Alternate Dimensions

[taalismn]

ah orcs, thy take me back

There was at least one full-length parody novel that took the standard mixed-sword-and-pistol slugfest from the Orcs' point of view as the crunchies who suddenly realize they're caught in a cliche, and have to think their way out (and maybe actually WIN or at least break even)...Gotta find it somewhere, I may have it somewhere in my scattered book collection...

[taalismn]

due you have to tell me what book that is

Ah-ha! The book is 'Grunts' by Mary Gentle..
As one reviewer on Amazon.com summed it up:

"This book has a long, intricate plot, with as many characters as a Dickens novel. Basically, the Orcs, fighting for the Dark Lord under the leadership of the nameless necromancer, discover a dragon's horde, with a curse upon it...if you take the treasure, you'll become what you steal. In this case, the treasure is modern military weaponry, and after stealing it, the rather dim Orcs become Marines, with all the 'tude and fighting ability of cinema soldiers.At the end, the Orcs are apparently about to invade earth via the same conduits through which the dragon stole the weapons and technology in the first place. And in between, every cliche of the fantasy novel (especially the sexlessness), PLUS modern politicking, PLUS military movies, come in for some heavy, witty, at times acidulous satire."

[ZINO]

Been awhile when I did this where tech vs angel and it was bad for the world wide
humans won only to find out that they were really alien disguised as angels .
and found a artist who did this
wish I had it back them
it was a fun R.P.G
http://th05.deviantart.net/fs11/PRE/i/2 ... eN2501.jpg

For context, the 'angel' is an alien invader in disguise using psychological warfare, in addition to liquid bioarmor and plasma nanowires.

love this comment

Seek and you shall find.
Ask and you shall receive.
Presume, and I'll make a martyr of you.

[ZINO]

did I say something wrong here ?

[GaredBattlespike]

did I say something wrong here ?

Greetings!

No, you did not say anything wrong. It's simply that this board has been rather lacking in veiwers lately. It sounds like the series Armageddon/Pantheocide fiction, in which Heaven AND Hell admitted that NOBODY got into Heaven for the last 1,000 years or so, and that HE was simply going to GIVE all the Earth and it's people to Satan. The US Airforce blows a Herald from Hell right out of the sky...Humanity unites to fight The Salvation War! To find it go to StarDestroyer.net and go to the finished stories area and start with Armageddon, then go on to the Pantheocide story. LONG Stories!!!!!

Good Gaming, GaredBattlespike

[ZINO]

did I say something wrong here ?

Greetings!

No, you did not say anything wrong. It's simply that this board has been rather lacking in veiwers lately. It sounds like the series Armageddon/Pantheocide fiction, in which Heaven AND Hell admitted that NOBODY got into Heaven for the last 1,000 years or so, and that HE was simply going to GIVE all the Earth and it's people to Satan. The US Airforce blows a Herald from Hell right out of the sky...Humanity unites to fight The Salvation War! To find it go to StarDestroyer.net and go to the finished stories area and start with Armageddon, then go on to the Pantheocide story. LONG Stories!!!!!

Good Gaming, GaredBattlespike

this where it sent Hum help here sorry

http://stardestroyer.net/toc.html

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[GaredBattlespike]

Greetings!

Yes, this is it. Go down to Discussion Forums Nomal Display. Scroll down to User Fiction.Then go to Cleaned Up or Finished Stories.

Good Gaming, GaredBattlespike

[taalismn]

I have NO idea what they're planning for the third part of the supposedly/hinted at trilogy...either the problems of managing a three-universe 'world' or running into other pantheons.

[ZINO]

thanks wow my voice generator will be running hot


ho by the way I really like this art work
http://th05.deviantart.net/fs11/PRE/i/2 ... eN2501.jpg

[taalismn]

During WW2, a Vietnamese insurgent against the Japanese is wounded and treated by American military medics who save his life. Ho Chi Minh later goes on to later lead the successful guerilla war against the Americans in the Vietnam War.

