Author Topic: Dresden Sci-Fi  (Read 2985 times)

Offline 123581321

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Dresden Sci-Fi
« on: March 22, 2014, 03:03:04 PM »
I had this crazy idea for the Dresden Files.

Anyway, I was thinking Dresden Files meets Firefly meets Cyberpunk meets A Canticle of Leibowitz meets Babylon 5 meets Alien.

There was this apocalypse. Some parts of humanity escaped and settled on a solar system. This solar system has a network of transversable wormholes leading two lots of other star systems, many with planets filled with alien "Precursor" ruins.

The various magical factions have managed to keep themselves hidden (only just barely). They each had their own starship tailored to their custom needs, which they kept isolated from the rest of the fleet. However, enough mortals know about the magical that there is a slight cold war going on. Both sides have to be careful. Plus, some humans are started to use "Precursor" technology, and they've started to get real weird . So there's an interesting three-way cold war going on.

My question is: How would this translate in the Nevernever. The WG and the angels and the fallen angels wouldn't have a problem, because they are tied to concepts of morality ethics. However, what about entities that are tied to the natural world like the Fay? I know that the Nevernever is the world of concepts and ideas where belief and conviction have the same force as the laws of physics. Any ideas?


Offline Blk4ce

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2014, 03:15:27 PM »
Alien Fae for the win. The current factions, Summer and Winter, meet the Fae of Twilight (draw inspiration from the Predator movies to model them) from the NeverNever part that is marooned on the planet Andromeda-15. And that sparks a civil war, since the newcomers want a piece of the cake.
(If you want a scientific explanation, the Earth dimension occupies the same space with the NeverNever, albeit in a different frequency. The destruction that happened in Earth leaked to the NeverNever, forcing everyone to migration)

Offline Taran

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2014, 03:54:26 PM »
The Nevernever is just a reflection of the Mortal world insn't it?

So the Nevernever in space is probably just an empty void as well, unless something significant happened in a particular place in time.

Other planets with their own species and cultures would have Fae and worlds that reflect that.  The Nevernever is so messed up that a place on earth or one on another planet might be very similar.

I see a worm-hole as Portals through the Nevernever anyways.  Just two points in space that resonate with the same "energy/nature"

Offline Ulfgeir

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2014, 05:58:41 PM »
Or maybe the cold darkness of space leaks into the nevernever and you find twisted versions of the normal fae. Fae that now are predatory, and utterly mad (hmm, it does sound like some of the nastier things from the winter court).

And maybe you get vampires of all kinds acting openly, preying on humans.

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Offline 123581321

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2014, 09:42:19 PM »
There's also going to be a bit of EVE Online and Deus Ex Human Revolution .

I guess the question gets down to what is the nature of the Nevernever? Does the Nevernever emerge from Human imagination (similar to the biological idea of emergence, or the economy of a nation)? Or does the physical world emerge from the Nevernever (similar to Neo-platonism)? Is it both?

Any physical extra-terrestrial intelligence (when I say physical extra-terrestrial intelligence, I am not referring to non-physical entities or higher dimensional beings such as angels, demons, or other entities from the Nevernever who did not originate on earth) is going to have a vastly. If the Nevernever is an emergent phenomenon, than the areas surrounding those ET sites is going to be filled with demesnes with vastly different regions that are non-hospitable to human life.

Also, what about the Fay? The Summer and Winter Courts are currently intimately tied to the climate of planet Earth. If humans have become spaceborne and inhabit another planet (or planets), than how will the Faeries adapt?

One cannot deny that the Nevernever does in many ways resemble aspects of the human imagination. I guess it's a "chicken and the egg" thing.


Offline 123581321

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2014, 09:48:30 PM »
I was also thinking about add A.I. into the setting. After all, in the Dresdenverse, almost all magic can screw up mortal technology. That means A.I.'s, and people who very necessary cybernetic or artificial mechanical organs, are going to be very wary of those magic user. After all, if you're an entity whose very life depends upon mortal technology, than you're going to be very suspicious of those "wizards" and "faeries", no matter how well-intentioned they may be. It'll add more drama.

