Interstellar Portals

[Fardell]

The Interstellar Portals
Note: This thread for serious discussion only.


In the years after the sea level stablises at its current OTL level (soon after the beginning of the Holocene, maybe around 9000 BC), ASBs create 99 portals from Earth to similar* life**-bearing planets (or sattelites of planets) which orbit around all of the G, K and F type stars within 40 light years of the Solar System. See map below for portal locations (There may be less than 99 dots, in which case there may be more than one portal for some dots, and there may be some in Antarctica [which may well be discovered from the other side]).


The portals connect to the planets/sattelites in a similar ecological region and air pressure, the salinity levels of the water bodies the portals connect are also very similar. (Tropics-Tropics, temperate-temperate, air pressure the same both sides [with variences for weather systems], fresh water-fresh water, sea water-sea water connections)


On the planets on the other side there are more portals, also connecting to similar life-bearing planets within 40 Earth light years of the relevant system.


And so in like fashion there is a network of portals covering all the life-bearing planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, that are orbiting F, G and K type stars, though the maximum distance covered is 40 light years. (The minimum number of portals, and therefore worlds, between Earth and a planet 70000 light years away would be above 1750)


Soon after the creation of the portals, they are discovered by tribes that live nearby, and as the years, centuries and millenia pass, humanity spreads through the portals to the worlds beyond.
(There may be other sapient and technological species out there, but they may be over 500 light years away, or over 12 jumps from Earth)


As far as Europeans are concerned the first discovery of a portal is by Vikings as they explore the seas around Iceland. (Yes, a 'butterfly net' protects the progression of history in Eurasia, Africa north of the Sahara and Axum/Abyssinia, also allows for recognisable Mayan and Peruvian civilisations. The Iceland portal connecting to an undiscovered remote region on the other side.)


Let's discuss!

[Ward]

Think of the Collonies the Euripean nations would have by 1920

[admkenshin]

The portal in Japan is near Edo, a small fishing village, so it would probably not be discovered (except by fishermen, it will be a local legend), until the Tokugawa Shogunate move there, and by then Japan is isolated. Of course, this relies on european history developing the same until the 16th century, which it would probably not do if knowledge of the Iceland portal became widespread.

The portals in SE Asia might be investigated (there would be legends, much shipping in those areas), by Zheng He in the 15th century, or by chinese merchants even earlier.

[Mike Stearns]

So, this is basically Stargate, but without the Gou'ald?

[Codae]

I think that the Iceland portal might avoid really impacting Europe much. Assuming it doesn't connect to anywhere nice, the Vikings might just poke around in there a bit, and then sail on to Greenland and Vinland.

There, we might find cool stuff happening. The Vikings might establish colonies that, with (possibly) fewer natives, could survive the Little Ice Age. If there's something worth keeping on the other side, we could see isolated Nords maintaining their own nations on various planets.

However, the Amerindians are going to multiply and spread throughout this area of the galaxy, and so are the Africans...

They might find worthwhile crops that can help them support even more than just a couple thousand planets would...

Meanwhile, In Europe, they'll find the Gambian and Verdean portals, meaning that, instead of two ways to go exploring (East and West), there will be four (East, West, Portal1, and Portal2). This could significantly delay the discovery of the Americas, since, instead of one of two directly finding them and the other one indirectly finding them, one of four will directly find them, another one will (maybe) indirectly find them, and the other two won't find them.

And, in the Indian Ocean basin, there will be even more exploration of the portals, with a higher population and greater travel capabilities.

This is just so cool.

[oscarzoalaster]

The Interstellar Portals
Note: This thread for serious discussion only.


Good.



In the years after the sea level stablises at its current OTL level (soon after the beginning of the Holocene, maybe around 9000 BC), ASBs create 99 portals from Earth to similar* life**-bearing planets (or sattelites of planets) which orbit around all of the G, K and F type stars within 40 light years of the Solar System.


'Life-bearing' can mean quite a few different things. You mention a 'butterfly net' keeping the history of Europe and North Africa somewhat similar. If the 99 'life-bearing' worlds are as teeming with life as Earth is there will be lots of alien life that spreads across Earth, just as Earth life spreads across a lot of alien worlds. This would cause far too much change for even a milspec butterfly net to suppress cultural and historical changes.

But, if the 'Rare Earth Hypothesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_Hypothesis)' there may be a lot of habitable worlds without advanced life. The portal from Earth opens up and advanced life starts colonizing 'the new world'. The other worlds with native advanced life are too far away for alien life to produce much in the way of historical changes on Earth. And the humans venturing into the portals find worlds with somewhat similar ecologies, although those ecologies may be adapting to some non-earthlike day lengths, gravity, air pressure, and so on. (Additionally, some of the habitable worlds would be only partially habitable - a planet whose equatorial regions have a climate like Sweden, or one whose arctic is like Florida, and so on.)

And if the original opening of the portals on Earth was millions of years ago the worlds that were seeded through the portals will have had plenty of opportunity to evolve their own unique (but not too unique) plants and animals. Then, after a few million years the portals shut down and waited for an intelligent species to evolve. (In this variation of the scenario there might be a world teeming with native life that was used to seed 99+ worlds (and subsequently other worlds) that has not yet developed an intelligent species.) [Addendum: It would, of course, be way cool if the portals had opened several different times, to different worlds, seeding the planets with life from multiple different eras.]



See map below for portal locations (There may be less than 99 dots, in which case there may be more than one portal for some dots, and there may be some in Antarctica [which may well be discovered from the other side]).


I'm afraid some of those red dots were very hard for me to see.


The portals connect to the planets/sattelites in a similar ecological region and air pressure, the salinity levels of the water bodies the portals connect are also very similar. (Tropics-Tropics, temperate-temperate, air pressure the same both sides [with variences for weather systems], fresh water-fresh water, sea water-sea water connections)


The Iceland and Greenland portals may go to some place more inhabitable. It would be amusing if the 'Beyond Greenland' colony became the largest Norse population because of the immensely fertile unpopulated lands that the Greenland portal leads to.



On the planets on the other side there are more portals, also connecting to similar life-bearing planets within 40 Earth light years of the relevant system.


And presumably also connecting to other worlds that have a portal to Earth? That way a group of heroic 'Ainu' mercenaries can assist an 'Iroquois' society that encounters an expansionistic 'Bushman' Empire under an alien sky....



And so in like fashion there is a network of portals covering all the life-bearing planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, that are orbiting F, G and K type stars, though the maximum distance covered is 40 light years. (The minimum number of portals, and therefore worlds, between Earth and a planet 70000 light years away would be above 1750)


I would suggest slightly expanding that to include any M or other class stars that has a potentially habitable planet that would prosper if seeded with terrestrial life. (A habitable world orbiting a B class star might have a 'year' a century long....and a habitable world orbiting an M class star might have a 'year' two or three months long. Both of which could be pretty cool to visit, and an interesting challenge for Earth-life to adapt to.)



Soon after the creation of the portals, they are discovered by tribes that live nearby, and as the years, centuries and millenia pass, humanity spreads through the portals to the worlds beyond.
(There may be other sapient and technological species out there, but they may be over 500 light years away, or over 12 jumps from Earth)


So intelligent aliens are assumed to be 'close enough to be a future plot device', but not close enough that 'they are a plot device in this episode/novel'.



As far as Europeans are concerned the first discovery of a portal is by Vikings as they explore the seas around Iceland. (Yes, a 'butterfly net' protects the progression of history in Eurasia, Africa north of the Sahara and Axum/Abyssinia, also allows for recognisable Mayan and Peruvian civilisations. The Iceland portal connecting to an undiscovered remote region on the other side.)


The Iceland (and later the Greenland) portals would probably be thought of as 'barbaric legends' by most Europeans. But Eric the Red and other Viking Entrepaneurs would simply say that they are mounting an expedition to a 'rich well-watered land, teeming with fish, game, forests, and good farmland'. Seeing the portal would be awe-inspiring to the colonists, but as long as they reach the land they were promised they will be happy - and send for their relatives.

The Mayans would be expanding through at least one portal by the time that the Spanish show up in the Carribean (and probably long before).



Let's discuss!


Comments please? Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Codae]

Hmm...

Judging by Wikipedia, Europeans reached Cape Verde before the Gambia...

Which means that, perhaps, the first European interstellar foray of the Renaissance could be conducted without a guide...

And maybe Diogo Gomes would not return...

However, the enormous timeframe of this, and the vast possibilities, make the timeline for this quite difficult, even with the butterfly net. It is entirely conceivable--and likely--that there will be an alt-Europe somewhere that, though settled only around 8500 BC or so, could reach or surpass Europe. Europe is just a backwater; its only connections to the rest of the galaxy are the Iceland portal (which is isolated and cold) and its mundane connections (which are blocked by the butterfly net).

[Hnau]

There are 65 portals in the Americas, and 26 elsewhere.

