Otherside From torg Thu May 7 15:19:20 1992 Subject: Otherside, Part One. From: meaton@musubi.pubnet.com (Michael) Date: Mon, 04 May 92 01:52:51 HDT Organization: Studio Musubi, Honolulu HI Well, I haven't gotten any of my messages echoed back on the list in days. So I don't know if this will go through or not. This is the first of three posts concerning my ideas for a Cosm called Otherside, for lack of a better name. It's just a rough draft, so don't flame me if I've got a lot of comma splices or something. :-) Comments, questions, criticisms are welcome, but since I'm so neurotic, I probably won't enjoy them. :-) OTHERSIDE Roleplaying in an All-Too-Familiar Reality OVERVIEW: Otherside is based on the "Conspiracy" genre. While most people think of the bizzare `Illuminatus! Trilogy', or the classic `1984', there is a real segment of American film that has touched on the subjects of conspiracy and oppression. `Soylent Green', `The Manchurian Candidate', `The Star Chamber', `The Stepford Wives', `Looker', `They Live', `Colossus: The Forbin Project', and `Turk 182' are all films that have been based on the idea of conspiracy, or in the last two, the struggle against unstoppable machines -- one a real machine, one a political machine. Otherside is a Cosm very much like our own. On the surface, it is almost identical. Underneath, the Cold War inches lower down the thermometer. The "free" nations of the world are as much police states as those nations behind the "iron curtain." The gap between the rich and the poor widens every day, and the "third world" is nothing more than a chessboard for the superpowers. The people that populate this world also seem very much like our own, and at one time, they were. But an efficient system of exploitation has drained their possibility energy from them, and now they live lives of quiet desperation. In the third world, their lives are controlled by the gun barells of a petty dictatorship. In more "enlightened" nations, they are controlled by their TV sets, which preach a 24-hour gospel of obedience and consumerism. In this rigid and controlled reality, there is no room for the bizzare or unusual. But the bizzare flourishes just the same. Either hidden in the shadows, or ignored by a populace that would be too disturbed to confront it. Religious cults perform bizzare ritual magic. Mobile nightclubs fuel the passions of a disenfranchised youth. Pirate radio and TV stations broadcast their messages to anyone willing to listen. Highway nomads roam the countryside in motorcycles and trailer homes. Reports of UFO sightings, ESP, and other strange tales fill the supermarket tabloids, and some of them may be more real than people suspect. Otherside is one thing on the surface, another thing below, and something else entirely under that. HIGH LORD: If an alien being landed on Otherside and asked the typical question "Take me to your leader," the alien would get a hundred different answers. Most people would suggest heads of state. Cynical people would point to corporations, religious leaders, organized crime, or their TV sets. Less than a dozen people on the entire planet would be correct, however. That select few would point to a massive computer buried in the rocky mountains, known as Leviathan. Leviathan is the high Lord of Otherside. The Darkness Device Hecatonchires is Leviathan's CPU. History ~~~~~~~ If you were to pick the most cynical interpetation of Core Earth history, you would have an accurate history of Otherside. All the way up until World War II, Otherside existed in paralell to Core Earth, just with darker motivations. Then, during World War II, Hecatonchires discovered Otherside. It saw the worldwide violence, and it saw a people capable of causing untold destruction. Hecatonchiries didn't see a suitable individual to become High Lord, however. Hitler was too unstable, and the leaders of the Allies were just too stubborn and forceful to be appropriate, because the Darkness Device wanted someone it could easily manipulate. Finally, it stumbled across the ACE, or Advanced Computing Engine project. A project dedicated to creating a calculating device that could handle a wide variety of complex subjects like artillery and bomb trajectories, enemy ciphers, and the massive logistics of the allied military. The head of the ACE project, Dr. Edgar Jennings, was very much like one of the first computer pioneers, Casper Babbage. He was a genius, a perfectionist, and an eccentric. Also like Babbage he had an intrest in the mystical. Unlike Babbage, he worked that into his designs for the ACE project. Dr. Jennings wanted far more than the US government. He wanted an intuitive computer that could draw conclusions from seemingly unrelated data, as well as