Had Ho Chi Minh NOT made it to the care of American medics, and had died of complications on route, the Vietnamese Communists would have been lacking their number one strategist against the French colonial army and later the Americans. However, the pressures of the post-imperialist world, especially in the former European Asian possessions after WW2, would have resulted in rebellion and revolution anyways. Without the sort of inspired leadership to come up with tactics to offset the European weapons superiority(though the revolutionaries would have been fed WW2 surplus weaponry from other sources, like China and Russia), the fight would have been longer and bloodier, unless somebody of equal caliber and martial smarts had emerged to give the guerilla army stiff leadership backbone.
In this regard, Ho Chi MInh is an important, but not CRITICAL, persona in history. The upwelling sentiment against France(and outside imperial influences in general), who were already preoccupied with reconstruction and problems elsewhere in their domains(Algeria, Morocco) would have carried forward anyway. Without the successes of the guerillas, the French would have been less willing to listen to negotiations, and less inclined to call on United Nations help.

[Kovoston]

Gemany wins the First World War by capturing Paris in 1914.

the Soviets land on the Moon before the USA.

the American Revolution fails.

All of the Cursades are succesful.

the Romans squash the emerging Christian Church.

Those are good (and chilling) alternates Braden.

[taalismn]

The Jin Emperor, Shi Huangdi, fails to unite china in the Warring States period. Thus, China is never united into the single monolithic state it bacame, instead resembling more Wstern Europe, a collection of smaller often competing kingdoms.

With what effect when the Europeans come in? They get balkanized even further, or does the constant in-fighting between the smaller kingdoms pressurize technological development(especially weapons), so outsiders have a much harder time of it breaking into China?

[taalismn]

A different version of Hell:
Where you're locked in an auditorium and forced to listen to a distinguished panel of experts give a step-by-step, blow-by-blow, with full media presentation, commentary on your life, showing what great outcomes WOULD have happened if you'd done so-and-so("If only you'd checked the want ads that day and took a chance on that job, you'd have met a wonderful young lady who'd have inspired you to try harder for another position, and you'd be well on your way to happiness..."..."RIGHT THERE! If you'd ONLY gotten up earlier that day!"). Occasional intermissions to let you cry and try to slit your wrists(to no avail: you're already dead).

Different Hell 2....
Living Backwards. Your next life will take place in an era before your last. YOu pick from what's available("Oh CR#@! That means I die in the Black Plague!")

[Nightmask]

A different version of Hell:
Where you're locked in an auditorium and forced to listen to a distinguished panel of experts give a step-by-step, blow-by-blow, with full media presentation, commentary on your life, showing what great outcomes WOULD have happened if you'd done so-and-so("If only you'd checked the want ads that day and took a chance on that job, you'd have met a wonderful young lady who'd have inspired you to try harder for another position, and you'd be well on your way to happiness..."..."RIGHT THERE! If you'd ONLY gotten up earlier that day!"). Occasional intermissions to let you cry and try to slit your wrists(to no avail: you're already dead).

I remember an old Twlight Zone comic like that, where a bank robber fleeing cops hides out in a movie theater only to have the attendant put the movie on and it's the movie of his life from birth to death (the cops shot him dead while he was fleeing) and he goes 'well thank God that's over!' only to be told that oh no he'll be watching and rewatching his retched life for eternity at which point one of the cops swears he heard a forlorn wail of despair while they're checking his corpse.

[taalismn]

Alternate Universe:
Stephen Hawking--Evil Genius and embittered mad scientist, inventor of the Black Hole Projector. Enraged at the world for any number of things, including his own deteriorating health, becomes the world's first Super Villain, determined to put the screws to his critics and blackmail the Earth. Bill Gates and other rich and powerfuls similarly turn to super villainy as as the next great fad in affluence, figuring that if power corrupts, they may as well enjoy themselves, regardless of what other people think.

