Repercussions
This is a short one. A note to myself more than anything. I just ran across this:
[He] knew from his limited reading on the subject that because of their longevity elves had built a society with a massive emphasis on conflict resolution. Something that made sense when he thought about it. For when you had to share a planet with another person for multiple centuries, the fewer hard feelings there were between you, the less likely it was for the whole of civilization to come crashing down.
Chmilenko, Luke. Starbreaker: Volume 3 (p. 445). Aetherworld Productions Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Taking something that’s pretty standard (elves live a long time) and pointing out the second or third order effects is quite unusual – and very obvious in retrospect.
Since I’m writing about Earth (and its entire universe) being integrated into a greater, and very old, multiverse, I need to keep these sorts of things in mind. What’s new and paradigm shifting for Earth (and its entire universe) is ancient history for everyone else.
I’ve already thought about it from the perspective of “if the system doesn’t want the new universe to be entirely overrun by the old, what advantages does it need to provide?”
I have not thought about it from the “what are the norms of the multiverse after all this has settled out?” perspective. Time to start.
On the bright side, as a practical problem it’s volumes (and at least years, if not forever) away. Multi-universal contact is (mostly) a problem for much, much later. I haven’t even written volume one, yet.
BTW: Starbreaker is very “lit” and light on the “rpg” part. There are levels (circles) and skills. There are even character sheets with numbers, but it’s very rare to see them (it requires a special skill). The “system” is entirely passive in the background – and might not even actually exist. I like it better than the RPG-heavy style, but it’s not the vibe I’m going for.
Marked Up 