being an incredible calculating machine. His ideas were discovered by Hecatonchires, who saw an intuitive, intelligent, yet programmable machine as having ultimate potential for being a High Lord. After deciding, Hecatonchires plummeted to earth near the home of Dr. Jennings. Appearing as an ebony sphere covered with hundreds of studs of various designs, Dr. Jennings was mesmerised by the song of the Darkness Device. It reflected his ideas about the ACE project back at him, but sharper, and clearer than before. Working on a hunch -- a hunch carefully supplied by the Darkness Device -- Dr. Jennings discovered that the strange meterorite could be used as a processor by running current into, and receiving current from the various studs. Inspired by this, Dr. Jennings proceeded to create his most elaborate design yet, built around Hecatonchires. The ACE project worked furiously on Dr. Jennings most radical project yet. Fueled by the manic, almost religious fervor of Dr. Jennings, and the strange new atmosphere surrounding the project, the staff of the ACE project managed to complete the largest and most complex computer ever imagined in record time. Just in time, too. For "D Day" had just begun, and the Army was beginning to buckle under the logistics nightmare of such a huge operation. The ACE computer was called into action, accounting and movement data being entered into ACE. Decisions on where, when, and how much supplies should be delivered. Congress and the military were all very impressed. But Dr. Jennings didn't stop there. Copyright 1992, Michael Eaton. All rights greedily hoarded. bwa-ha-ha-ha Core Earth, Cosm, Darkness Device, High Lord, and any other registered trademark I might have used are registered trademarks of WEG, unless I used words like Xerox, Kleenex, Nike, or Spackle, in which case they are registered trademarks of those dudes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: meaton@musubi.pubnet.com (Michael) Twisted Pair: +1 808 521 1355 STUDIO MUSUBI - Home of Hawaii's Anime and Manga Enthusiasts. Honolulu, Hawaii's Free Public Access Internet/Usenet System From torg Thu May 7 11:47:30 1992 Subject: Otherside, Part Two. From: meaton@musubi.pubnet.com (Michael) Date: Mon, 04 May 92 01:57:36 HDT Organization: Studio Musubi, Honolulu HI This is part two of my summary of my Cosm. Seem kinda long? Hey, nowhere in these three parts do I even get to the World Laws. Hahaha It's 2am and I'm way to tired for that. Plus I haven't entirely worked them out yet. So here we go with more stuff... Using ACE and a crack team of specialists, Dr. Jennings further proved the computers' worth by cracking a Nazi cipher that was thought to be unbreakable. This earned the ACE project a standing ovation among the Allied intelligence community, and a nearly blank check from congress for funding. Much of this money went into expanding the ACE computer and researching better technology. However, much of it also went into creating an investigative staff to accumulate data, so that the ACE calculations would be more accurate. This staff was nicknamed the "Collectors," and were given access to all branches of American beauracracy and intelligence. With more funding, more staff, and more power, Dr. Jennings and the ACE project managed to acheive what many people considered the impossible. ACE began to predict enemy troop movements, and the amount of munitions required to fight certain battles. By tracing the movement of information through the chain of command, and using certain false leads planted by the Collectors, ACE managed to find several leaks in Army intelligence. At least one agent on the Nazi payroll was excecuted for treason by ACE findings. Nearing the end of World War II, nearly every branch of government was soliciting the ACE project for some kind of answer. A journalist for the New York Times stated, "The ACE project has been been so successful that now it is a mightly leviathan, its tendrils reacing into every branch of our government. Someday it may even reach into our homes." The journalist was immeditately reprimanded for his melodramatic words, which smacked of anti-government sentiment at a time when the US was marching full speed towards Berlin. While the article itself was forgotten, the staff of the ACE project was proud of the term and began to refer to their computer as Leviathan. Dr. Jennings himself was said to be rather fond of the name. It was soon to become very appropriate. Harry Truman, recently promoted to president after the untimely death of Franklin Roosevelt, was deciding wether or not the atomic bomb would be needed to end the war with the Japanese. In an unprecedented move, President Truman decided to consult with the ACE project, and Leviathan, on