[taalismn]

The United (Psychological) States

America, as founded to be made up of various States of mind...State of Order, State of Disorder, State of Confusion, State of Chaos, State of Bliss, State of Seige, State of Dismay, State of Contemplation, etc... Each State subscribes to the common Constitution and Bill of Rights, but beyond that, each State has its own regulations and psychological attitude, its own charms and drawbacks...For instance, in the State of Order, everything is clean and tidy, and well-regulated....heavily regulated, as everybody is expected to do their part to keep things running smoothly, or they’ll face stiff penalties. Whereas in the State of Chaos, virtually no order exists and it’s every man for himself(although murder and rapine are still illegal). In the State of Paranoia, virtually everybody is armed and watches their neighbors, and other States(especially the yahoos from Chaos). In the State of Bliss, pretty much every drug is legalized, and people make out in public(it’s the Hippy State), to the point where it’s almost illegal by local laws NOT to come to work stoned. In the border State of Seige, the State is virtually an armed camp; the turnpikes are really armed checkpoints, residents are expected to have a bunker and two weeks’ worth of food on hand at all times, and the National Guard watches the border against possible invasion(and they watch the other States in case a foreign invader decides to come around through THEM). The people in the State of Confusion have no idea what’s going on, but they somehow muddle through it all(it’s a popular State for aging retirees). Of course, people often go looking to hire people from other States to fulfill various jobs; people from the States of Order and Contemplation make good administrators(the former when they aren’t regulating EVERYTHING and the latter when they aren’t contemplating rocks), Paranoia Staters make good security guards, much of the U.S. Military comes from the State of Seige, much of the entertainment comes from the States of Excitment(the Excited State!) and Arousal. You get the idea...
Naturally, history has its ups and downs...Under Presidents from the State of Agression, the U.S. went to war, not always wisely. The Presidencies from the States of Wonder saw funding for the arts and sciences, but perhaps not a firm enough stance on foreign policy issues that required a more decisive hand. There was the forgetable State of Confusion Presidency that was arguably salvaged only by a competent Cabinet, House, and Senate. Then there was that disasterous time a President was somehow elected from the State of Incompetence and was almost impeached.
Everybody else in the world thinks the Americans are crazy. They’re right, but then again, nobody picks on us because of it.

[shiiv-a]

wow . . . the things i miss by not poking my nose in here . . .

[taalismn]

wow . . . the things i miss by not poking my nose in here . . .

Sad, ain't it?

[GaredBattlespike]

Here is another one:

Tunguska, Soviet Union; A fiery blast from an unknown cause releases an alien spore. When the spores come into contact with the Yerkut tribesmen who live in the area, begin to change. Wingless Flight. Extraordinary Physical Attributes. Energy Expulsion. Alter Physical Structure. In short, the Russians have Super Powers. Only the immediate locals have changed, the remaining Spores die off in Earth's bioshpere without Hosts to bond to.

Welcome to the Yerkut Independant State. Led by the Immortal Pavel Yankovich, The IYS have made it clear: Leave us alone! The USSR gioverment tried to bring them to heel, but only succeeded in getting the Yerkut to unite and fully depose the Government. It's hard to stop Superbeings with WW I era tech. Enjoy!

Good Gaming, GaredBatttlespike

[taalismn]

Here is another one:

Tunguska, Soviet Union; A fiery blast from an unknown cause releases an alien spore. When the spores come into contact with the Yerkut tribesmen who live in the area, begin to change. Wingless Flight. Extraordinary Physical Attributes. Energy Expulsion. Alter Physical Structure. In short, the Russians have Super Powers. Only the immediate locals have changed, the remaining Spores die off in Earth's bioshpere without Hosts to bond to.

Welcome to the Yerkut Independant State. Led by the Immortal Pavel Yankovich, The IYS have made it clear: Leave us alone! The USSR gioverment tried to bring them to heel, but only succeeded in getting the Yerkut to unite and fully depose the Government. It's hard to stop Superbeings with WW I era tech. Enjoy!

