Lubaf
Cat in a washing machine in space?
- Location
- Here
(I've previously posted most of this here. I'm posting it here as well, since I'm also interested in SV's input.)
TL;DR version: A bunch of random characters from various Urban Fantasy settings (to be clear: most of the Refugees are not PC-types, but rather rank-and-file guys) are thrown into an otherwise mundane Earth, in such a way that (A) no Masquerade is possible, and (B) complete containment by the mundane side is also impossible (at least without at least a little help from the Refugees).
In detail:
So, in an otherwise mundane Earth circa present-day-ish, small rifts and portals start opening (whether all across the world or in just one city depends on suggestion; it could go either way) in public places (several during (inter)nationally televised sporting events). Out of these portals emerge various creatures. Or rather, collapse. In a comatose state.
The vast majority can pass for human. But the majority, upon close inspection, are nothing of the sort.
They come from dozens of different worlds, many with a Masquerade, but enough of them are from worlds without one that the local Authorities can pretty quickly figure out what's going on: these are people from another world, usually a close relative of Earth, with Supernatural Beings in them.
The Authorities can confirm that none of the non-humans existed in the world before the portals opened--too many of them fail body-heat tests (enough to be clearly not human when viewed in infrared), and the remainder are easily checked for by other simple means. And the Refugees can confirm (once they're trusted enough to test) that none of the beings they know about exist in this world, except as Refugees--as far as they can tell, all Natives of this Earth are baseline. A minor complication: almost all of them claim to have no memory of how they got here--and a few of them claim to have supernatural means to verify that fact, and the additional fact that none of them are here voluntarily (although quite a few are eager to start new lives--several supernatural communities are apparently quite abusive). (The few who claim to know are either pretty clearly either lying or guessing.)
Some assumptions I'll be making, that I'm willing to be talked out of:
As to power level and restrictions: Three questions: (1) Can they be effectively countered by a SWAT team, National Guard Tank, or National Guard Fighter Jet, assuming they are properly briefed and equipped with quickly modified versions of off-the-shelf equipment? (2) Does the world they come from resemble ours enough that they can easily understand the idea of a cell phone (and that such is an entirely mundane artifact), and at least obey on the level of mass transit etiquette? and (3) Can they speak with the Natives where they arrived? If "yes" to all three, valid character concept. That includes low-end intelligent dragons, aliens, elves and dwarves, giants, vampires, wizards, whatever you feel like.
For reference, Ebberon is probably a bridge too far for #2 (too much magitek).
Some thoughts on the metaphysics people are obviously going to ask about:
As to overall magic: My first idea is that the Refugees are carrying a little bit (a Spark, if you will) of their world with them wherever they go. They can expand this Spark to cover a Native to "convert" them (teach them their method of Magic, or turn them into a vampire, or what-have-you), but such things are frequently much, much harder than they should be. Other then this Spark, any kind of Magic doesn't work. Any enchantments fade rapidly away from the people who made them--unless the enchantment is powered by somebody from the same System.
Thus, the low end powers all work, and old power gathering methods usually mostly work (if frequently at a lower efficiency), but there's a LOT of "static" and interference. So nobody is too powerful at first, and communication back home is probably going to be impossible (but there are still people who try). But I'm open to that being changed.
Something like Spirits from the various Other-Worlds exist in the New World, but they are both non-sophant (i.e., at the start, they don't speak any language, and lack even the concept of one), and are blissfully unaware of the human world. Shamen and WoD-style Werewolves are (unless they were carrying some of their own) starting from page one, but so are the Spirits.
Souls? For our purposes, powers based on observing Souls usually work, but anything that tries to touch them may or may not work; reliability sometimes varies from Native to Native (with some Natives having a Soul under one System of magic, and being utterly Soulless under another), and others vary in reliability from day to day (a few seemingly hourly), with neither apparent rhyme nor reason for what causes it. (Refugee-to-Refugee Soul power usage has similar issues, with an added variable that can, in some cases, make things more reliable.) In other words, "results are wildly inconsistent".
Some questions:
What happens next? Is there anything that should be expanded upon? Feel free to contradict what's above, so long as you stick to the basic TL;DR version.
Thanks
Luc "Weird Ideas" French
TL;DR version: A bunch of random characters from various Urban Fantasy settings (to be clear: most of the Refugees are not PC-types, but rather rank-and-file guys) are thrown into an otherwise mundane Earth, in such a way that (A) no Masquerade is possible, and (B) complete containment by the mundane side is also impossible (at least without at least a little help from the Refugees).
In detail:
So, in an otherwise mundane Earth circa present-day-ish, small rifts and portals start opening (whether all across the world or in just one city depends on suggestion; it could go either way) in public places (several during (inter)nationally televised sporting events). Out of these portals emerge various creatures. Or rather, collapse. In a comatose state.
