Infinite Realities

[Captain Zymmer]

Agreed Ghosty, good work C5

Nice to see the French have sent a delegate with us on this strange journey we call narrating

[C5]

For collectors of weird alternate universes...

Tech level 7 universe

In this universe, all the tehnologically advanced races (Iconians, Tkon, and whatever you could come across) did not disappear, but are still very active and very advanced in the 24th century. The galaxy (and some of its neighbours) is now the battleground of some extremely advanced powers. Wars are fought with temporal anomalies, relocations of entire star systems, wormholes, and so on. The godlike races (Prophets, Organians, etc) are often involved, and have far less advance on the other races. Even the Q avoid this reality, since they don't feel they could be the gamemasters in this one.
The Federation, and all the "regular" powers, do exist, but are much more different. They are at best mere pawns in the cosmic chess the superpowers are playing, and disturbing insects at worst (think how a planet like today's Earth would be considered in the middle of the 24th century intrigues). Some known races have not been discovered, for their homeworld being destroyed or moved one Quadrant away. The Borg could for instance be the fallout of a weapon used by one of the races (BTW, the superior races don't spend their time at war, and spend some time in extremely advanced negociations and manipulations as well).

The Crew, arriving in this universe, could use the archeological knowledge they have on some of these advanced races to make the local Federation noteworthy of these superior powers. This could be a possible end to a SliderTrek series, with one of them powers helping the Crew to get back to their own reality.

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[Perrryyy]

Originally posted by StyroFoam Man
How about a universe where Earth destroyed itself through nuclear war. No survivors. Would the Federation even exist? Or would it be just Romulans and Klingons (and those pesky Cardassians)...

Hmmmmmm....

Sure wouldn't make the Borg's job of assimiliating any fun either! And AUGH! No 7 of 9!

[The Tatterdemalion King]

What about an alternate reality in which the Crew never left, but was the same in every other way? Or it is the same reality, only immediately after the Crew left, they were replaced (but by who?). What if the Tech Level 7 guys import people/things from other realities to help fight their wars? What if when the TL7 guys send them back, they don't really send them back...

My brain has gots too full. Me lie down now.

[Balok]

The crew encounters a planet where each individual obeys those above him in the hierarchy. These could be civil or military authorities, it doesn't matter. What matters is that there is no dissent. There is individualism, but only on a very limited scale. To keep things a bit unpredictable, perhaps the first planet they encounter isn't one they've seen before, so it's possible this is normal behavior.

Then they encounter the same thing on another world. The specifics may vary, but it becomes apparent there is almost a compulsion to function in a rigid hierarchy. On this world, it is also clear that most of the population is engaged in the creation of something. When asked, they don't really know what they're building. They just know how to build it. And they trust, implicitly, that when it is complete, its use will be apparent.

Back checking the sensor logs, if they think to do so, will reveal some evidence of a planet wide project on the first world they encountered, but not nearly as far along towards completion.

At this point, maybe they're a little creeped out.

The next planet, they discover the same situation. This planet should probably be one they've encountered, preferably one that is significantly different in "their" world. An encounter with someone they know from this world, who is creepily different, might be appropriate.

At some point, a Betazed or other telepathic sensitive should detect a very subtle suggestion of telepathy. If you haven't got one of those, than a faint transmission should be detected on the sensors. Triangulation reveals a direction and range to the source. According to the library computers, there is little at that location -- only a small system with a dim sun, Pyris, and no inhabited planets. Although there is an historical footnote about a visit by the Enterprise years ago, to the seventh planet of that system -- the events described by the TOS episode "Catspaw".

Querying the central archives *here* might work (if you decide the passcodes are the same), but there is no record of a visit by the Enterprise to that planet. However, interestingly, there are records of the Enterprises' activities up to the stardate at which the visit occurred in the "real" universe ... and no records of it after that point. As if it ... vanished.

You've probably guessed what's going on. In this universe, Kirk didn't destroy the transmuter (Korob's wand) before Sylvia got her hands on it. With the more powerful of the two artifacts (the other being her pendant) now in her control, and with Korob destroyed, Sylvia was able to take control of the Enterprise and its crew. Over the course of months, her ... ah ... examinations taught her what she needed to know about humans and their allied species.