Good Gaming, GaredBatttlespike

I can see the Sovs sending off penal battalions of dissidents out to be slaughtered testing the defenses of the YIS.

[calto40k]

Gwar is REAL and conquers Rifts Earth. Humanity and all other living creatures are either mutated into mindless foot soldiers or they turned into Gwar brand dog food for the mutant hordes.

AGREED fellow slave pit member

[taalismn]

The Earth is invaded and bombed back to the Stone Age because our high powered radio transmission capabilities coincided with the growing popularity of music that the superior alien civilizations find frankly abomidable. Tired of having their finely tuned communications network being interrupted and their delicate sensitivities offended by rock and roll, country and western, rap, and pop music, those same aliens decree Humanity's got to be shut up. Michael Jackson and MYV effectively damn us.
Having been blasted back to banging on rocks by a bunch of high-strung music critics, the surviving Human cultures effectively ban any sort of public music performance, relegating song and instrumented music to very private, very secret, effectively religious ceremonies. And in the event 'radio' and 'television' is ever re-invented, it is NOT to be broadcast. EVER.

[Kovoston]

The Earth is invaded and bombed back to the Stone Age because our high powered radio transmission capabilities coincided with the growing popularity of music that the superior alien civilizations find frankly abomidable. Tired of having their finely tuned communications network being interrupted and their delicate sensitivities offended by rock and roll, country and western, rap, and pop music, those same aliens decree Humanity's got to be shut up. Michael Jackson and MYV effectively damn us.
Having been blasted back to banging on rocks by a bunch of high-strung music critics, the surviving Human cultures effectively ban any sort of public music performance, relegating song and instrumented music to very private, very secret, effectively religious ceremonies. And in the event 'radio' and 'television' is ever re-invented, it is NOT to be broadcast. EVER.

Very clever Tal,
So what would this alien species be called, the Light Musics??

[taalismn]

The Earth is invaded and bombed back to the Stone Age because our high powered radio transmission capabilities coincided with the growing popularity of music that the superior alien civilizations find frankly abomidable. Tired of having their finely tuned communications network being interrupted and their delicate sensitivities offended by rock and roll, country and western, rap, and pop music, those same aliens decree Humanity's got to be shut up. Michael Jackson and MYV effectively damn us.
Having been blasted back to banging on rocks by a bunch of high-strung music critics, the surviving Human cultures effectively ban any sort of public music performance, relegating song and instrumented music to very private, very secret, effectively religious ceremonies. And in the event 'radio' and 'television' is ever re-invented, it is NOT to be broadcast. EVER.

Very clever Tal,
So what would this alien species be called, the Light Musics??

Fullsymphonyorchestrans.

[Kovoston]

The Earth is invaded and bombed back to the Stone Age because our high powered radio transmission capabilities coincided with the growing popularity of music that the superior alien civilizations find frankly abomidable. Tired of having their finely tuned communications network being interrupted and their delicate sensitivities offended by rock and roll, country and western, rap, and pop music, those same aliens decree Humanity's got to be shut up. Michael Jackson and MYV effectively damn us.
Having been blasted back to banging on rocks by a bunch of high-strung music critics, the surviving Human cultures effectively ban any sort of public music performance, relegating song and instrumented music to very private, very secret, effectively religious ceremonies. And in the event 'radio' and 'television' is ever re-invented, it is NOT to be broadcast. EVER.

Very clever Tal,
So what would this alien species be called, the Light Musics??

Fullsymphonyorchestrans.

Awesome!