(There may be other sapient and technological species out there, but they may be over 500 light years away, or over 12 jumps from Earth)

Still, if there are sentient species at a modern technological level or more at 9000 BCE, they'll expand like crazy. Somewhere out in the Galaxy, with so many habitable worlds, the chance of a post-Singularity civilization is crazily likely. The entire network will be filled with such a civilization, depending on their nature. The same with ecologies... there is likely to be one out there that is so efficient that it will cover the entire network by 11000 years later.

The inclusion of such factors in your timeline makes it impossible to predict.

They might find worthwhile crops that can help them support even more than just a couple thousand planets would...

Definitely. They might find a Fertile Crescent better than our own, accelerating the increase of civilization and technology on that world.

[oscarzoalaster]

Hmm...
Judging by Wikipedia, Europeans reached Cape Verde before the Gambia...
Which means that, perhaps, the first European interstellar foray of the Renaissance could be conducted without a guide...


The first two European forays would be Iceland and Greenland. The settlement of Iceland began in 874 CE, and the settlement of Greenland began in 984 CE. Paleo-Eskimos may have reached the Greenland portal and settled the region beyond it, so the Norse may not find an unpopulated land there.



And maybe Diogo Gomes would not return...


Or may be he would, with fabulous stories and fabulous wealth.



However, the enormous timeframe of this, and the vast possibilities, make the timeline for this quite difficult, even with the butterfly net. It is entirely conceivable--and likely--that there will be an alt-Europe somewhere that, though settled only around 8500 BC or so, could reach or surpass Europe.


Indeed there could be!



Europe is just a backwater;


For most of history Europe, particularly northern Europe, was a backwater. The Romans would have laughed if someone were to tell them that their settlement on Britain would someday be the capital of a worldwide empire and rule at least a quarter of humanity. And yet that backwater did do exactly that for a time. That Europe is even more clearly a backwater does not make it irrelevant....



its only connections to the rest of the galaxy are the Iceland portal (which is isolated and cold) and its mundane connections (which are blocked by the butterfly net).


If the butterfly net keeps European/North African/Mediterranean history 'essentially the same' until 1500 Europe will almost certainly end up with access to the Cape Verde portal, the Iceland and Greenland portals, several other African portals, and some southern Asian portals. And some of those portals will have other portals near the exit on another world. Europe will expand.... (Also, on a lot of worlds the 'really good stuff' will be as far away from the portal as 'the good stuff' is from any particular point on Earth. Sailing halfway – or more – around 'the world' will frequently be required.



There are 65 portals in the Americas, and 26 elsewhere.


You have sharper eyes than I do! I think the original post also mentioned that a few of the red spots indicated two portals too close to each other to be shown separately at that resolution.



Still, if there are sentient species at a modern technological level or more at 9000 BCE, they'll expand like crazy.


The key word there is 'if'.



Somewhere out in the Galaxy, with so many habitable worlds, the chance of a post-Singularity civilization is crazily likely. The entire network will be filled with such a civilization, depending on their nature.


This assumes, of course, that the likelihood of a 'post-singularity civilization' is significant at all. If tool-using intelligent species are very very very rare, and 'high-tech' civilizations similarly rare, there could be a lot of unoccupied worlds out there.
(It would be amusing if many many worlds had been occupied by one, or more, high tech civilizations. They each eventually found other things to do and left behind lots of enigmatic ruins, machinery, and heavily bio-engineered ecologies.)



The same with ecologies... there is likely to be one out there that is so efficient that it will cover the entire network by 11000 years later.


I disagree here. There will be plants, animals, and microbes, that are very very successful, but not an ecology as a whole. Some things will survive and adapt to the invading species – and some will adapt very well. But often a characteristic that makes a species very efficient in one environment will not work so well in another environment. Additionally, a tropical species might spread through lots and lots of tropical portals, but will not be spreading through the non-tropical portals – or through portals on the other side of that particular world. There will be lots of disconnected ecological reasons – at least as many as there are on Earth.



The inclusion of such factors in your timeline makes it impossible to predict.


Indeed it does, but it is still fun to try.



Definitely. They might find a Fertile Crescent better than our own, accelerating the increase of civilization and technology on that world.


There might be several such places. But, noticing them depends a lot on the viewpoint and tools folks arrive with. Hunter-gatherers who invent agriculture there are going to do very well. But immigrants who arrive with a sophisticated agriculture of their own might miss most of the domesticable plants and animals.
Additionally, even if some humans do find a world with an ecology and resources that are wonderful for developing a robust civilization, that world may be a long way away. (Imagine Asian hunter-gatherers who travel through a succession of four portals and to the far end of two 'Eurasia size' continents before discovering 'Happy Valley'. Once they develop civilization they may create trade networks that reach all the way back to Asia (and consequently to Europe) – but they will have so many different portals to choose from in expanding themselves that they are unlikely to reach all the way back to Earth for quite a while.

[Hnau]

'Life-bearing' can mean quite a few different things. You mention a 'butterfly net' keeping the history of Europe and North Africa somewhat similar. If the 99 'life-bearing' worlds are as teeming with life as Earth is there will be lots of alien life that spreads across Earth, just as Earth life spreads across a lot of alien worlds. This would cause far too much change for even a milspec butterfly net to suppress cultural and historical changes.

I concur. I do not mean this offensively, but the OP needs to be changed to be taken seriously.

But, if the 'Rare Earth Hypothesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_Hypothesis)' there may be a lot of habitable worlds without advanced life. The portal from Earth opens up and advanced life starts colonizing 'the new world'. The other worlds with native advanced life are too far away for alien life to produce much in the way of historical changes on Earth.

I like this idea. But, what if all planets in the Galaxy are terraformed to be Earth-like? That way you don't have to spend so much time inventing alien ecologies.

(Additionally, some of the habitable worlds would be only partially habitable - a planet whose equatorial regions have a climate like Sweden, or one whose arctic is like Florida, and so on.)

I disagree. Planets have to have enough of an ocean to produce an oxygen-rich atmosphere to make it habitable. That ocean can't be too hot or too cold. This Sweden-is-the-warmest Planet would have too much ice and would be too cold for enough plants to produce enough of an atmosphere for the entire planet. Arctic Florida would be such a warm planet that the equatorial regions would boil away the oceans and create a Venusian atmosphere.

And if the original opening of the portals on Earth was millions of years ago the worlds that were seeded through the portals will have had plenty of opportunity to evolve their own unique (but not too unique) plants and animals. Then, after a few million years the portals shut down and waited for an intelligent species to evolve.

This is the best option, in my opinion.

The Iceland and Greenland portals may go to some place more inhabitable.

The OP states that the climate on either side of a portal matches one another.

So intelligent aliens are assumed to be 'close enough to be a future plot device', but not close enough that 'they are a plot device in this episode/novel'.

You and your story-centric philosophy... :)

This assumes, of course, that the likelihood of a 'post-singularity civilization' is significant at all. If tool-using intelligent species are very very very rare, and 'high-tech' civilizations similarly rare, there could be a lot of unoccupied worlds out there.

True. Its just that the OP states a sapient ET species every 500 light-years. That's not extremely common, but common enough... there's a lot of ways around this problem.

[oscarzoalaster]

[snip]
But, if the 'Rare Earth Hypothesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_Hypothesis)' [is used] there may be a lot of habitable worlds without advanced life. The portal from Earth opens up and advanced life starts colonizing 'the new world'. The other worlds with native advanced life are too far away for alien life to produce much in the way of historical changes on Earth.

I like this idea. But, what if all planets in the Galaxy are terraformed to be Earth-like? That way you don't have to spend so much time inventing alien ecologies.

And for that you can plunder various terrestrial ecologies for ideas.



(Additionally, some of the habitable worlds would be only partially habitable - a planet whose equatorial regions have a climate like Sweden, or one whose arctic is like Florida, and so on.)

I disagree. Planets have to have enough of an ocean to produce an oxygen-rich atmosphere to make it habitable. That ocean can't be too hot or too cold. This Sweden-is-the-warmest Planet would have too much ice and would be too cold for enough plants to produce enough of an atmosphere for the entire planet. Arctic Florida would be such a warm planet that the equatorial regions would boil away the oceans and create a Venusian atmosphere.

Even with most of the free oxygen coming from the ocean I think an 'equatorial Sweden' planet could exist just fine. Suppose this planet has two continents, one a 'gondwanaland' size thing that straddles the North Pole. The other is an Australia size island on the Equator. The 'Gondwana Continent' has a huge icecap, and the 'Equitralia' continent has mountain glaciers. There would be a floating ice cap on the South Pole, but ocean currents break it up outside the Antarctic Circle.

For 'Arctic Florida' the issue is 'how much hotter it is at the Equator'. A planet whose largest landmasses are Greenland, Madagascar, Cuba, and Borneo size islands would have a lot more water circulation between the tropics and the poles. I suspect that such a planet could be pretty warm overall without risking a 'runaway greenhouse effect'.