Slowly, she spread her control. She took control of planetary leaders. But her additional knowledge allowed her to do so in less obvious ways. With means provided by her, these puppets took control of their planetary populations. Over time, she has come to control the entire Federation. Most are unaware of her, and those who are, cannot disobey. She has maintained the Federation's borders with patrols, but she has not sent exploration vessels out, nor has she antagonized other powers. For their part, they see the Federation becoming more inward involved, which is fine with them. However, their spies have reported the strange activities on some planets -- activities they can't really understand. So there might be some threats massing on the border, as fear is often a powerful incentive to rash action.

On each controlled planet, her captive populations are building the components of a machine she, and various captive scientists have designed. With this machine to harness and control energy for her use, she will be able to return to whatever weird place she comes from, and contest with the "Old Ones" who rule there for control of that place, and perhaps -- ultimately -- far more.

The problem is that, despite her long study, she doesn't really understand the manipulation of energy. It's too alien a concept. She has had her scientists build what amounts to an immense transmuter, that can draw on the fundamental energy of the universe. Powerless even to explain the problems with what she wanted, they could only try to do what she asked. They did the best they could. They incorporated a lot of new theories and ideas, and scaled the whole thing up to immense capability.

When the machine operates, it will begin drawing *all* the energy from this universe. Sylvia will get what she wants -- for as long as the universe lasts -- but things will go very bad, very quickly, for the inhabitants here.

Rather than merely escape this parallel, the characters may wish to put a stop to what's going on. One way might be to destroy Sylvia's transmuter. Another might be to have a telepathic character attempt to operate the transmuter remotely. Such a character would discover a "contingency spell" Korob left there, hidden, intended for the use of another of his kind. (He was weak willed, not stupid -- he saw what Sylvia was turning into even has her grew too frightened to act directly against her.) Such a contingency, if triggered by the character, would shut down or destroy the transmuter. Deprived of its support, Sylvia cannot survive in this universe -- its physical laws are too different. Finally, if the characters can find a way to activate the central component of Sylvia's machine -- being contructed on the second planet they visited -- they can travel to the strange place from which she comes. The "Old Ones" could certainly deal with Sylvia if they do so before her immense transmuter comes online. After that ... well, escape may be the only possibility.

[ghosty]

Infinite Realities Episode write-ups coming up soon. Watch this space.

[Captain Zymmer]

SLIDES TO EDGE OF SEAT

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

[Lancer]

Carefull you don't fall of your seat Zym.

That will happen soon enough anyway, once we get to see ghosty's write-up.

Can't wait to read it.

[Modem]

Hey Perrryyy;
Your right "no 7 of 9", but look on the up-side, no Wesley Crusher (who says an apocalypse is all bad...maybe Dr. Strangelove got it right ).

[Perrryyy]

Originally posted by Modem
Hey Perrryyy;
Your right "no 7 of 9", but look on the up-side, no Wesley Crusher (who says an apocalypse is all bad...maybe Dr. Strangelove got it right ).

Yeah, but back to the flip side, no Robin Lefler either!
Still, there's something to be said for a world without Crusher...

[ghosty]

Originally posted by ghosty
Infinite Realities Episode write-ups coming up soon. Watch this space.

Due to the change of running order mandated by the ending of the 1st episode of the Christmas Special, the Infinite Realities story arc has been pushed back. Posts soon. I swear.

[Atlirith]

Broken Arena: Kirk does not show mercy to the Gorn commander, leading to the destruction of the Gorn ship and a long drawn out war with the Gorn...The Federation is more millitant, martial in tone and culture. There are actual marines on board most ships, stemming from years of vicious hand to hand combat and ground invasions. Ironically, the Klingons have more respect for the Federation of this universe. The Vulcans withdrew from the Federation, but the Andorans and other more millitant species simply took their place...And the Gorn? Well, they were blasted back to their homeworld, which is blockaded. Needless to say, any Gorn and Vulcan crewmembers are going to have a hard time accepting or fitting into this reality...