[taalismn]

The Earth is invaded and bombed back to the Stone Age because our high powered radio transmission capabilities coincided with the growing popularity of music that the superior alien civilizations find frankly abomidable. Tired of having their finely tuned communications network being interrupted and their delicate sensitivities offended by rock and roll, country and western, rap, and pop music, those same aliens decree Humanity's got to be shut up. Michael Jackson and MYV effectively damn us.
Having been blasted back to banging on rocks by a bunch of high-strung music critics, the surviving Human cultures effectively ban any sort of public music performance, relegating song and instrumented music to very private, very secret, effectively religious ceremonies. And in the event 'radio' and 'television' is ever re-invented, it is NOT to be broadcast. EVER.

Very clever Tal,
So what would this alien species be called, the Light Musics??

Fullsymphonyorchestrans.

Awesome!

Yeah; their version of the '1812 Overture' crescendoes with asteroids smacking into the Earth.

[Kovoston]

Oh dear.... Well I guess it is better than the whole Vlad vampire organ overture...
G

[taalismn]

Oh dear.... Well I guess it is better than the whole Vlad vampire organ overture...
G

Lemme guess; it involves impaling for the high notes?

[taalismn]

The Jin Emperor, Shi Huangdi, fails to unite china in the Warring States period. Thus, China is never united into the single monolithic state it bacame, instead resembling more Wstern Europe, a collection of smaller often competing kingdoms.

With what effect when the Europeans come in? They get balkanized even further, or does the constant in-fighting between the smaller kingdoms pressurize technological development(especially weapons), so outsiders have a much harder time of it breaking into China?

considering it would be almost 2000 years till the Europeans come, it'd be hard to say. I'd presume the competion between states would do in the East what it did in Europe.

Chinese: (To European) "You're bloody LATE!"

[89er]

A quote from an Interdim employee on a deliver in the Shuriken System, Jump Galaxy.

"Excuse me, I have a package for a Mr. Burrito Uzumaki that needs his signature. Burrito Uzumaki, you have a package."

[taalismn]

A quote from an Interdim employee on a deliver in the Shuriken System, Jump Galaxy.

"Excuse me, I have a package for a Mr. Burrito Uzumaki that needs his signature. Burrito Uzumaki, you have a package."

Nova Bomb by mail?

[Aramanthus]

Hmmmmm. I wonder what could be in this over-sized package. :::rippp..............Kablammmmmmm.:::

[taalismn]

Hmmmmm. I wonder what could be in this over-sized package. :::rippp..............Kablammmmmmm.:::

"When Opening Package, This End Towards Face."

[Aramanthus]

How about a weapon system that is capable of wiping out universes? Just literally blot it out of existence.

[taalismn]

How about a weapon system that is capable of wiping out universes? Just literally blot it out of existence.

There are some things the Elder Races don't talk about, lest some of the more unstable Younger Races get ideas...

[oger333]

a thought .

a commit or asteroid hits the earth blasting the us with energy unlocking super powers and rifts in the usa and strong rifts at nuke plants and old test sites

[Gazirra]

A time-traveling accident changes life on Earth ever so slightly, but with major repercussions: just prior to the Cambrian Explosion, somehow the ediacarans evolve differently. Instead of individual internal organs, the cells of the new multicellular life changes their nature as needed by the overall organism.

[taalismn]

A time-traveling accident changes life on Earth ever so slightly, but with major repercussions: just prior to the Cambrian Explosion, somehow the ediacarans evolve differently. Instead of individual internal organs, the cells of the new multicellular life changes their nature as needed by the overall organism.

So basically what evolves are different sizes of nomadic amorphic life that can change shape and function to whatever environment they wander into? And 'human' life now looks more like Sergeant Schlock(from 'Schlock Mercenary')?

Naruni Enterprises would make a killing then, selling us plasma weaponry with an OMINOUS HUMMMMM.

[Aramanthus]

How about a Rube Goldberg planet destroyer. And left sitting around for some adventuring party to find and activate.

[taalismn]

How about a Rube Goldberg planet destroyer. And left sitting around for some adventuring party to find and activate.

Not really an alternate universe as much as an adventure gimmick...