Additionally, the effects of life on a planet can provide a lot of regulation for the climate. I suspect that some worlds that start to have problems from being 'too hot' or 'too cold' may develop ecologies that prevent those excessive cumulative effects.



And if the original opening of the portals on Earth was millions of years ago the worlds that were seeded through the portals will have had plenty of opportunity to evolve their own unique (but not too unique) plants and animals. Then, after a few million years the portals shut down and waited for an intelligent species to evolve.

This is the best option, in my opinion.

<grin> I'm glad you like it.



The Iceland and Greenland portals may go to some place more inhabitable.

The OP states that the climate on either side of a portal matches one another.

Yup. But the habitability of Iceland, Greenland, and Sweden are a bit different from each other, although all are at the same latitude. And the habitability of the adjacent lands, or waters, varies even more. (And when the effects of geology and biology are added in the variance can be even greater.)
Also, each of these worlds will have different length years, and will each be at different points in their years when the portals link them. The Greenland colony could have benefitted a great deal from having 'a summer' available during the Greenland winter. With the right combination of characteristics they might be able to move from fall to spring/summer/fall to summer/fall, to spring/summer/fall, and so on for quite a few 'years' before they actually have to put up with winter fulltime.



So intelligent aliens are assumed to be 'close enough to be a future plot device', but not close enough that 'they are a plot device in this episode/novel'.

You and your story-centric philosophy... file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/CHRIST%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image001.gif

Yes indeed! All imaginary worlds are constructed to tell a story. If you know what sort of story you want to tell you have some clues about what kind of imaginary world to create.



This assumes, of course, that the likelihood of a 'post-singularity civilization' is significant at all. If tool-using intelligent species are very very very rare, and 'high-tech' civilizations similarly rare, there could be a lot of unoccupied worlds out there.

True. Its just that the OP states a sapient ET species every 500 light-years. That's not extremely common, but common enough... there's a lot of ways around this problem.

The original quote was:
"(There may be other sapient and technological species out there, but they may be over 500 light years away, or over 12 jumps from Earth)"
That is not an assertion that there _are_ sapient species every '500 light years', only that there may be. And since we've been suggesting scenario modifications (legitimate and interesting ones, whether or not the original poster is inclined to agree with them) we can certainly suggest a paucity of other intelligences across the Milky Way. (Although, if some of the early hominids went through a portal...or if a descendant of an introduced terrestrial species becomes sapient...things could get interesting.) Besides, I'm real fond of the idea of vast amount of habitable territory being 'within walking distance'. [hmmm..... If you could catch a ferry to take you through each portal, and otherwise walked from portal to portal you could – if you lived long enough – walk from one end of the galaxy to the other.]

[Fardell]

But, if the 'Rare Earth Hypothesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_Hypothesis)' there may be a lot of habitable worlds without advanced life. The portal from Earth opens up and advanced life starts colonizing 'the new world'. The other worlds with native advanced life are too far away for alien life to produce much in the way of historical changes on Earth. And the humans venturing into the portals find worlds with somewhat similar ecologies, although those ecologies may be adapting to some non-earthlike day lengths, gravity, air pressure, and so on. (Additionally, some of the habitable worlds would be only partially habitable - a planet whose equatorial regions have a climate like Sweden, or one whose arctic is like Florida, and so on.)

That makes sense. The life close to the portal would be familiar.
Additionally, there would be worlds where the gravity is significantly higher or lower (due to the world being bigger or smaller than Earth), or with higher or lower air pressures (The Great Lakes and/or the Lake Victoria/Malawi portals could lead to locations very high above sea level or below sea level)...


And if the original opening of the portals on Earth was millions of years ago the worlds that were seeded through the portals will have had plenty of opportunity to evolve their own unique (but not too unique) plants and animals. Then, after a few million years the portals shut down and waited for an intelligent species to evolve. (In this variation of the scenario there might be a world teeming with native life that was used to seed 99+ worlds (and subsequently other worlds) that has not yet developed an intelligent species.) [Addendum: It would, of course, be way cool if the portals had opened several different times, to different worlds, seeding the planets with life from multiple different eras.]

That would definitely be cool. The portals open (and close) many times seeding other worlds with Earth life from many different eras, before they open soon after the beginning of the Holocene.



I'm afraid some of those red dots were very hard for me to see.

If I had made the dots any bigger I'd be running the risk of occluding some geographical features. (maybe 6 pixels instead of 4?)



The Iceland and Greenland portals may go to some place more inhabitable. It would be amusing if the 'Beyond Greenland' colony became the largest Norse population because of the immensely fertile unpopulated lands that the Greenland portal leads to.

ndeed.
Of course it may be tundra or, an alpine environment (would be possible to have ocean-level salinity in a lake that is in a Tibet-like region.). Or it may have a similar climate to Finland.



And presumably also connecting to other worlds that have a portal to Earth? That way a group of heroic 'Ainu' mercenaries can assist an 'Iroquois' society that encounters an expansionistic 'Bushman' Empire under an alien sky....

Definitely. All the worlds that connect with Earth, will also connect with other worlds that connect to Earth, as long as that other world is within 40 light years of the world in question.
There can be 'Ainu' mercenaries assisting 'Iroquois' societies against expansionistic 'Bushman' empires...


I would suggest slightly expanding that to include any M or other class stars that has a potentially habitable planet that would prosper if seeded with terrestrial life. (A habitable world orbiting a B class star might have a 'year' a century long....and a habitable world orbiting an M class star might have a 'year' two or three months long. Both of which could be pretty cool to visit, and an interesting challenge for Earth-life to adapt to.)

I will think about that. It would certainly expand the story possibilities some.


So intelligent aliens are assumed to be 'close enough to be a future plot device', but not close enough that 'they are a plot device in this episode/novel'.

Yes


The Iceland (and later the Greenland) portals would probably be thought of as 'barbaric legends' by most Europeans. But Eric the Red and other Viking Entrepaneurs would simply say that they are mounting an expedition to a 'rich well-watered land, teeming with fish, game, forests, and good farmland'. Seeing the portal would be awe-inspiring to the colonists, but as long as they reach the land they were promised they will be happy - and send for their relatives.

The Mayans would be expanding through at least one portal by the time that the Spanish show up in the Carribean (and probably long before).


I can see Viking Entrepaneurs doing this. 'There is this land flowing with milk and honey, but you have to come with us to find it”



The Mayans would indeed be expanding through at least one portal, at least centuries before the Spanish show up in the Caribbean (if they do, they might go elsewhere). They might work out the astronomical implications before the Europeans too...

[oscarzoalaster]

[snip]
Additionally, there would be worlds where the gravity is significantly higher or lower (due to the world being bigger or smaller than Earth), or with higher or lower air pressures (The Great Lakes and/or the Lake Victoria/Malawi portals could lead to locations very high above sea level or below sea level)...


Yup. A portal might have a sea-level presence on this side of the portal, but exit into a high-altitude salt-lake on the other side. Or any of a number of things. That the two sides are 'similar' does not preclude quite a few significant differences.



That would definitely be cool. The portals open (and close) many times seeding other worlds with Earth life from many different eras, before they open soon after the beginning of the Holocene.


The worlds would still be quite divergent, for example the arctic life in one world might all be descended from Eocene tropical African life, and on another world it might be descended from Miocene tropical South American life. Their separate tempering by different planetary environments would further diverge these two examples, but they would both remain 'variations upon a known theme'.



If I had made the dots any bigger I'd be running the risk of occluding some geographical features. (maybe 6 pixels instead of 4?)


So it goes. I think it would be fine to bring them up to 7 or 8 pixels. If someone later needs a truly detailed map that bridge can be crossed then.



[snip] Of course it may be tundra or, an alpine environment (would be possible to have ocean-level salinity in a lake that is in a Tibet-like region.). Or it may have a similar climate to Finland.


Yup. And the seasons are not going to be the same (synchronous or length) as Earth's, even if it is, in aggregate, 'similar'.



Definitely. All the worlds that connect with Earth, will also connect with other worlds that connect to Earth, as long as that other world is within 40 light years of the world in question.
There can be 'Ainu' mercenaries assisting 'Iroquois' societies against expansionistic 'Bushman' empires...


Oh goody!



[snip] I can see Viking Entrepaneurs doing this. 'There is this land flowing with milk and honey, but you have to come with us to find it”


Yup!



The Mayans would indeed be expanding through at least one portal, at least centuries before the Spanish show up in the Caribbean (if they do, they might go elsewhere). They might work out the astronomical implications before the Europeans too...


I can imagine one 'Postmayan' commenting to another that the iron weapons and tools these strangers have are pretty darn cool - but they are otherwise so stupid they think they are still on Earth, and don't understand they are outside the solar system!

[Fardell]

Think of the Collonies the Euripean nations would have by 1920

Indeed, there would be absolutely lots. Most of the European nations would be severely overstretched by that time.

There would be many former colonies as well, and at least some of those would have colonies of their own...

