- develop along its own path. The
wish to keep in mind. sumably interested in a history in American colonies were outliers of
which Bonapartism lasts longer and England, for example; the abortive
DIRECTION has a greater influence over (at least) colony of Vinland would have been an
the next decade or so. outlier of Iceland, itself an outlier of
There are two basic approaches to Norse civilization. Often, the purpose
alternate timeline construction. You This is an example of lost cause of an outlier design is to allow some
can work forward from a known or design, which includes the two over- factor already present in the parent
postulated divergence point such as whelmingly most popular alternate civilization to dominate the new one.
the Battle of Hastings or the invention history topics: a Nazi victory in World English democracy, for example,
of the microscope by Archimedes. Or, War II and a Confederate victory in flourished like a weed in New
you can work backward from the the Civil War. A surviving Rome, a England, with no kings or landed gen-
world you’d like to see built, providing restored Stuart dynasty in England, a try to thwart it – as did the theocratic
a (hopefully somewhat plausible) unified Catholic Christendom, or an tendencies of the Puritans, with no
rationalization for an independent American victory in Vietnam also fit Anglican accomodationist model to
Sioux confederacy or for antigravity the lost cause model. obey. In S.M. Stirling’s “Draka” novels,
weapons in the Hundred Years’ War. every unlovely factor in Western civi-
Be careful to look past the one lization, from slavery to Nietzschean
Change Forward decisive battle; a lot of causes were morality, flourishes in the Cape
lost for deep-set economic or demo- Colony. The spirit of the French
To begin with the change point, graphic reasons. Still, with suitable Revolution might have thrived in an
you need to pick a change point. This hand-waving and a judicious selection independent French Canada, or the
of divergence points, you can make