"Ringing the counter bell startles a cockroach on a leash that darts out from under the bell, causing the trained chameleon on the shelf above the counter to try to nail it with its tongue, instead hitting the pane of perspex between them, the motion moving a rocker arm that sends a ball-bearing racing down a track to upset a watering can that waters a fast-growing petunia..."
...with the characters curiously following the succession of events until somebody gets the bright idea to race ahead and see what the end result is, only to realize that it's 'Goodbye Cruel World!'(that's what the final sign sez before everything goes POOF!).

[Aramanthus]

ROFLMAO!! When you put it like that.........

[taalismn]

ROFLMAO!! When you put it like that.........

When you research the old RG creations, some of them, like his Burglar Alarm...

[Aramanthus]

I can totally believe it.

[GaredBattlespike]

The Grahl have broken through to the Three Galaxies!!!

After a dimensional accident in which a large company of Grahl have found themselves on Center Station. After exchanging gold, gems and other goodies, the Grahl have a new ship and the training to use it. Beware the Grahl Ship "Throat Biter". It's a small assault vessel (tiny by most 3G standards) but it's designed around forced docking with a target ship to disgorge a horde of howling Grahl! Even Spluggie Slavers tend to have issues with seeing their fellows eaten on the spot-sometimes alive, sometimes having their bones bitten in half and the marrow sucked out! The Throat Biter may figure in my next set of updates for this thread, if this gets favorable responses. Enjoy!

PS. I know how narssistic it is, but I love my Grahl.

[Aramanthus]

Interesting and scary one. Where are the Grahl from?

[gaby]

What if in the 20th Century only in North America and Europe tech Advances evenly but in South America,Africa and Asia tech advance much slower,like say it,s 30 years behine.
How do you think this will changed things?

[GaredBattlespike]

Interesting and scary one. Where are the Grahl from?

Greetings!

They are my creations. They started here on page 64 of this thread.

Update on Ben Franklin's Riftworld:
After opening a Gate, an amazing discovery is made; Ben finds the first Non-Human intelligent beings!
They call themselves the "Grahl".
They have shared their Earth with Humans since the Beginning.
The Grahl and their Earth prove to be friendly to Ben's New America.

A trade agreement is quickly established as the inhabitants of Shared Earth desire the Dimensional Gate technique, and the people of Riftworld are enthralled with their first experience with Non-Human people! The Grahl are careful to keep on their best behavior, and it pays off as Ben's people treat the visiting Grahl as Celebrated Guests!

Ben Franklin soon has Grahl guests visiting as consultants on a wild variety of subjects: Science, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Dimensional Travel, and more! Ben teaches as well as learns. Now Ben and a Grahl named "Groller Herah" soon become fast friends, teaching each other, learn from each other, and drink together. Groller and Ben form a Transdimensional Trade and Exploration Consortium "Herah and Franklin's Dimensional Trading House".

Good Gaming, GaredBattlespike

[Aramanthus]

Very cool. Thank you for the information.

I missed that one since I have only been back as a regular again in the last month or so. I do not plan on leaving again.

Gaby, that would be a messed up world. It is almost going the other way in reality. Especially since the US is ranked something like 14th overall in our level of education when compared to the rest of the world. We need to get back to the top of the world's game.

[taalismn]

The Shore(alternate dimension)
“The Shore is as vast as the imagination and as intimate as a childhood memory. It is as imaginary as the hints of what lies behind the dunes and under the waters, and as real as the sand crunching and sliding beneath my feet. It speaks to me with the gentle sussing of waves against the sand, the calling of shorebirds, and the hissing of the wind through the dunes. I can read it in way the wind bends the grass, and the waves curl and mold the beach, though it hides its far reaches in fog. At best it is wrapped in a soft warm fuzzy glow, at worst it is lashed by the boiling black turmoil of thunderstorms. It is both ephemeral and eternal, a place of fleeting sandcastles and forever vistas, fixed in the mind’s eye but always changing. But one knows with certainty that the Shore is, was, and always will be.”
---Paul Wander Atchison