[Fardell]

The portal in Japan is near Edo, a small fishing village, so it would probably not be discovered (except by fishermen, it will be a local legend), until the Tokugawa Shogunate move there, and by then Japan is isolated. Of course, this relies on european history developing the same until the 16th century, which it would probably not do if knowledge of the Iceland portal became widespread.

The portals in SE Asia might be investigated (there would be legends, much shipping in those areas), by Zheng He in the 15th century, or by chinese merchants even earlier.

Well, Ainu would be going to and fro through the portal, before any other groups arrive.

There would be legends concerning the portal during the early years of the Japanese Empire, but they might be ignored. Until the Tokugawa Shogunate moves there. But what happens then, when Japan is isolated... Would an isolated Japan be willing to explore through this portal?

[oscarzoalaster]

Indeed, there would be absolutely lots. Most of the European nations would be severely overstretched by that time.


I expect that several European nations (and perhaps other nations) will have fought wars over access to a portal. The size of the portals is not specified, but I doubt that it is much larger than the Straits of Gibraltar or the English Channel, and probably smaller. As naval and other technology advances it would become possible for a country controlling a portal to deny entry to those ships it does not want to allow to go through.



There would be many former colonies as well, and at least some of those would have colonies of their own...


Sort of like the Viceroyalty of New Spain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroyalty_of_New_Spain) having responsibility for the Philippines, but with greater distances (although perhaps not as great in terms of travel time).



Well, Ainu would be going to and fro through the portal, before any other groups arrive.


And that would not be the only place in the world where one group travels through the portal and then loses control over their origin point. There may be quite a few branches of humanity out there....



There would be legends concerning the portal during the early years of the Japanese Empire, but they might be ignored. Until the Tokugawa Shogunate moves there. But what happens then, when Japan is isolated... Would an isolated Japan be willing to explore through this portal?


I would assume so. Particularly if a few tentative expeditions reveal no serious competitors 'beyond the rainbow'. (The Ainu descendants may have become formidable, but the center of their civilization could easily be a long ways away.)

[Fardell]

Discovery of the Verdean Portal
The Portuguese ship stood off near the strange formation in the ocean, that they had just discovered. The captain of the ship was wondering whether to take the ship into the strange formation, that looked like a whirlpool miles across. Except that part of the island nearby also extended down into the formation. “What do you think Captain? Should we take the ship in?” the first mate asked.
“Aye, we take her in, see what may be causing it” Diego Gomes said, as he continued to look at the formation. The first mate gave orders to take the ship into the formation, slowly.
As the ship moved down into the formation, they noticed something strange. That no matter how far into the formation that the ship moved, that it still seemed like they were going on straight ocean. The angle of things falling relative to the ship stayed the same!
They went further in, and looked at the centre of the formation. Where they saw more water and land curving further around. Making sure to sail on the opposite side from the land, the ship went into the centre, which appeared to be well over a mile across! Then they saw on the other side of the centre, not a sudden end to the formation, but sky! Many of the crew looked back. The mid day sky, with the sun shining nearly overhead, almost directly astern the ship. They looked forwards. Sky, a slightly different colour, but sky nonetheless. They continued forwards, thinking that to go back without investigating what might be on the other side of whatever it was, would be cowardice. It was similar to northern legends of 'doorways' near Iceland and Greenland, the captain recalled.
As the ship moved through the centre of the formation, they noticed themselves getting slightly lighter. Not too much so, just a pound or too, also some things falling slightly slower.
And so the ship passed through and then found themselves in an area similar to the other side, the ocean reflected the off colour of the sky. The ship went forwards, along side the land, and over 1 hour after entering the formation they came out onto the flat ocean. The horizon seemed closer than usual, and the moon just over it was at least the half the size of the one they were used to. The land continued to either side of the formation, in a more or less straight line. The trees looked similar to those on the island on the other side.
“Where are we Captain?” the first mate asked.
“Lets find out!” the Captain said, as he looked at the unknown land.



To be continued.

[Sam]

Think of the Collonies the Euripean nations would have by 1920

Think of the imperial overstretch.

[Valdemar II]

With all the alternative Human groups out where, there's one scenario which has been forgotten, that 11000 years is enough time to evolve seriously differencies, if we go 11000 years back most North Europeans looked something like this http://www.livius.org/a/1/cornelis_de_bruijn/cornelis_de_bruijn_samojede.JPG , 11000 years could create some quite interesting offshot of Humanity.

[oscarzoalaster]

With all the alternative Human groups out where, there's one scenario which has been forgotten, that 11000 years is enough time to evolve seriously differencies,


Yes indeed. Lots of 'founder effects' as various tribes wander off in various directions. Differences in gravity, air pressure, and other planetary characteristics would also produce 'unearthly' selection pressures. Alien life, if any is encountered, would do the same.



if we go 11000 years back most North Europeans looked something like this http://www.livius.org/a/1/cornelis_de_bruijn/cornelis_de_bruijn_samojede.JPG , 11000 years could create some quite interesting offshot of Humanity.


I've got nephews and nieces who look like him! Mi Familia!

Humans growing up on a lower gravity planet will probably tend to be taller, and those growing up in heavier gravity will probably tend to be shorter and more muscular. And so on.

[Caesar]

Would someone mind making a map with the red dots more visible, because I can't see any of them for some reason.

[oscarzoalaster]

Discovery of the Verdean Portal
The Portuguese ship stood off near the strange formation in the ocean, that they had just discovered. The captain of the ship was wondering whether to take the ship into the strange formation, that looked like a whirlpool miles across. Except that part of the island nearby also extended down into the formation.


I had not understood the diagram that opened this thread until I read this. Clearly the captain grasps that this is not actually a whirlpool. I imagine there are waves and swells coming out/going in. Perhaps wind. And birds. Lots and lots of birds. And quite possibly whales. If they are seeing whales swim in and out they will feel fairly confident that a ship can sail. I can easily imagine that the Captain would want to land on the far side of the island and walk around to the strange distorted/whirlpool area, and then sail into it. Just to be sure, after all it is a pretty darn strange sight.



[snip] As the ship moved down into the formation, they noticed something strange. That no matter how far into the formation that the ship moved, that it still seemed like they were going on straight ocean. The angle of things falling relative to the ship stayed the same!
They went further in, and looked at the centre of the formation. Where they saw more water and land curving further around. Making sure to sail on the opposite side from the land, the ship went into the centre, which appeared to be well over a mile across! Then they saw on the other side of the centre, not a sudden end to the formation, but sky! Many of the crew looked back. The mid day sky, with the sun shining nearly overhead, almost directly astern the ship. They looked forwards. Sky, a slightly different colour, but sky nonetheless. They continued forwards, thinking that to go back without investigating what might be on the other side of whatever it was, would be cowardice.


There would be a point in their sailing into the portal that they would see ocean for a short distance behind them, cutting sharply off so that the sky of Earth appears to be directly behind them, while above them they see ocean (or in this case, upside down land). In front of them they also see ocean for a short distance, and then an alien sky directly in front of them. (This would be particularly dramatic if it is night on the alien planet at that time.)



It was similar to northern legends of 'doorways' near Iceland and Greenland, the captain recalled.


I would love to hear one of those legends.



As the ship moved through the centre of the formation, they noticed themselves getting slightly lighter. Not too much so, just a pound or too, also some things falling slightly slower.


I think that they would probably initially notice the lower gravity as a strange feeling of optimism. They feel stronger, less burdened with their aches and pains. A bit later they would notice things falling slower. (Unless this world has quite a bit lower gravity.)



And so the ship passed through and then found themselves in an area similar to the other side, the ocean reflected the off colour of the sky. The ship went forwards, along side the land, and over 1 hour after
entering the formation they came out onto the flat ocean. The horizon seemed closer than usual, and the moon just over it was at least the half the size of the one they were used to. The land continued to either side of the formation, in a more or less straight line. The trees looked similar to those on the island on the other side.
“Where are we Captain?” the first mate asked.
“Lets find out!” the Captain said, as he looked at the unknown land.


It will take them awhile to fully realize the differences. They will reflexively try to shoehorn their new experiences into the categories and relationships that they had been used to. Because of the strangeness of the situation and their comparatively superstitious acculturation they are susceptible to seeing things quite a bit differently from the way that they actually are....

(It also occurs to me that when whaling becomes a major economic activity whaling ships will probably do a lot of exploring....)



To be continued.


Looking forward to it.

[Fardell]

So, this is basically Stargate, but without the Gou'ald?

It is different to Stargate.
The only similarity is that humanity spreads into the Galaxy from Earth.

Differences are:
Whilst there may be sapient parasitic eels out there, they do not come to Earth at 8000 BC.

The Portals each go to a specific destination.

Every portal is two way.

There is no event horizon in the Portal

The Portals stay open indefinitely.

There is much more than one portal on each planet, and they all work at once!

[oscarzoalaster]

[snip] The Portals each go to a specific destination.
Every portal is two way. [snip] The Portals stay open indefinitely.
There is much more than one portal on each planet, and they all work at once!