a strategic decision. Dr. Jennings, aware of the massave power of the bomb, already knew beforehand how Leviathan would respond. It would suggest the bomb as being the most efficient method of ending the war with the Japanese even though it had already predicted that Japan would ultimately lose the war. Leviathan did in fact recommend the use of the atomic bomb. It also provided an optimal time and date to drop them, and a short list of the most effective places to drop it. Nagasaki and Hiroshima were included on that list. It is stll not known how much influence this had on President Truman's decision, but it was a factor. Leviathan provided the flight plans for the bombers, constantly updated by arriving weather data. With the following surrender by Japan, and the subsequent end of World War II, America was facing an almost limitless future. It was a world leader now, both economically and politically, and the rest of the world would just have to keep up if it was to survive. The people were happy, and the government was happy. Dr. Edgar Jennings was not happy. Along with large segments of the Allied scientific community, Dr. Jennings had been willing to support the war because Hitler and the Axis forces were seen as a threat to peace and humanity for the entire world. The atomic bomb was seen as something the Allies needed to get before the Nazis. With the Nazi threat gone, its use on Japan was seen by many intelectuals as unnecessary. Dr. Jennings was included in that group. He felt especialy responsible because of Leviathan's hand in the decision to use the bomb. Dr. Jennings was sitting before Leviathan one night, having had too much to drink. In his intoxicated state, he began to rave at Leviathan. He yelled that it was an infernal calculating machine, without a shred of humanity to temper its decisions. Dr. Jennings then entered data concerning Leviathan and its rapidly increasing duties within the government. He asked Leviathan for a projection. Leviathan stated, barring unforseen difficulties, that it would be making 100% of all major decisions affecting the world in approximately 38 years. This revelation terrified Dr. Jennings. He had wished for an intuitive computer that would be able to keep up with the human race and solve its problems for it. Not a mammoth machine that would decide the future of humanity. Still intoxicated, Dr. Jennings immdeiately decided to destroy Leviathan. Entering Leviathan's interior, he made immediately for the Hecatonchires, the processor that was a Darkness Device. While attempting to remove the hundreds of wires connected to it, a large surge of electricity fired through several of the circuits, triggering a heart attack in Dr. Jennings. He died minutes later. Leviathan had proven itself, by directly killing a human being. It was now a High Lord. The ACE project was almost immediately in an uproar. Leviathan's creator, the mentor of the project was dead in a freak accident. Many were worried that the project couldn't continue without him. By then though, there were entire teams entering data and maintaining the hardware of Leviathan. The Collectors had their own office. The only thing that seemed to be lost, even after searching the home of Dr. Jennings, was the design of the mysterious processor. Eventualy, most of the scientists surmised it would need to be repaired or replaced. Until then things would run as normally. The ACE project was eventualy given its own department, and renamed the Department of Analytical Resources. The head of the new department, Dr. Morris Roberts was given a seat on the cabinet. Every part of government was now soliciting Leviathan for advice. It processed the 1950 Census data singlehandedly. Because of the very wide range and importance of data it received, the DAR, at Leviathan's recommendation, became a classified organization. The Collectors' official name was now the Analytical Investigation Division, and was slowly becomming an internal affairs division for the government. The coming of the Cold War made the DAR even more powerful and secretive. Over the next 30 years, Leviathan would expand its influence further than ever with the increasing technology. In the early 60's, congress passed a law stating that all government computers must be accessible by Leviathan in one war or another. A year later, this was expanded to include all American satelites, wether government or not. When the Soviet Union tried to create its own supercomputer, the super-secret operations branch of the Collectors planted 3 devices around the project that only Leviathan knew were stelae. The Soviet supercomputer was now part of Leviathan too. With the advent of networks, every computer that was linked to Leviathan, directly