Worlds That Break the Rules

There are a few worlds where
physical laws don’t work in the way
we think of as “normal.” The best
known of these are the universes
where crosstime travel itself works
differently. For instance, Homeline
and Centrum are the only known
timelines from which a projector can
operate, while Coventry (p. 540) can-
not be reached by any means except a
projector.
There are others with differences
that have nothing to do with
parachronics; for instance, the uni-
verses where superscience allows
physical “impossibilities,” such as
gravity control or faster-than-light
travel. In some cases, it’s biology that
follows different rules, allowing tiny
humans or colossal beasts to exist.
And a few worlds are even stranger.
There are timelines where no technol-
ogy higher than “simple mechanics”
works. This is because it is impossible
to produce an artificial electrical dis-
charge there . . . even though natural
discharges work just fine. This gives
scientists fits: how do the physical
laws “know” the difference? The best-
known example, Rustic, was discov-
ered by a world-jumper. If a conveyor
had gone there instead, it wouldn’t
have been able to return.
There are even worlds where psy-
chic powers exist (Infinity is wary of
any world with mind readers, for obvi-
ous reasons). Likewise, there are a few
where magic works . . . and not always
the same way. Such worlds are closed
except to elite researchers and agents,
and their existence is secret. But there
are
the
inevitable
rumors;
for
instance, many people believe that
some Patrol agents have learned
magic in order to function more effec-
tively when visiting magical universes.
Of late, scouts are discovering
more and more “rule-breaking”
worlds – perhaps because most of
the “close” worlds have already been
found. Or maybe something is
happening to reality. GMs are encour-
aged to dream up such worlds as
needed! Two examples:
Merlin: A close parallel until 1945,
when the first A-bomb test created a
huge, permanent banestorm in New
Mexico. This resulted in a zone of high
mana in the American Southwest, and
a region of normal mana encompass-
ing much of North and Central
America. Magical fallout triggered the
appearance of “supernatural” crea-
tures. The United States has become a
technomagic superpower that fright-
ens even Infinity. Merlin is a TL7-8
alternate Earth in Quantum 3.
Yrth: A quantum sargasso (see
Marooned!, p. 546) accidentally dis-
covered by an Infinity world-jumper a
few years ago. He had many adven-
tures before finding a magical artifact
that allowed him to escape! Yrth is a
TL3 “medieval fantasy” world where
powerful magic works in a reliable
fashion. Elves, dwarves, goblins, drag-
ons, and several other mythical races
exist there. Humans are dominant,