I would like to suggest a slight modification to this.

The way that the portals are arranged on the original map it looks like there was an attempt to avoid affecting European history before the 1500's. Since the folks that put the portals in place would presumably not have any reason to be placing any special value on what does or does not happen in Europe I suggest that the portals be divided into two different kinds.

The first kind would be 'outgoing portals'. These are located at sea-level on the planet that they are 'outgoing from', and located at that atmospheric pressure level/altitude on the planet that the other end of the portal is on. An 'incoming portal' is simply the other end of an 'outgoing portal', it is located at any altitude that is equivalent to the atmospheric pressure on the 'originating world'.

The 'outgoing portals' and the 'incoming portals' are located at regular intervals across the planet, but vary depending on how many planets are within the '40 light-year' rule. Some planets have lots of portals, some have only a few.

The apparent number of portals also appears to vary because some portals are located underground. I assume that a pattern could be found in which the number of 'incoming' and 'outgoing' portals on Earth could be similar to what it is on the originally posted map, but in which the portals that would affect European history prior to the 1500's are located underground.
(One story scenario could involve references to an area of Europe that becomes known for mining something that in our timeline was not mined in that area. Eventually the miners accidentally dig 'up' to the surface of the alien world.... Another might involve a Mississippi-size river flowing from the Australian interior.... And legends of underground kingdoms make a lot more sense....)

['incoming' and 'outgoing' imply nothing about the ability to travel through a portal, the available journeys are still every bit as 'both ways' as specified in the original post.]

[Fardell]

Hmm...

Judging by Wikipedia, Europeans reached Cape Verde before the Gambia...

Which means that, perhaps, the first European interstellar foray of the Renaissance could be conducted without a guide...

And maybe Diogo Gomes would not return...

And maybe he will...


However, the enormous timeframe of this, and the vast possibilities, make the timeline for this quite difficult, even with the butterfly net. It is entirely conceivable--and likely--that there will be an alt-Europe somewhere that, though settled only around 8500 BC or so, could reach or surpass Europe. Europe is just a backwater; its only connections to the rest of the galaxy are the Iceland portal (which is isolated and cold) and its mundane connections (which are blocked by the butterfly net).

It will still expand though, even if it does come up against places that surpass it. In that case Europe will just expand in a direction away from that power...

[Fardell]

The inclusion of such factors in your timeline makes it impossible to predict.


It will be fun to try though.


Definitely. They might find a Fertile Crescent better than our own, accelerating the increase of civilization and technology on that world.

Indeed it would, hence the possibility of Europe finding a more advanced civilisation in the 17th Century. (which would be interesting in of itself.)

[oscarzoalaster]

[snip]

However, the enormous timeframe of this, and the vast possibilities, make the timeline for this quite difficult, even with the butterfly net. It is entirely conceivable--and likely--that there will be an alt-Europe somewhere that, though settled only around 8500 BC or so, could reach or surpass Europe. Europe is just a backwater; its only connections to the rest of the galaxy are the Iceland portal (which is isolated and cold) and its mundane connections (which are blocked by the butterfly net).

It will still expand though, even if it does come up against places that surpass it. In that case Europe will just expand in a direction away from that power...

Imagine an expanding Europe trying to 'steal' technological secrets from more culturally/technologically advanced humans. In this scenario 'dweebish librarians' would be the heroic conquistadors! Quiet, observant, thorough....




Originally Posted by Hnau (http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=1929881#post1929881)
The inclusion of such factors in your timeline makes it impossible to predict.


It will be fun to try though.


Yup! And all one has to do in trying is to be careful to avoid the impossible – which leaves a whole lot of possible to plunder with enthusiasm!




Definitely. They might find a Fertile Crescent better than our own, accelerating the increase of civilization and technology on that world.


Indeed it would, hence the possibility of Europe finding a more advanced civilisation in the 17th Century. (which would be interesting in of itself.)


Or just a few civilizations as advanced as Europe. Any off-Earth civilizations that they run into would have their own agricultural crops, some of which are likely to be as revolutionary as potatoes and corn were for Eurasia/Africa.

As for a European explorer finding a more advanced civilization: how about James Cook (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook), or someone like him, doing a long range exploration and running into a naval group from a civilization fighting something like World War II that is making a flanking maneuver through a few portals in order to surprise their enemy. Captain Cook will have never before seen a ship that doesn't need sails, and he very certainly will not have seen an aircraft carrier. Cook's first clue may have been when a submarine surfaces in the middle of his fleet, or the aircraft that buzzed them as they were sailing on a calm sea on a perfect day.

Cook's ships are among the best his civilization makes, but these people are barely interested in him and his fleet – he even gets the impression they think his fleet is 'quaint'. But they are generous about replenishing his ships and providing him with some maps. (Of course, if it was the wrong fleet performing the long-distance flanking maneuver Cook's ships would have been target practice....)

The more I think about it the more I think that James Cook would really love to be able to sail strange new worlds.

And then a little later, when whaling becomes a major industry, there will be whaling ships that travel some very very long distances, seeing some very strange things and coming back with amazing tales to inspire an analogue to Herman Melville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Melville).

[Whatif?]

Just a random thought: I believe it was said there are portals in Antarctica so WI the vikings descendants settle Antarctica? Maybe a portal near the other end of the Iceland or Greenland portals lead back to Earth or maybe after centuries and dozens of portals they accidentally without knowing return to Earth. :D

[Codae]

Just a random thought: I believe it was said there are portals in Antarctica so WI the vikings descendants settle Antarctica? Maybe a portal near the other end of the Iceland or Greenland portals lead back to Earth or maybe after centuries and dozens of portals they accidentally without knowing return to Earth. :D
Why would you go to live on a 2-mile thick ice cap when the whole galaxy is open for colonization?

More importantly, how would you live there?

[Whatif?]

Why would you go to live on a 2-mile thick ice cap when the whole galaxy is open for colonization?

More importantly, how would you live there?

Let's say they are very good fishers, learned to hunt seals etc, and maybe they were pushed into ever harsher land until winding up in Antarctica.

[oscarzoalaster]

Originally Posted by Codae
Why would you go to live on a 2-mile thick ice cap when the whole galaxy is open for colonization?
More importantly, how would you live there?



Let's say they are very good fishers, learned to hunt seals etc, and maybe they were pushed into ever harsher land until winding up in Antarctica.


Or, perhaps the portal that they reached Antarctica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica) through is from a world that is much more habitable at the south pole* than Earth is. Their primary homes would be in the more habitable area, but they would come through the portal to fish. Additionally, if the pole on that other world is more habitable** some warmer air and water will probably be coming through the portal and warming part of Antarctica....maybe even to true habitability.

And if the portal has a sea connection and is more habitable on the far side there may be an anadromous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_migration) fish that swims through the portal to feed on the vast antarctic plankton and krill (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill) - imagine a 'continents worth' of salmon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon) trying to swim through an area that seems to be about ten kilometers in circumference. Gooood eating....and something that will attract _a lot_ of predators.

And sometimes, during the Antarctic winter, it will be the middle of summer on the other side of the portal. From the Antarctic side, from a distance, this will look like a spreading beam of sunlight, rising from the ground and piercing into the dark heavens.... Something that can be seen from a long way away.


* Ruling Please: Is the 'South Pole' that the two worlds have in common the magnetic pole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_pole) or the spin pole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_pole)?

** 'The Savage Land (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Savage_Land)', or 'The Land Unknown (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050622/)' anyone?

[Whatif?]

Maybe on the other side it's a north pole:D

[oscarzoalaster]

Maybe on the other side it's a north pole


That could be cool. Move from summer to summer. There would be a lot of migration through the portal. But since these are two different worlds the year length and day length will not be the same, eventually they will have winters at the same time, and after awhile they will desynchronize again.

p.s. more about the discovery of the Verdean portal and the adventures of Captain Diego Gomes and his gallant crew would be really really nice....

[Whatif?]

Or maybe the Antarctic Portal leads to some Sweden-is-the-warmest-place world and then another portal nearby leads to Greenland.

[Fardell]

Profile on World 000002 (World 000001 being Earth)
Names
Latin or Scientific designation: Alpha Centauri A IV
Common name in most commonly used Language: Centauri


Earliest known habitation: 8000 BC or earlier
European Discovery: 1507
Earliest European Colony: 1534 – New Suffolk (England)


Surface Area: 2.1 Earth areas.
Year Length: 1 Earth year and 7 Earth months
Day Length/Rotational Period: 36 hours (1.5 Earth days)
Sattelites and orbital periods: 2 (6 local days, and 9 local days)
Metonic cycles of sattelites: 15 local years for inner, and 22.5 local years for outer. Coincidence of cycles occurs every 90 local years.