So, any thoughts?

Offline Blk4ce

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2014, 10:24:19 PM »
If you set it many years in the future, it's possible that hexing no longer exists, remember that it's relatively a new phenomenon, 1000-1500 years ago it didn't exist, I think. So you could rule that the spaceships were powered by magic for example.

Offline blackstaff67

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2014, 01:58:43 PM »
cough cough *GURPS Technomancer* cough cough
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Offline 123581321

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2014, 03:06:14 AM »
True, but even non-wizards (like faeries) can still screw up mortal tech easily.

Offline Ophidimancer

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #9 on: March 24, 2014, 05:13:29 AM »
Also, what about the Fay? The Summer and Winter Courts are currently intimately tied to the climate of planet Earth. If humans have become spaceborne and inhabit another planet (or planets), than how will the Faeries adapt?

Badly.  You're right that the Winter and Summer Courts are tied to the natural cycles of the world, but you make a mistake if you think they are totally dependent on the world and not the other way around.  The Queens do not only reflect the seasonal cycle, they drive it.  In many ways, they provide the impetus for the natural cycles of birth and death, growth and decay.  If they world were somehow destroyed, whatever did it would have to go through the Courts first.

(click to show/hide)

The way I see it, you'd have the raggedy remains of both Courts tagging along with humans, almost entirely dependent on them.  The domovoi and other house spirits might be able to survive symbiotically with humans.  Perhaps the youngest Queens and the Knights might make it, being the most human.  The Wyldfae might also be flexible enough to adapt and survive, but from how the fae are described, I think their natures are mostly too stagnant and dependent on nature to adapt to spacefaring.

Offline Taran

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2014, 08:44:21 PM »
I see creatures of the Nevernever from other planets and, more importantly, from the void of space as being so alien that they could be very dangerous to humanity.

For whatever reason this is reminding me 40k and the Chaos gods .   Worm-holes are just gates into the Nevernever (or the Warp).  It's just like Travelling the Ways since They just connect 2 similarly attuned locations.  The Nevernever in space would be incredibly dangerous and alien.

Offline PirateJack

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2014, 07:54:07 AM »
For the Fae, I'd go with them being stuck on Earth for the most part, perhaps as strong as ever, perhaps not. The few that could make the trip through the interstellar void would then go on to found their own Courts, which would tie in to the climate of a new planet in a brand new Nevernever. There's a lot of fun to be had in this because the Fae would need a long time to get their power structure up and running, especially without any stone tables to sacrifice people on. They'd also have to breed new Changelings to make up their numbers, which is a lot slower than most supernatural species need to repopulate themselves.

So we'd see a very different power structure, where the Faerie Courts are among the lesser powers, but with huge growth potential. The vampire courts (Red obviously excluded) would be in prime position to become the big players in the new extra-solar society. The Black Court would find this especially good for them as all they'd need is a single vampire on a ship full of humans turn bring themselves back to pre-Stoker numbers.

As a side note, a while back I came up with an idea for a Dresden Files/Firefly crossover story where the White Court had founded the Companions Guild, Nicodemus was the head of the Alliance and Toot Toot was a Sidhe noble. I should really get around to writing that some time.
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Offline umdshaman

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2014, 01:53:08 AM »
DF is very ambiguous about the 'nature' of the universe but it is also very clear that the NeverNever is much more than just a reflection of the mortal realm. How you treat that is up to you. It doesn't really matter though, since you're stepping so far away from the source material. How do you WANT the NN to work?

Offline blackstaff67

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Re: Dresden Sci-Fi
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2014, 03:51:37 AM »
It's implied that the NN can take you to alternate worlds and kingdoms as well as being what it is.  Regarding that, I'm already threatening players (vaguely, albeit). 
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