“I remember I used to fly among the stars, ready to fight, ready to kill. I won’t tell you the who, and the for who, because it no longer seems important. Only that then I died...there’s no other explanation, because combat in deep space...unless you’re picked up immediately, you’re lost out there, dead from so many things in the cold dark places...The next I remember I washed ashore and got pulled into the Lighthouse, with nothing to my name but my flightsuit and a few pieces of my ship that washed ashore. I’ve been here since, tending the Light.
The previous Keeper? He stayed around long enough to teach me how to work this place, then one morning he simply said it was time for him to go, and he left for parts unknown save only to himself, leaving the job to me. I got the impression that was how he got the job before me and how his predecessor turned over the keys to him.
I haven’t aged a day since I came here, so I’m in no hurry to retire any time soon. Especially not with what the sea and sand bring me. It brings me curiousities and treasures to amaze and delight. It brought me my wife, for which I am infinitely grateful. It has given me a close circle of friends, fellow beachcombers, sailors along the coastline, artists and madmen.
Will one day I and my wife grow tired of our stretch of Shore and, having found and trained a suitable replacement to tend the Lighthouse, wander off up or down the Shore, or trek inland, or take a boat into the open ocean? Perhaps; I cannot predict the future, but for now ours is a good life, along the Shore.”
---Drew Addis, Lighthouse Keeper along the Shore

“Sure, there have been those who figured to dominate the Shore for some reason or other....mainly foolishness...They figure it’s easy; just build a wall across it, stop people moving up and down the Shore. Been done more than a couple of times. Seen some impressive fortifications...until the sea undercut the waterfront portions and the dunes buried the inland sections. The rest just toppled after a while, thanks to the shifting sands, or it became too expensive to maintain for so little return; like seining the ocean for a handful of minnows.”
----Ethel Cathen, Beachcomber and Unofficial Historian of the Shore

“I’ll assume that since you’re still standing there, without a stitch of clothing on you, no sign of any transportation or personal possessions on you or nearby, and a very perplexed look on your face, that you are not simply a very pretty delusion conjured of my solitude-deranged mind, and that you are, in fact, a recent arrival to this Shore? You scan as human, so I’m further assuming you’re not a god-entity or monster in disguise. You have no immediate desire or plans to murder me? Oh good; that’s nice to know.
Well, since my beachcombing has yielded me ample food, water, and clothing, it seems to have now decided to provide me with companionship as well. I have water, food, and garments to spare if you wish to partake of any, and we can exchange information. You can tell me how you came to be here and what you’ve seen already, and I’ll tell you where you are and what to expect while we make our way along the beach. That sound fair to you? “
----An encounter along the Shore.

“Life’s a beach.”
---Common saying along the Shore.