Names of Continents: Cabotia (Eastern continent to the north of the portal from Earth), Althuria (Southern continent of the main three), Iapaltia (Western continent of the main three), Nefaltia (Eastern continent of the main three) and Cen-arctica (The northern polar continent)




General Ecological Profile
Oceans: Very similar to Earth, coral reefs, seagrass fields, tidal zones very similar. Differences occur on the Abyssal plains and at hot springs...
Cetaceans are the largest megafauna. Many common Earth fish genera have representatives here.


Cabotia: Similar to North America, though there are also diverse Marsupial populations throughout the continent.


Althuria, Iapaltia and Nefaltia all share the same ecological region. Placental Mammals and birds are common. Hemiptera, rather than Coleoptera are the most common insect order. Rodent Megafauna common in rainforest and savannah regions.


Cen-arctica: Polar adapted Eocene Indian species common. Penguin-like Parrots common.


Locations of Portals: see map

[Hnau]

How did the English claim Hispaniola? Good job compiling all that information, by the way.

[Fardell]

Yup. A portal might have a sea-level presence on this side of the portal, but exit into a high-altitude salt-lake on the other side. Or any of a number of things. That the two sides are 'similar' does not preclude quite a few significant differences.

Definitely.


The worlds would still be quite divergent, for example the arctic life in one world might all be descended from Eocene tropical African life, and on another world it might be descended from Miocene tropical South American life. Their separate tempering by different planetary environments would further diverge these two examples, but they would both remain 'variations upon a known theme'.

That is actually a good idea.



So it goes. I think it would be fine to bring them up to 7 or 8 pixels. If someone later needs a truly detailed map that bridge can be crossed then.


Note the map I posted yesterday. I have brought the dots up to 9 pixels.

[Fardell]

New Kollajara – a profile of a colony in 1920


Colony Name: New Kollajara
Basic Location Details: Located in the northern hemisphere of Mu Ceti II 'Yarellia' 84.3 light years from Earth. On the continent of New Azoria
Minimum travelling distance from Europe: 3 portal formations. 17000 kilometres.


Colony of: The Co-Empire of England, Denmark and Vinland.
Discovered: 1611, by Portugese explorers.
First colonised: 1650, by the Netherlands.
Transferred to English control: 1718
Dominion Status (self ruling): 1850 officially, 1756 unofficially.
Kingdom Status (officially responsible for colonies further out): 1903


Form of Government: A loose unitary democracy.
Population in 1920: 21,230,000
Main exports in 1920: Grains, fruit, Gold, Tungsten, wood.


Languages spoken: English, Danish, Vinlandic, Novo-Kollajaran Dutch, various indiginous languages.

[oscarzoalaster]

How did the English claim Hispaniola? [snip]


They had the assistance of some very busy butterflies!

My first guess is that Spanish and Portuguese attention is diverted to the Verdean Portal and other African portals. The English (as well as the Dutch, Danish, and other northern Europeans, with more direct knowledge of the portals at Greenland and Iceland, explore to the west and discover the Americas. Eventually they make their way down to Hispaniola, and then beyond. (From the map provided I assume that there will be Indians (Taíno and others) on Cabotia, but probably not on Althuria, Iapaltia, Nefaltia or Cen-arctica. Of course with so many portals on the world some of them probably also go to Earth, or to other worlds with a portal to Earth, so there are probably other humans on those other continants.....

It would be nice to have more of the story of the discovery of the Verdean portal by Europeans. What did those first explorers see 'beyond the whirlpool'?

[oscarzoalaster]

Profile on World 000002 (World 000001 being Earth)


I wonder how long it was before people realized that the portals led to worlds around different stars in the same galaxy and succeeded in identifying which star in the sky could be reached through which combination of portals.
(hmmmm..... it just occurred to me that eventually a world in the network will be rather close to a supernova, or have an asteroid fall on it, or some other calamity....)


Names
Latin or Scientific designation: Alpha Centauri A IV
Common name in most commonly used Language: Centauri
Earliest known habitation: 8000 BC or earlier


Reached through which combination of portals?


European Discovery: 1507
Earliest European Colony: 1534 – New Suffolk (England)


The English are being expansive! And earlier than I anticipated.


Surface Area: 2.1 Earth areas.


Oh? That suggests to me that Centauri is not quite the same kind of terrestrial world as Earth - perhaps less of a metallic core - and that it may have a bit higher surface gravity than Earth does.


Year Length: 1 Earth year and 7 Earth months
Day Length/Rotational Period: 36 hours (1.5 Earth days)
Sattelites and orbital periods: 2 (6 local days, and 9 local days)
[snip]


They sound like they are in fairly low orbits - are they captured asteroids? Or? ("Under the hurtling moons of Centauri")


Names of Continents: Cabotia (Eastern continent to the north of the portal from Earth), Althuria (Southern continent of the main three), Iapaltia (Western continent of the main three), Nefaltia (Eastern continent of the main three) and Cen-arctica (The northern polar continent)


The continent names leave me with the impression that they were discovered by Europeans at different times, perhaps even a hundred years apart or more.


General Ecological Profile
Oceans: Very similar to Earth, coral reefs, seagrass fields, tidal zones very similar. Differences occur on the Abyssal plains and at hot springs...


Would these differences have anything to do with Centauri being so much larger than Earth? (I could also imagine that the hot springs on the abyssal plain on any world are the most likely place to find truly native life....)


Cetaceans are the largest megafauna.


Yeah Whales! Lots and lots of whales!


Many common Earth fish genera have representatives here.
Cabotia: Similar to North America, though there are also diverse Marsupial populations throughout the continent.


Probably colonized through North American portals at various intervals.


Althuria, Iapaltia and Nefaltia all share the same ecological region. Placental Mammals and birds are common. Hemiptera, rather than Coleoptera are the most common insect order. Rodent Megafauna common in rainforest and savannah regions.


Sounds good. Some of it perhaps reached there from various portals that go to Earth, and some of it perhaps reached there via other worlds? Rodent megafauna are always fun!


Cen-arctica: Polar adapted Eocene Indian species common. Penguin-like Parrots common.
Locations of Portals: see map


Sounds cool! Since this is Arctic life descended from tropical species, but since no connection to a tropical region is visible on the map you provided I assume that most of the flora and fauna on Cen-arctica reached that continent through a portal from a world that had/has a portal to/from India.



New Kollajara – a profile of a colony in 1920
Colony Name: New Kollajara
Basic Location Details: Located in the northern hemisphere of Mu Ceti II 'Yarellia' 84.3 light years from Earth. On the continent of New Azoria
Minimum travelling distance from Europe: 3 portal formations. 17000 kilometres.


I would love to see the 'MapQuest' map for that journey! (Take the Iceland Portal, go south-southwest for 8000 kilometers, go through the Princess Margaret Portal, go east-northeast for 4000 kilometers, go through the Anthrocite Portal, go north 3000 kilometers, then go east-southeast 2000 kilometers until you see the lights of Nieuw Nottingham.)



Colony of: The Co-Empire of England, Denmark and Vinland.


Oh my. I want to know the story behind that!



Minimum travelling distance from Europe (England or Denmark): 4 portal formations (via Vinland) 29500 kilometres.


Hunh? Is this a reference to the second shortest route? or?



Discovered: 1611, by Portugese explorers.
First colonised: 1650, by the Netherlands.


That far from Earth and colonized that early - I get the impression that this is a pretty nice piece of land.



Transferred to English control: 1718
Dominion Status (self ruling): 1850 officially, 1756 unofficially.


They are, after all, a long long long way from London.



Kingdom Status (officially responsible for colonies further out): 1903


And those colonies are?



Form of Government: A loose unitary democracy.
Population in 1920: 21,230,000
Main exports in 1920: Grains, fruit, Gold, Tungsten, wood.


And perhaps some interesting things from the native ecology?



Languages spoken: English, Danish, Vinlandic, Novo-Kollajaran Dutch, various indiginous languages.


What language families are the indegenous languages? (or perhaps more 'knowable', where were their ancestors from?) I assume that Vinlandic is descended from Old Norse and has a number of Native American loan words and perhaps - like English - is essentially derived from a creole of Old Norse and various Amerindian languages?

[Codae]

May I do a world profile?

[Fardell]

May I do a world profile?

Absolutely! :)

[oscarzoalaster]

Profile of World 000117

Location: Phi-2 Orionis, 117 light years from Earth (35.89 parsecs).
Planet: Edujikolaz. Edujikolaz is the third moon of Poytresa. Poytresa, a superjovian world, is the third planet from the star Phi-2 Orionis, and has 17 other moons – ranging in size from asteroid-size to martian and lunar sizes. Edujikolaz has the most portals of any known world, with 372 identified to date. Many of those portals are in the deep ocean, providing Edujikolazian oceans with an extremely diverse oceanic ecosystem.

Surface Area: 1.100378 Earth areas.

Year Length: 1.398975 Earth years.

Surface Gravity: 0.9775321 Terrestrial (0.998767 Cebymop).

Day Length/Rotational Period: 37.532 hours per local day.