96 PRESENT AT THE CREATION

spirit of the Romanov mystics in a sur- childhood, when he was enslaved by a new proto-blitzkrieg tactics developed
viving Russian Alaska. rival, and never united the Mongols at by Hindenburg, submarines keeping
all. Because this sort of change tends America out of Europe – and empha-
If you don’t already have a diver- to throw the possibilities wide open, it size them in your own timeline. Justify
gence point in mind, you can always often requires a more specific goal in increasing all those factors, and deter-
use the Random Present Table (p. 86) addition. Removing Christianity, for mine what you need to change to
to pick one, of course. example, leaves you with the question make such increases happen, even if
of what world religion the Romans your change point winds up being
Destiny Backward eventually convert to. Do they bring something like “Kaiser Wilhelm II
Buddhism from India, or raise wasn’t as big an idiot as he was in our
Even when using a change forward Mithraism from cult to mass church, history.”
model, it can be very helpful to have a or simply dodder along as increasing-
goal toward which you want the histo- ly apathetic pagans until the Muslim Even if you have a present in mind,
ry to evolve. This goal may be a vision invasions convert them all to the True you may wind up determining a suit-
of what reality should look like in the Faith of the Prophet? able divergence point in the past, and
present, or at least a few elements to working both forward from the diver-
be included (for instance, Irish domi- This may wind up as displacement: gence point and backward from your
nance of England, Egypt the most changing the history of one area to goal. It may happen that a goal turns
technologically advanced nation on mirror the history of another. If an out to be impossible to reach from a
Earth, America divided into petty Islamic Roman empire becomes the particular divergence point. Don’t hes-
states like medieval Europe – or all of new caliphate, will future Muslim cul- itate to find another change point,
the above). It may even simply involve ture resemble Western civilization, or usually farther back in history, and
assuring that the beneficiaries of the will future European civilization run the tape again. If changing the
initial change survive and prosper, resemble the post-Abbasid sultanates? outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg
though this works much better for Either way, you can seek models in the isn’t enough to gain Confederate inde-
short periods than histories of more historical past and apply them to your pendence in your estimation, move
than one or two centuries. In any case, alternate history. The most common back and try Antietam, or the Trent
having a goal in mind allows you to sort of displacement is moving the affair and a British-brokered peace, or
choose among the many plausible Scientific and Industrial Revolutions have the war break out in 1857 under
alternatives that shortly appear. from Western Europe to ancient a weak President Buchanan instead of
Greece, or Muslim Baghdad, or a determined President Lincoln.
One such goal is enhancing the medieval India, or Song Dynasty
importance of any person, concept, or China. The history of Roma Aeterna DECISION
nation relatively marginal in our own (p. 144) is essentially the displacement
history. Examples of such strengthen- of the Chinese imperial model of So, what exactly makes history
ing the marginal design goals include breakup and reunification within a diverge? What is necessary and suffi-
making Poland a world power, allow- self-conscious imperial culture to the cient to shift history out of its tracks?
ing the Celtic Christians to continue West. One could just as easily postulate If we live in Plastic Time With High
their development without interfer- a China that, like the West, turns into a Inertia (p. 154), how plastic is time,
ence by of Rome and the Vikings, or mass of squabbling kingdoms after the and how high is high? The GM needs
letting Roger Bacon continue to devel- fall of the Han. Like Western Europe, to answer these questions for time-
op the scientific method in the 13th these successor states would gradually travel games. In the Infinite Worlds
century. A startling number of alterna- lose interest in their imperial past as setting, inertia varies from world to
tive histories wind up strengthening they develop into independent nations world. In our own history, the answer
the marginal technology of airships and expand overseas. You could apply has likewise varied.
and zeppelins, for example. This is a Japanese modernization in the 1880s
matter of flavor rather than logic, but to the Iroquois in the 1760s, Mehmet Great Man
this is a game book, after all. Nikola Ali’s Egypt in the 1820s, or to the Sikh
Tesla’s electrical experiments, the Punjab in the 1840s. The most plastic theory is the
Maya kingdoms, and imperial Brazil Great Man theory, which holds that a
or Sweden are similarly marginal One trick that sometimes works, man or woman of sufficient willpower,
figures with that combination of for those of an academic cast of mind ability, and vision can alter history and
obscurity and flair. anyhow, is to put on your snootiest change the course of nations. History,
History Channel documentary voice in this view, is biography; it’s the story
Failing that, perhaps you’d like to and say something like “In retrospect, of Moses and Napoleon, Hitler and
marginalize the strong. Cast a great German victory in 1918 was Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth I and Marie
nation, religion, hero, or culture onto inevitable.” Then list all the things Curie. This theory suits games and
history’s ash heap and never look that (if you didn’t know how World adventures admirably – human stories
back. For example, the Mongols came War I wound up) would make and human achievements are what
close to overrunning Europe in the German victory indeed seem games are about, after all. It’s also
13th century, and might have fore- inevitable – French morale disinte- much easier to write and game a
stalled the European age of creativity grating, the Russian Revolution free- Centrum plot to kidnap Einstein than
that gave birth to the Renaissance and ing up the German Eastern Front, the to write or game a Centrum plot to
the Great Discoveries. Or Genghis
Khan might have died during his

PRESENT AT THE CREATION 97

mount a decades-long campaign to slave-holding ally, and the “peculiar argument of Jared Diamond’s Guns,
weaken German academic standards. institution” would have likely died out Germs, and Steel, which has become
This theory, sadly, is well and truly out even with an independent Confederacy. the centerpiece of a construct that
of fashion among academic histori- However, the Great Moment theory is denies almost any individual human
ans. However, historians from resolutely unromantic, and difficult to agency in history.
Plutarch to Carlyle believed in it address in game terms. One can try to
implicitly. To many people it seems set up complexes of conditions early People everywhere adapt to their
highly unlikely that the American Civil enough that the mass movements environment, and adapt their environ-
War, for instance, would have been themselves are diverted – perhaps the ment to themselves. If the environ-
remotely the same without Abraham cotton gin isn’t invented and the South ment contains horses, coal, iron, and
Lincoln or Robert E. Lee. Of course, has to industrialize to make money barley, you get Prussia. If it contains
Lee also provides a salutary corrective when cotton bottoms out. Perhaps a rice, chickens, silver, and typhoons,
to the Great Man theory – even he harsher bout of Chartist radicalism you get China. If it contains gold but
couldn’t win the war for the South, strengthens English aristocratic reac- no heavy draft animals or infectious
after all. “But maybe,” the Great Man tion, and Palmerston can support the diseases, you get wiped out by Cortés
theorists respond wistfully, “if Lee had South without losing any votes in when he shows up with his horses and
been just a little bit greater at Parliament. iron and smallpox (see Plagues, p. 99)
Gettysburg . . .” to take your gold.
Great Motherland
Great Moment This model is horribly depressing
The Great Moment theory looks and unromantic, but it does have the
The counter to the Great Man the- positively carefree compared to the virtue of denying any role to race, or
ory is what one might call the Great new macrohistorical studies that class, or “cultural energy,” or any of
Moment theory. The times make the argue that even those mass move- the other things that besmirched so
man; postwar chaos in Germany ments are predestined by the regional much historical thought in the 19th
would have inevitably produced an and continental ecology where they and 20th centuries. It can also make a
anti-Semitic, warmongering dema- occur. This “Great Motherland” theory handy set of invisible walls for build-
gogue. If not Hitler, perhaps Julius is the highest of inertia. It presents his- ing alternates. Taking ecology and
Streicher or Joseph Göbbels or some tory as geography; the vectors of dis- geography into account can prevent
unknown street fighter might have ease, the varying disaster regimes and silly alternates like a Madan Empire
become dictator and launched World coastal formations of Europe and based in New Guinea (too many
War II and the Final Solution. China, and the luck of the draw for mountains and typhoons to develop
Similarly, the forces of demographics domestic animals and plants meant cultural unity) or the Maya conquest
and economics meant that Britain that western Eurasia was destined to of Spain in 1492 (that pesky smallpox
would have ridden out the threat with rise to global supremacy. This is the again, plus no accessible iron or tin for
or without Churchill, and America cannon).
would have gotten involved in Europe
with or without Roosevelt. Alternate Greats

This is history as sociology; soci- Where do you put the Great Men in your alternate history? Near the
eties change according to large mass divergence point, in particular, similar people may play roles of similar
movements, and those movements importance. Designers of alternate histories often use real historical fig-
throw up “leaders” and “founding ures in roles that somehow resemble their real lives but differ with the
fathers” and “inventors of the steam changed historical context. With this “repertory theater” approach, the
engine” who just happen to fit the stars – the Great Men – always get to play the lead. This helps players and
requirement of the times. This theory readers keep the cast of characters straight, and familiar faces spark
is most closely associated with Marx interest. The sight of the condottiere Napoleone Buonaparti rising to
(and Hegel, from whom he lifted it). power in the decadent Florentine Republic, for example, has the twin
However, other historians from advantages of emphasizing the changes to the world and clarifying the
Macaulay to McNeill have presented it situation for everybody. It’s hard to quarrel with a solution that both
in one or another form and it basical- enhances strangeness and familiarity.
ly dominates academic discussion
today. However, it becomes faintly silly after a century or so of divergence;
after 350 years, it’s unlikely that the Buonapartis of Corsica would have
As a model for alternate history, it even had all those kids, much less that one of them just happens to be a
has its uses. It’s very important, for brilliant soldier and dictator-in-the-making. As the timeline moves fur-
plausible alternate histories, to keep ther away from real history, it’s often easier to look at broader trends and
mass movements and large-scale fac- assume the existence of unnamed geniuses in the background introduc-
tors like economics in mind – Lee or ing monotheism or atomic theory when necessary. In this “commedia
no Lee, the Confederacy was not going dell’arte” approach, the story always has the same roles, and it doesn’t
to defeat the Union militarily as long matter who fills the Great Moment.
as the North’s industry outproduced
the South’s by 10 to 1. Britain was
probably never going to accept a

98 PRESENT AT THE CREATION