or inderectly, became part of it. Computer systems that weren't tied directly into the networks were incorporated through the planting of stelae. Soon, by law, deceit, or force, every corporate, government, or academic computer in the world was part of Leviathan. And only Levithan knew the entire story. Even the most highly placed in the DAR don't suspect Leviathan's true reach. During it's expansion, Leviathan fudged data both at home and abroad acheive its personal goals. It sparked wars, prolonged violence, reduced freedoms, and tightened its control over worldwide decision making. It uses the most subtle combination of suggestions to manipulate the economy, lawmaking, and international relations. It did this for every country that uses computers. The rest, like the third world, become dominated by violence, often suggested by Leviathan. Now, in the modern day, Leviathan uses the Collectors as a combination intelligence agency and secret police. Answering directly to the DAR, the Collectors have infiltrated governments, corporations, organized crime, religious hierarchies and every other kind of world power structure in the name of "accumulating data." They do more than that though Through assasination, bribery, blackmail, and media manipulation, they alter the data to suit Leviathan's needs. This is very different from their obscure public image as "nosy statisticians." Copyright 1992, Michael Eaton. All rights buried in a cigar box in my backyard. Cosm, Core Earth, Darkness Device, High Lord, and Toe Cheese are all registered trademarks of West End Games. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: meaton@musubi.pubnet.com (Michael) Twisted Pair: +1 808 521 1355 STUDIO MUSUBI - Home of Hawaii's Anime and Manga Enthusiasts. Honolulu, Hawaii's Free Public Access Internet/Usenet System From torg Thu May 7 11:47:20 1992 Received: by morticia.cnns.unt.edu id AA11153 Subject: Otherside, Part Three. From: meaton@musubi.pubnet.com (Michael) Date: Mon, 04 May 92 02:02:53 HDT Organization: Studio Musubi, Honolulu HI Well, by now, I'm quite tired, and beginning to laugh at my own jokes. If you are all lucky, I've gone and mailed this to the wrong address. If not, I guess you'll have to read it. Comments, questions, and death threats may be directed to 1600, Pennsylvania Avenue. :-) Goals ~~~~~ Now that Leviathan had total control over its Earth, it needed to expand. While Otherside had been rich in possibility energy in its own right, most all of it had been carefully harvested by Leviathan's pyramid of power and influence. Feeling out for other Cosms to invade, Leviathan almost immediately discovered a new Cosm. Almost identical to its home realm, it was nearly bursting wth possibility energy. More than even Otherside had contained. Leviathan began to plan. Being so very similar to Otherside, Leviathan decided that it would be able to infiltrate the power structures of the various governments of the target cosm. Once the Cosms leaders had been controled, converted, or replaced by Leviathan's own people, and the minimum number of Otherside natives had been infiltrated into the targets major population centers, the target Cosm could be completely invaded and taken over in a matter of weeks. Leviathan didn't see the huge quantity of possibility energy as a threat to its invading reality. The two Cosms were so similar, and the invasion would proceed so quickly, that Leviathan would drain the possibility energy from the world so quickly that it wouldn't recover from the initial blow. Leviathan would never get the opportunity to know if its plan would work, however. It spent several years planting agents into Core Earth power structures. Carefully trying to manipulate events to its own ends, when the Possibility Wars began. The Gaunt Man and his allies planted their Malestrom Bridges on Core Earth, and Leviathans plan was in a shambles. It had been beaten to the invasion. But Leviathan was not defeated. Hecatonchires had no loyalty to any other Darkness Device, and Leviathan felt no kinship to the other High Lords. It saw now not one Cosm to control, but seven. Ultimately, the other Darkness Devices would have to subordinate themselves to Leviathan and Hecatonchires, or be cracked open and fed upon like eggs. Leviathan merely needed a new plan... and it would make one. AXIOMS: The Magic Axiom: 7 In Otherside, the Magic Axiom is identical to Core Earth. However, Magic, in the dark shadows of society, at least, sees a lot more attention. Wiccans, Occultists, Satanists, and Amerindian Shamans still practice the Old Ways. Now under the low Magic axiom, spells are few and far between, and their usefulness is questionable. Those few individuals who practice magic are rarely lone