Name of Continent: Lojudeland is an approximately oval-shaped continent 151,790,000 square kilometers in area centered on the north pole and extending south to 10 degrees latitude. Lojudeland has numerous bays, many excellent harbors, thousands of off-shore islands, and two Mediterranean-sized almost land-locked seas.

Oceans: Extensive coastal shallows with coral and stromatoporoidea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatoporoidea) reefs and heavily vegetated tidal zones. There is extensive underwater volcanism and many volcanic islands. Additionally, the Edujikolazian World-Ocean has an extremely complicated tide schedule.

Colony Name: Crossroads, or Tosepiula (but citizens are generally known as Lojudians).

History:: The Mukili Coalition had been using several portals in the oceanic hemisphere of Edujikolaz for several centuries before Poiu Tre and her crew began their Edujikolaz-circling voyage and discovered the Perry Expedition and Lojudeland almost simultaneously. The Poiu Tre Expedition was out-numbered by the ships of the Perry Expedition, and – although they did not know it – their guns were out-ranged as well. Communicating through gestures, the two expeditions sailed into Wert Harbor for the first time. They set up camp at opposite ends of the inner harbor and set about learning about each other and the continent that their look-outs had simultaneously spotted.

General Ecological Profile: Lojudeland is a true super-continent, but because it sits astride Edujikolaz's north pole like a beret worn fashionably askew the interior is watered by runoff from the Antarctic-size icecap. Consequently much of the interior of Lojudeland is well-watered grazing land, extensive forests, and prime farmland instead of being desert and steppe. Despite having multiple extensive mountain ranges Lojudeland has the highest ratio of productive land to area of any continent yet discovered. Edujikolaz seems to have never had a direct connection to Earth, despite having connections to more worlds than any other known world. Life on Edujikolaz is descended from many, if not all, of the Portal Builder seedings of life from Earth. There has been extensive subsequent evolution as the various ecologies adapted first to the worlds they were seeded onto, then to interim worlds, and eventually to Edujikolaz.

Common name in most commonly used Language: Either Crossroads or Edujikolaz, both English and Mukilisoip are widely spoken, along with an increasingly common 'Englisoip'. Lojudeland has immigrants from all over the known worlds and linguistic enclaves are common, but it unusual to encounter a Lojudian who does not speak English or Mukilisoip fluently, and usually both.

Discovered: 1843ce (7889mc)

Political Status: Autonomous self-rule in 1950, effective home-rule since 1877.

Earliest Colony: 1847ce (7893mc)

Form of Government: Constitutional Multi-Parliamentary Federated Democracy.

Head of State: Emperor Norton IV.

Interstellar Portal Sequence: From Earth – Puget, Shinnook, Margaret, NW 1200 kilometers.

Main exports in 1920: Timber, manufactured goods, diverse agricultural products, and literature.

Minimum travelling distance from Earth: 3 portals, a journey of 27,000 kilometers.

Population in 1920: 43,170,800

[Fardell]

I wonder how long it was before people realized that the portals led to worlds around different stars in the same galaxy and succeeded in identifying which star in the sky could be reached through which combination of portals.
(hmmmm..... it just occurred to me that eventually a world in the network will be rather close to a supernova, or have an asteroid fall on it, or some other calamity....)


Certainly Europeans will figure it out before the 20th Century (The earliest I can think of is Isaac Newton [or an analogue thereof] working it out)


Reached through which combination of portals?


Via the Hispaniola portal at first...


The English are being expansive! And earlier than I anticipated.


The early explorers find something that Henry VII, and Henry VIII,,insist that England must have...


Oh? That suggests to me that Centauri is not quite the same kind of terrestrial world as Earth - perhaps less of a metallic core - and that it may have a bit higher surface gravity than Earth does.


All of the above would be right.


They sound like they are in fairly low orbits - are they captured asteroids? Or? ("Under the hurtling moons of Centauri")


Both are of a size larger than Ceres, but smaller than Luna. (Still would make for interesting tidal interactions though)


The continent names leave me with the impression that they were discovered by Europeans at different times, perhaps even a hundred years apart or more.


Definitely... :)


Would these differences have anything to do with Centauri being so much larger than Earth? (I could also imagine that the hot springs on the abyssal plain on any world are the most likely place to find truly native life....)


They would be. (And certainly the hot springs would definitely be the place to find such native life)


Probably colonized through North American portals at various intervals.


Yes


Sounds good. Some of it perhaps reached there from various portals that go to Earth, and some of it perhaps reached there via other worlds? Rodent megafauna are always fun!


Yes


Sounds cool! Since this is Arctic life descended from tropical species, but since no connection to a tropical region is visible on the map you provided I assume that most of the flora and fauna on Cen-arctica reached that continent through a portal from a world that had/has a portal to/from India.


Yes.


Oh my. I want to know the story behind that!


It will be told in time.


Hunh? Is this a reference to the second shortest route? or?


Think of it as an error, it will be retconned.


That far from Earth and colonized that early - I get the impression that this is a pretty nice piece of land.


It is, and it is along one of the main expansion corridors.


They are, after all, a long long long way from London.


Definitely


And those colonies are?


Some of them will be detailed soon.


And perhaps some interesting things from the native ecology?


Included amongst the grains, fruit and wood...


What language families are the indegenous languages? (or perhaps more 'knowable', where were their ancestors from?) I assume that Vinlandic is descended from Old Norse and has a number of Native American loan words and perhaps - like English - is essentially derived from a creole of Old Norse and various Amerindian languages?

The indigenous languages are based on Ainu, Pama-Nyugan (Australian Aboriginal) and combinations of Ainu and Pama-Nyugan languages.

Vinlandic is based on Old Norse and does have large amounts of Amerindian loan words.

[Fardell]

Part 5


An Archaeological dig on 38 Ceti II 'Ua Valla' (143 light years from Earth)
17 October 1858 AD (Terran Gregorian Date)
6 August 130 (Local Date, years since discovery)
The carriage pulled up to the archaeological site, in a rush. Doctor James Livingstone wondered what it was that he had to dragged all the way out here on the Cetian frontier (though the real frontier was further out) and over 22000 miles from Cambridge, through 4 portals, to see. (Though he had to admitt that railways and steamships had sped up the journey to a mere 4 months rather than the year or more it would have been nearly a century ago.)
“Welcome Doctor, to Ua Valla Site 51, we have been waiting for 4 and half months since we sent the telegram” said a young archaeologist, with a hint of an Oxford accent.
'Terrific, if not for the invention of the telegraph, I would still be in Cambridge, or at least, still in transit to the Ceylon Portal' he thought.


Though that was not really fair, the telegraph had simply superceded the older semaphore networks, in the last 50 years, it wasn't something entirely new.


“Are you Doctor Quentin?” Dr, Livingstone asked the (apparently) Oxford educated archaeologist.
“Yes, I am Doctor Oliver Quentin. it was I who suggested that you should be summoned here, we have found some quite unusual artefacts, that you might be able to help us with” Doctor Oliver Quentin said.
“Really?” Dr, Livingstone asked.
“Yes. We think that the artefacts we found are of previously unknown advanced technologies. Much more advanced than anything previously discovered, and that is why we called you in. The discoveries that you made on Vivalis 25 years ago are what lead us to this area” Dr. Quentin said.
That got Dr. Livingstone's attention.


The artefacts that he had found on Vivalis, were at the time more advanced than previously discovered. And were also more advanced than any known civilisation had at the time. Some of the artefacts were engines that could use oil based compounds for energy inside the cylinders, and various electrical items, including light bulbs and sound-recording machines. The light bulbs and sound recorders had been recently reverse-engineered, but the internal combustion engine hadn't yet. Metallurgical Science still had a way to go...


“Take me to the artefacts” Dr. Livingstone said.
Dr. Quentin took him into the site, where a building had once stood. “from what we have been able to determine the site was abandoned approximately 800 years ago, for reasons unknown. The remains of the building are interesting. The foundations are made with concrete, with steel rods in the middle, and the remaining framework is aslo of steel, it is remarkable engineering” Dr Quentin said.


They came to where the strange artefacts were stored, after they had been dug up. Another young archaeologist met them outside the shack.


“Hi, Doctor Livingstone? I am Ophelia Patterson, Dr Quentin's Postgraduate assistant, the artefacts are in here. When I discovered the first one, I didn't know what it was” the postgrad said, and held out her hand.


Dr. Livingstone sighed. He still wasn't used to women studying at universities. He didn't know what the beauraucrats and politicians in London and Copenhagen were thinking when that particular reform was brought in over a decade ago. He shook her hand.


Patterson and Dr. Quentin lead Dr. Livingstone to the devices. “When we found them, there were electrical cables running between various components of the devices, so we knew form the outset that they are electrical in nature, and that they are also modular. Each component would serve a different function” Patterson said.
“We haven't taken them apart, as we wanted to wait for your opinion first. We also found many books, but the language and/or the writing system is completely unknown. All the linguists that we have been able to consult so far were completely perplexed”
Dr. Livingstone reached out to one of the components of one of the devices. “This looks like what, what could be a Cathode Ray tube. I have heard that the Klatza are working on them, but they have nothing like this” he said.