The vast majority can pass for human. But the majority, upon close inspection, are nothing of the sort.
They come from dozens of different worlds, many with a Masquerade, but enough of them are from worlds without one that the local Authorities can pretty quickly figure out what's going on: these are people from another world, usually a close relative of Earth, with Supernatural Beings in them.
The Authorities can confirm that none of the non-humans existed in the world before the portals opened--too many of them fail body-heat tests (enough to be clearly not human when viewed in infrared), and the remainder are easily checked for by other simple means. And the Refugees can confirm (once they're trusted enough to test) that none of the beings they know about exist in this world, except as Refugees--as far as they can tell, all Natives of this Earth are baseline. A minor complication: almost all of them claim to have no memory of how they got here--and a few of them claim to have supernatural means to verify that fact, and the additional fact that none of them are here voluntarily (although quite a few are eager to start new lives--several supernatural communities are apparently quite abusive). (The few who claim to know are either pretty clearly either lying or guessing.)
Some assumptions I'll be making, that I'm willing to be talked out of:
- There are, to start with, about a thousand Refugees (or 10,000, if we're going Worldwide at the start) from between a dozen and a hundred worlds.
- Any given world has at least six or seven Refugees.
- We'll assume that the vast majority of Refugees can claim to be average, more or less law-abiding, citizens of their worlds, and of the remainder, there are more law-enforcers than actual criminals.
- The vast majority speak the local language of where they arrived, or have some trick to fake it.
- As is to be expected, several of them hate each others guts on general principle, but the majority are willing to at least "let that slide for now", on the theory that the Authorities don't know either side from Adam, and, if the other side reverts to typical behavior, they won't have to do anything at all to turn the local authorities against the hated [whatever].
- None of the worlds have had contact before this happened.
- None of the Refugees were dropped off in any danger (vampires were dropped off at night, etc.)
As to power level and restrictions: Three questions: (1) Can they be effectively countered by a SWAT team, National Guard Tank, or National Guard Fighter Jet, assuming they are properly briefed and equipped with quickly modified versions of off-the-shelf equipment? (2) Does the world they come from resemble ours enough that they can easily understand the idea of a cell phone (and that such is an entirely mundane artifact), and at least obey on the level of mass transit etiquette? and (3) Can they speak with the Natives where they arrived? If "yes" to all three, valid character concept. That includes low-end intelligent dragons, aliens, elves and dwarves, giants, vampires, wizards, whatever you feel like.
For reference, Ebberon is probably a bridge too far for #2 (too much magitek).
Some thoughts on the metaphysics people are obviously going to ask about:
As to overall magic: My first idea is that the Refugees are carrying a little bit (a Spark, if you will) of their world with them wherever they go. They can expand this Spark to cover a Native to "convert" them (teach them their method of Magic, or turn them into a vampire, or what-have-you), but such things are frequently much, much harder than they should be. Other then this Spark, any kind of Magic doesn't work. Any enchantments fade rapidly away from the people who made them--unless the enchantment is powered by somebody from the same System.
Thus, the low end powers all work, and old power gathering methods usually mostly work (if frequently at a lower efficiency), but there's a LOT of "static" and interference. So nobody is too powerful at first, and communication back home is probably going to be impossible (but there are still people who try). But I'm open to that being changed.
Something like Spirits from the various Other-Worlds exist in the New World, but they are both non-sophant (i.e., at the start, they don't speak any language, and lack even the concept of one), and are blissfully unaware of the human world. Shamen and WoD-style Werewolves are (unless they were carrying some of their own) starting from page one, but so are the Spirits.
Souls? For our purposes, powers based on observing Souls usually work, but anything that tries to touch them may or may not work; reliability sometimes varies from Native to Native (with some Natives having a Soul under one System of magic, and being utterly Soulless under another), and others vary in reliability from day to day (a few seemingly hourly), with neither apparent rhyme nor reason for what causes it. (Refugee-to-Refugee Soul power usage has similar issues, with an added variable that can, in some cases, make things more reliable.) In other words, "results are wildly inconsistent".
Some questions:
- Is this better with one city, or as a worldwide phenomena?
- Should monsters that are completely hostile to humanity be included among the Refugees? I can see arguments both ways.
- How hostile is "too hostile"?
- Should Superhero types be included among the Refugees (to keep things sane, we'll be limiting things in power level to at best "X-Men third string")?
- How weird is "too weird"?
What happens next? Is there anything that should be expanded upon? Feel free to contradict what's above, so long as you stick to the basic TL;DR version.
Thanks
Luc "Weird Ideas" French
