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TimeWatch RPG Playtest Story Hour (Updated 9-2-14)
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<blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 6297373" data-attributes="member: 10689"><p><strong>Episode 2, Chapter 7: Title Track</strong></p><p></p><p>As it turns out, the general flow of traffic is going towards the Forum of Trajan anyway. The Forum is a huge plaza full of people, and at its center is Trajan's Column: a giant column covered in carved depictions of Trajan's triumphs. That's what we expected.</p><p></p><p>What we didn't expect is the green glow. </p><p></p><p>Our Geiger counters click wildly as we stare at the <em>glowing radioactive pillar</em> in the middle of Rome, with hundreds of people draped over it as they pray for healing miracles.</p><p></p><p>Michel doesn't think that it would be immediately dangerous to get a closer look, but knows that we really shouldn't to spend extended time near it. Fortunately, Michel is Prepared, and has a camera with a telephoto lens so that we don't have to get close to get a better look. Yves is likewise Prepared with some radiation-absorption materials, hidden in necklaces, so that we'll be safe even if we do go closer.</p><p></p><p>So with all of that Preparation, we go to study Trajan's column. Once we're closer, we can see that the glow is coming not from the stone itself - that's marble, just as it should be - but from a thin layer of paint over the marble. (Or, actually, a thin layer of paint over the paint. The base is white marble, but the carved figures are painted in bright colors. The radioactive paint is on top of that.)</p><p></p><p>The story told by the column's images is one of Trajan's conquest with lots of scenes depicting battles against bearded fur-clad barbarians. Near the end, Edward and Henry notice something that doesn't map onto their knowledge of Ancient History: there's a cave opening with large numbers of people going into it, then large numbers of barbarians being herded into it, then rocks being brought out of it. The rocks being brought out are painted with even more glow-paint than the surrounding carvings. </p><p></p><p>"Great," Edward groans. "They found a radioactivity mine."</p><p></p><p>The other main difference is in the inscription. It says that this column is to commemorate Trajan's great victory in the Lachian Wars. Our tethers tell us that it should be in honor of his victory in the <em>Dacian</em> Wars. Lachia is slightly west of Dacia, and much farther north - farther north on the Continent than the Roman Empire ever got in our timeline.</p><p></p><p>So we know that the Roman Empire is aiming farther north and farther east than it actually did. They haven't conquered Britannia or Gaul, but they have conquered Lachia Why? </p><p></p><p>Henry wonders if something happened with Julius Caesar. Clearly Trajan and Augustus exist, so Julius Caesar must have existed too, but why didn't he conquer Gaul?</p><p></p><p>Michel wonders, based on our previous mission and his interest in military things, if there are some differences in military technology that are making the Romans change their geographical focus. He knows that the military campaign that Trajan undertook in Lachia would mean much more mountain-climbing than the one in Dacia would have. But we can't spot anything on the column that stands out. Edward spots a few more depictions of Romans using Greek Fire on the barbarians than there should be, but there don't seem to be any tech advances that would help them climb mountains more easily, or anything else that stands out as anachronistic. Whatever the timetravelers did to change the timeline, it wasn't in the realm of military technology.</p><p></p><p>Next, Henry thinks geographically. The major anomaly that we're tracking is the use of radioactive material, so he wonders, "Where are there deposits of radioactive material in the Roman Empire?" </p><p></p><p>Michel checks, and discovers that in Europe, there is exactly one known mine that contains radioactive elements. It's in a town called Jachymov, in central Europe, and in our timeline, it was first mined in the mid-16th century - there's silver in it, too, and initially it was only mined for silver. It wasn't mined for radium until the late 19th century. That's where Marie Curie got her radium samples.</p><p></p><p>And, oh look, Jachymov is in Lachia. And it's definitely big enough to account for all of the radioactivity that we've seen.</p><p></p><p>So something turned the course of Roman conquest towards Lachia, and away from Britannia and Gaul.</p><p></p><p>Finally, Michel says, "I would like to go to the library and find the history of Julius Caesar's great defeat in Gaul."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ladybird, post: 6297373, member: 10689"] [b]Episode 2, Chapter 7: Title Track[/b] As it turns out, the general flow of traffic is going towards the Forum of Trajan anyway. The Forum is a huge plaza full of people, and at its center is Trajan's Column: a giant column covered in carved depictions of Trajan's triumphs. That's what we expected. What we didn't expect is the green glow. Our Geiger counters click wildly as we stare at the [i]glowing radioactive pillar[/i] in the middle of Rome, with hundreds of people draped over it as they pray for healing miracles. Michel doesn't think that it would be immediately dangerous to get a closer look, but knows that we really shouldn't to spend extended time near it. Fortunately, Michel is Prepared, and has a camera with a telephoto lens so that we don't have to get close to get a better look. Yves is likewise Prepared with some radiation-absorption materials, hidden in necklaces, so that we'll be safe even if we do go closer. So with all of that Preparation, we go to study Trajan's column. Once we're closer, we can see that the glow is coming not from the stone itself - that's marble, just as it should be - but from a thin layer of paint over the marble. (Or, actually, a thin layer of paint over the paint. The base is white marble, but the carved figures are painted in bright colors. The radioactive paint is on top of that.) The story told by the column's images is one of Trajan's conquest with lots of scenes depicting battles against bearded fur-clad barbarians. Near the end, Edward and Henry notice something that doesn't map onto their knowledge of Ancient History: there's a cave opening with large numbers of people going into it, then large numbers of barbarians being herded into it, then rocks being brought out of it. The rocks being brought out are painted with even more glow-paint than the surrounding carvings. "Great," Edward groans. "They found a radioactivity mine." The other main difference is in the inscription. It says that this column is to commemorate Trajan's great victory in the Lachian Wars. Our tethers tell us that it should be in honor of his victory in the [i]Dacian[/i] Wars. Lachia is slightly west of Dacia, and much farther north - farther north on the Continent than the Roman Empire ever got in our timeline. So we know that the Roman Empire is aiming farther north and farther east than it actually did. They haven't conquered Britannia or Gaul, but they have conquered Lachia Why? Henry wonders if something happened with Julius Caesar. Clearly Trajan and Augustus exist, so Julius Caesar must have existed too, but why didn't he conquer Gaul? Michel wonders, based on our previous mission and his interest in military things, if there are some differences in military technology that are making the Romans change their geographical focus. He knows that the military campaign that Trajan undertook in Lachia would mean much more mountain-climbing than the one in Dacia would have. But we can't spot anything on the column that stands out. Edward spots a few more depictions of Romans using Greek Fire on the barbarians than there should be, but there don't seem to be any tech advances that would help them climb mountains more easily, or anything else that stands out as anachronistic. Whatever the timetravelers did to change the timeline, it wasn't in the realm of military technology. Next, Henry thinks geographically. The major anomaly that we're tracking is the use of radioactive material, so he wonders, "Where are there deposits of radioactive material in the Roman Empire?" Michel checks, and discovers that in Europe, there is exactly one known mine that contains radioactive elements. It's in a town called Jachymov, in central Europe, and in our timeline, it was first mined in the mid-16th century - there's silver in it, too, and initially it was only mined for silver. It wasn't mined for radium until the late 19th century. That's where Marie Curie got her radium samples. And, oh look, Jachymov is in Lachia. And it's definitely big enough to account for all of the radioactivity that we've seen. So something turned the course of Roman conquest towards Lachia, and away from Britannia and Gaul. Finally, Michel says, "I would like to go to the library and find the history of Julius Caesar's great defeat in Gaul." [/QUOTE]
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TimeWatch RPG Playtest Story Hour (Updated 9-2-14)
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