He kept current (or tried to) with the number of civilisations that the Co-Imperium had contact with. The Klatza were the most advanced, having been contacted about 15 years before. They seemed to be about 50 years ahead of most European nations.


“And this looks like a typewriter without the ribbon” he said.
“We think it is some sort of imput device for a typewriter based telegraph, which the devices could be linked into” Dr. Quentin said.
“Though it could be something else entirely” Patterson said.
Dr. Livingstone lifted the 'Cathode Ray tube' off the box portion of the device. “Is there anything else that you have found?” he asked.
“Yes, we also found stacks of some sort of floppy medium, and though they have writing on them we don't know what they are for. They are stored nearby” Dr. Quentin said.
“I'll look at those soon” Dr. Livingstone said. He flipped a latch on the top of the box, and then took the top off carefully. All three of them looked inside.
“Cannot make heads or tails of any of this electrical stuff, we probably need a Mathematician to have a look at it” Patterson said, of the various boards of electrical circuits (?) she could see inside.
“Agreed, though even a Klatza mathematician might be perplexed, it might take even them decades to reverse engineer something like this” Dr. Livingstone said. He knew he was in for a long period of fieldwork. He was grateful that he had put his affairs in order back in Cambridge before he had left.




To be continued

[oscarzoalaster]

Nice! More!

(So someone had something like a personal computer 800 years earlier.....hmmm.....where are they now? The computers sound like something from the early eighties.....)

[Blue Max]

Hmm...interesting idea!

Human population is likely to explode, although xenobiotic life could throw a giant monkey wrench into human development. That said, Xenobiotics could well be as helpful as harmful--consider the effect of a more efficient grain or easier to fatten meat source. If nothing else, count on humanity being able to domesticate new pets, beasts of burden and higher yield crops.

With a PoD of 9000 BC, I suspect that exotic species of grasses and smallish animals would slowly present themselves on Earth, while the reverse transmission, Earth to other planets happens at the same rate. It's also possible that some worlds are nothing more than barren rock in 9000 BC, which would mean that some worlds are going to require soil enrichment in order to become workable--this means that some worlds are likely to need widespread adoption of colonizing plants to become usable--a progression that might take centuries.

Furthermore, its also possible that these new worlds could be extremely deviant in terms of the resources available. Whole mountain ranges made of diamonds? Massive Gold Seams the size of entire states? Weird and wild minerals and materials not seen outside of a laboratory? Oceans made of Petrochemicals? Yes to all of the above.:D

Finally, Alpha Centauri IV is going to have an amazing skyline. Alpha Centauri is a double star system, with a smaller binary (Beta Centauri) that moves between the orbit of Pluto and that of Saturn--it makes a full cycle every 80 years or so. Beta Centauri is probably going to be brighter than the moon in our own sky even at its furthest point, while its possible that at closest there might be very little night on the planet. Plants are going to find this world superior to Earth in terms of lighting and crop yields are going to be higher than expected; also, getting used to a world that switches between having a brilliant moon to a second sun would be interesting. Note also that Beta Centauri is probably responsible for some tidal action here as well.

[Whatif?]

Can I create a world that has an alien society (maybe responsible for those computers)?

[Fardell]

Part 6
The City of Geallie Var was busy. But then again it was always busy, being on a confluence of busy trade routes. The city straddled a portal which was located at the confluence of 3 continents on both worlds that it connected, with other portals within easy reach on all 6 of those continents.
It was a thousand years since the founding of the city. 800 years since the city had become independent following the fall of its parent city due to a famine exacerbated by war. 500 years since the height of the empire ruled by the city, which had legends about it in dozens of worlds. 300 years since the fall of that empire was complete, not that that reduced the trade any. 100 years since the first rumours of Europeans reached the city. 10 years since the city's most distant trading partner had been conquered by the 'Espanol'
But this story is not about the ongoing debate by the City's senate and those of its close trading partners and allies about the threat the Europeans might pose to them in the near or further future.


This story is about a meeting late in the year between a mercenary and a representative of an Iroquois kingdom, located 1500 miles to the south of the city on the southern shore of the continent that the greater portion of the city was located on. (Being that the city was founded on one side of the portal, and later expanded through it.)


The mercenary leader looked at the public house where his informant had told him that the representative of the Iroqouis kingdom was waiting for him. It was an average pub for the City. It stood 3 stories high, and had upwards of 100 rooms. There were stores on either side. The pub was located in an area of the city close to the centre of the city, completely outside of the portal.


“Welcome Etashi, I am Curious Forest, agent for the Kingdom of Senieda”
“Good Day, Curious Forest. Your name is appopriate as I am curious as to why your kingdom wishes to hire my company of soldiers of fortune?”
“Yes, I did leave that out in my message, you see the Kingdom of Senieda faces conflict with the K!hosi Empire” Curious Forest said.
Etashi knew of the K!hosi Empire, it was a minor trading partner of Gallie Var and the quickest route from the city to territory of that Empire was through a portal located in Seniedan territory.
“They have designs on your territory?” he asked.
“There have been increasing skirmishes between us and them over our common border, the possibilty of war increases with each passing day. Indeed it may have had already brocken out” Curious Forest said.
“I will need more intelligence before I commit my company to your cause” Etashi said.
“I understand” Curious Forest said, dejectedly.
“I didn't say that I was rejecting your offer. I am willing to take my company from Gallie Var to your kingdom where the intelligence will be more recent” Etashi said.
“You will come?” Curious Forest asked.
“Yes” Etashi said.


And so as Etashi left the pub, he was already mentally going through the preparations needed for a journey to the Kingdom of Seneida.


Curious Forest was heading back to the embassy where the ambassador would send a message via the semaphore back to Seneida.

[Whatif?]

So someone had something like a personal computer 800 years earlier.....hmmm.....where are they now?
They might have been killed off in a violent war or genocide. But were they even human?

[oscarzoalaster]

They might have been killed off in a violent war or genocide.


Perhaps. Or maybe they were explorers and haven't been back that way since? There are lots and lots of worlds out there.



But were they even human?


Probably. If the site was non-human I would expect them to be finding more strange stuff than was mentioned.

[oscarzoalaster]

Part 6
The City of Geallie Var was busy. But then again it was always busy, being on a confluence of busy trade routes. The city straddled a portal which was located at the confluence of 3 continents on both worlds that it connected, with other portals within easy reach on all 6 of those continents.


Location, location, location. Given the description of a portal we saw in the 'Discovery of the Cape Verdean Portal' episode the skyline in that city must be quite something - particularly if it is often night on one side and day on the other.


It was a thousand years since the founding of the city. 800 years since the city had become independent following the fall of its parent city due to a famine exacerbated by war. 500 years since the height of the empire ruled by the city, which had legends about it in dozens of worlds. 300 years since the fall of that empire was complete, not that that reduced the trade any.


Only a thousand years old? A fairly young city.


100 years since the first rumours of Europeans reached the city. 10 years since the city's most distant trading partner had been conquered by the 'Espanol'


Uh-oh. I wonder what they think of the change in administration. Or the new trade opportunities.


But this story is not about the ongoing debate by the City's senate and those of its close trading partners and allies about the threat the Europeans might pose to them in the near or further future.


Ok...... Show us something interesting and yank it away.


This story is about a meeting late in the year between a mercenary and a representative of an Iroquois kingdom, located 1500 miles to the south of the city on the southern shore of the continent that the greater portion of the city was located on. (Being that the city was founded on one side of the portal, and later expanded through it.)


Ok. (Just to be pedantic, 'Iroquois' is a European name for the tribe. Although a descendant of that culture that had changed enough technologically and culturally to have a kingdom would probably be using a still different name for themselves.)


The mercenary leader looked at the public house where his informant had told him that the representative of the Iroqouis kingdom was waiting for him. It was an average pub for the City. It stood 3 stories high, and had upwards of 100 rooms. There were stores on either side. The pub was located in an area of the city close to the centre of the city, completely outside of the portal.


! 100 rooms in an average pub? This town has some fancy public houses!


“Welcome Etashi, I am Curious Forest, agent for the Kingdom of Senieda”
“Good Day, Curious Forest. Your name is appopriate as I am curious as to why your kingdom wishes to hire my company of soldiers of fortune?”


Curious Forest's name would be in his native language instead of the 'language of the city'.


“Yes, I did leave that out in my message, you see the Kingdom of Senieda faces conflict with the K!hosi Empire” Curious Forest said.
Etashi knew of the K!hosi Empire, it was a minor trading partner of Gallie Var and the quickest route from the city to territory of that Empire was through a portal located in Seniedan territory.
“They have designs on your territory?” he asked.
“There have been increasing skirmishes between us and them over our common border, the possibilty of war increases with each passing day. Indeed it may have had already brocken out” Curious Forest said.
“I will need more intelligence before I commit my company to your cause” