[Torg] Nile Weirdness (was: Re: [Torg] other uses for Eternium)

[Chad Dickhaut]

--- On Wed, 1/14/09, ksjim at sdc.org <ksjim at sdc.org> wrote:

> If Eternium can be used to power technology that operates
> outside the boundaries of the Tech axiom, could it also be
> used in ways which operate outside the boundaries of the
> other axioms? Could it give the Nile spells and miracles
> above and beyond what its axioms normally allow? The Nile
> kind of does this already with its Nile Mathematics and
> Engineering spells and Egyptian Religion miracles, maybe the
> missing element (har) in those rulesets is that they require
> Eternium too?

That's certainly a valid way to approach things, and barring adding a new World Law to NE it's the most straightforward, internally-consistent solution.  I always went the WL route.  I think my last revision went something like this:

The Law of Weirdness
This law allows for tools to be built which exceed the Nile’s axiom levels, so long as those tools are cross-axiomatic.  That is, Weird Science gizmos have magical and spiritual components to them, irrespective of whether the creator of any given gizmo knows it (after all, where else would Mobius find an “alternate physics?”), and the advanced magical effects of Nile Engineering and Nile Mathematics must be filtered through a technological process (e.g. Mathematical formulae, mechanical/architectural engineering) that also incorporates aspects of Ancient Egyptian religion.  Weird Science and Pulp Powers support Tech effects up to Axiom 32 but require a Magic axiom of 10 and a Spiritual axiom of 13 {n.b.- these are where I placed NE's Magic and Spiritual axioms in my rewrite}, and Nile Mathematics and Nile Engineering support Magic effects up to Axiom 17 but require a Tech axiom of 21 and a Spiritual axiom of 13.

Additionally, the Nile Empire (like its parent cosm, Terra) is littered with hidden kingdoms which contain radically different cultures, such as the Kingdom of Prester John in Ethiopia, the Amazon stronghold in Libya, and so forth, where there may be serious local axiom shifts and (non-"Weird") magical and spiritual phenomena may be more copious.

-Chad