The dimension known as ‘The Shore’ is a unusual alternate dimension that appears to be an interface or crossroads between other universes, while possessing a unique character all its own.
As its name indicates, the Shore is a seemingly infinite beach winding between a gray fog-shrouded sea and grassy dunes. Those venturing off the beach in either direction (more than 1d6x10 miles) will find their going increasingly difficult, impeded by thicker fog or stormy seas on the water, or by steeper geography and thicker vegetation inland, forcing them back to the beach...or transporting them via random rift to another universe. Flying up more than 2 miles will have the same effect; the flier will find themselves running into increasing turbulence and eventually a Rift. For the truly curious, tunneling down will not yield Rifts, but will eventually hit increasingly tough and ultimately impenetrable subterranean strata(most such tunneling efforts cease anyway due to the watertable encroaching).
The Shore is terrestrial in atmosphere, climate, and biology. The temperature varies from humid tropical to cold, near-arctic, without apparent rhyme or reason. The seawater is salty(and the inland water fresh and drinkable), and home to an ecology that is terrestrially compatible, but which has few large native predators. There are daily day and night cycles, enough sunlight for photosynthesis to take place, but the fog never completely dissipates, varying in density and visibility from several dozen miles to only a few feet. The weather is generally pleasantly breezy, but violent storms are common enough.
The Shore seems very dimensionally permeable and the beach a catchbasin of sorts of flotsam and jetsam from across the megaverse. Though vast swathes of the Shore may appear barren and devoid of anything of interest, some stretches are vast ships’ graveyards, or debris zones of detritus, some of it still alive.
There are actually some communities along the Shore; coastal commuities that live off fishing, ciastal farming, gleaning the beaches or engaging in dimensional trade, and there are also a number of lighthouses, established by parties unknown, but maintained by volunteers(or mystically recruited attendants). A few out-continiuum organizations and polities have established presences along the Shore, but few have been able to really do much with their toeholds along the Shore. More aggressive efforts to control stretches of the Shore have ended in disaster for those involved. A few businesses, mainly fisheries, salt harvesting, offshore petroleum drilling, and silica mining, are known to trade out-dimension, giving the communities of the Shore some extra income, but most trade is local, and the standard of living varies accordingly. Humans seem to be most common along the Shore, but communities and enclaves of elves, ogres, junk crabs, and sea dragons are also common.
The Shore is best known from the memoirs of Paul Wander Atchison, whose earliest memories of his life as a dimensional wanderer are of walking the Shore as an amnesiac, living off what he could find washed ashore.

Type of Dimension: Infinite

Size: Apparently infinite; some more advanced explorers have sent supersonic air transports flying along the Shore at low altitude for MONTHS without being able to discern any curvature(as might be expected from a planetary surface) or circumnavigational end to the Shore.

Primary Dimensional Medium:
*Water---The eternal ocean pounding on the Shore seems to be its primary medium.

Secondary Dimensional Medium:
* Sand/Earth---The secondary medium would be the Shore itself.

Density of Dimensional Fabric:
*Weak---The Shore is rather more permeable than average, but not vigorously so. Random rifts are not uncommon and there are certain points where rift activity is particularly common, but there are many thouand-mile stretches of the Shore that have never seen a dimensional rift at all. If the theory of it being an interface between two Elemental Realms is correct, the Shore can be used to more easily access the Water and Earth, and possibly the Air, Planes. +7% to attempts to Rift to it, +15% to Rift to the Water, Earth, and Air Elemental Planes from the Shore.

Magic Level:
*Intermediate---Ley lines cross or parallel parts of the Shore and there are occasional nexuses(these are often the center of dimensionally-trading communities.

Dimensional Energy Matrix:
* Negative

Time Flow:
*Normal Time Flow---Time flow seems to match up most of the rest of the megaverse, although travellers to the Shore report feeling a certain ‘timelessness’ , while others report that they apparently do not biologically age while traverseing the Shore(see below).

Dimensional Quirks:
* Timeless---Those who walk the Shore claim that the dimension confers a form of immortality on its residents, as long as they stay there.

Notes:
*Peaceful---The Shore seems preternaturally peaceful; despite the attempts of some castaways and would-be invaders to carve out empires along the Shore, something happens to prevent them from doing so. Thick fog rises and prevents gunmen from being able to accurately aim their weapons, sandstorms damage equipment, or, in the worst cases, massive storms arise to dimensionally displace or destroy entire invader encampments. Nobody knows who is responsible for these incidents, but some residents claim that the Shore is home to powerful Elemental Intelligences(particularly Air and Water, though some have claimed to see Earth in the dunes) that police the realm and keep it from being too developed or polluted.

The Shore by itself doesn’t have much to offer the more profit-driven dimensional adventurer, save as a transit way to other universes, or a respite from more violent alternities, but a beachcomber with some survival skills can make a good living off the Shore and find some interesting stuff washed ashore or buried in the dunes.

[glitterboy2098]

"the shore" sounds like it might be a good spot for trans-dimensional tourism..