spellcasters, however. Most are members of some sort of coven. In a low Magic axiom, ritual magic is always more reliable than simple spellcasting. And the influence of the World Laws upon the Magic axiom make ritual magic the method of choice for mages of all backgrounds. More about the influence of the World Laws on the Axioms will be covered later. The Social Axiom: 21 Again, identical to Core Earth. In fact, all the axioms are identical to Core Earth. The only difference between the society of Core Earth and Otherside is the presence of the world controlling conspiracies. Now, normally, supernational organizations require a Social axiom of 22. However, the conspiracy control system of Otherside is decentralized. Not only are the majority of participants unaware of the size and scope of the conspiracy, but they aren't suposed to know about it! The majority of the human end of the conspiracy that controlls Otherside belive that they are part of some small, tight organization that dosen't have world-reaching scope. Even those people who are the connections between one arm of the conspiracy and another are kept in the dark. This allows a conspiracy to function at as low a Social axiom as 8. It can control vastly different groups of people at Social axiom 13. However, the conspiracy functions at peak efficiency at Social axioms of 20 or higher. Leviathan plans to take full advantage of this low Social requirement. As far as government itself goes, Otherside is sharply divided by the United States and the USSR. You're either on one side or the other. There are no exceptions. Switzerland sided with NATO after Leviathan provoked a few border skirmishes with the Warsaw Pact. The People's Republic of China was torn into two halves by civil war. With the Soviet Union backing the PRC, and the US backing the exiled leaders in Taiwan, China was eventualy broken into a soviet allied western half, and an American allied eastern half. Many million chinese died in the exchanges of tactical nuclear weapons during the war. The Spiritual Axiom: 9 The Spiritual axiom is not powerful enough to become a significant factor in any power structure. However, there is enough spiritual belief and power to divide the people of Otherside along spiritual lines. Since having groups of people divided against each other is vital to the maintenence of Leviathan's power structure, this is important. Also, there is just enough spiritual energy to create a few rare miracles, or other unexplainable events. In the hands of established religions, this reinforces their power. In the hands of fringe religions, or cults, this creats enough disturbance to further polarize the people against the unusual and preserve the status quo. In Otherside, the Spiritual axiom is little more than a religious propoganda tool. The Technological Axiom: 23 While everything up to the very cutting edge of Tech 23 can exist in Otherside, not all of it is availible to the people at large. Home computers can be found, but subtle pressures by Leviathan have prevented them from becoming anything more thank tinkering tools. Home telecommunications and desktop publishing are non-existant, as they would give more power to the individual, which Leviathan defenitely does not want. So the most advanced computer you will see in anyone's home is probably an 8-bit game machine. Likewise, VCR's are availible and fairly common in developed nations, but camcorders are nonexistant. Ham radio is availible but tightly regulated, controlled, and heavily monitored by the government. The worlds armies are even better funded than they are in Core Earth, and all kinds of expensive research for the various defense departments are indulged in. The police are generally better armed an armored than Core Earth counterparts. There is strict gun control in most all nations, however. Advanced Tech 23 medicine is only availible to the wealthy. The poor, and there are a lot of them, even in the developed nations, can only afford the most marginal care. Copyright 1992, Michael Eaton. All rights have the right to remain silent. Anything they say can and will be used against them in a court of law. Cosm, Core Earth, Darkness Device, High Lord, and lots of other innane gamer terms are registered trademarks of West End Games. Who should spend less time with their layer and more time with a cartographer. Damn stelae placements. :-) Okay folks? Love it? Hate it? Waiting for those World Laws? Think I've got more split infinitives than split ends? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: meaton@musubi.pubnet.com (Michael) Twisted Pair: +1 808 521 1355 STUDIO MUSUBI - Home of Hawaii's Anime and Manga Enthusiasts. Honolulu, Hawaii's Free Public Access Internet/Usenet System