Sargon's dreams: Henoch's sphere did not survive the ravages of time, leaving only Sargon and Thalassa's spheres intact. They succeed in creating new bodies and in turn help to revolutionize Federation science. Within a generation, Kirk's era would have all the trappings and technologies of the Voyager era and more -- this could be one of the realities that created a SliderTrek enforcement division...however, expect the ships crew to be referred to as "children" at least once....

When Doves Fail: The Enterprise crew failed to defeat the energy being that was causing conflict between the Klingons and the Federation, leading to war...this could end two ways -- the Organians drop both cultures back to the stone age, or throw up their hands in disgust, leading to another war torn, militaristic Federation...

Our group has had a few run-ins with alternate realities, mostly versions of Mirror Mirror, though not the DS9 one, which I always found to be more camp than interesting...the Dark Passions books were promising, but having 7 of 9 save the plotline again was dissappointing...

Sigh, I wish that official Trek (namely DS9) had taken a different tack with the Mirror Universe. Still, I have high hopes that Decipher Trek will eventually publish the holy grail of alternate reality books -- The Mirror Universe sourcebook...any official word, after all, the book must have been nearly ready to publish?

[C5]

Originally posted by Atlirith
...
Our group has had a few run-ins with alternate realities, mostly versions of Mirror Mirror, though not the DS9 one, which I always found to be more camp than interesting...the Dark Passions books were promising, but having 7 of 9 save the plotline again was dissappointing...

Sigh, I wish that official Trek (namely DS9) had taken a different tack with the Mirror Universe. Still, I have high hopes that Decipher Trek will eventually publish the holy grail of alternate reality books -- The Mirror Universe sourcebook...any official word, after all, the book must have been nearly ready to publish?

Well, this is alternate realities we are talking about. The DS9 mirror universe could very well be an alternate version of a mirror universe in wich the Earth Empire remained (and in wich mirror Spock was executed as traitor).
Wich brings me to an interesting (nutty?) idea : there could be another alternate universe of wich the DS9 mirror universe is a closer mirror :

The DS9 mirror's mirror
In this universe, the Federation was invaded by the Cardassian - Klingons alliance (who did not went at war with each other when they made first contact). However, the Alliance is now on the verge of breaking apart because of internal dissensions between the two races. The UFP is now reduced to a handful of planet who try to resist the Alliance (Captain Ben Sisko is one of the leader of the Earth Defense Forces). Bajor has been conquerred, however, some Bajoran managed to rise to some positions of power; for instance, Kira Nerys is Sub-Intendant to the station Terok Nor. However, she is actually a spy from the Bajoran Resistance, and plans to overthrow the current Intendant, Garak, and take the station. She managed to contact the headquarters of the former UFP and is trying to form an alliance with them (they would help her to take the station, and in return would be able to use it as an outpost).

[Captain Zymmer]

I had this thought for an alternate reality...bear with me as I am typing as I think...

In this reality the Crusaders of earth eventually covereted the entire world to Christianity. Their steel shod feet marched to every corner of the world.

As the years went by, knights and ladies put down every challenge that raised agaisnt then, including the would be genetic despot khan.

Moving into space, backed by the Galactic Catholic Church, they converted the Andoriansa and the Tellartites. While they never converted the Vulcans, they established strong ties with them and trade.

Then they met the Klingons. A race that claimed they had no gods and fought with the ferocity and warrior ken not seen since the days of Saladin.

Armed with the mighty starships, the plas-steel armour and their phaser-blades, the Knights of the Holy Catholic Federation ralied time and time again against these "space Saracens".

Then a knight came named Sir James Tiberius Kirk. Along with his own knightsm including the first Vulcan Knight, Sir Spock, Son of Sarek, they made war on the Klingons like none before.

After Kirk smashed the Klingons into subjection, peace ruled in the galaxy until the threat of the Romulans, the Cardassians and the whispered voices of the Dominion came to the ears of the Holy Federation.

With new enemies to face and the word of God to spread, they do so, lead by their most shining of knights...

Sir Jean Luc Picard, Knight of France and Captain of the Starship Enterprise.

Okay like I said I was thinking this one out as I went.

Anyone want to jump in?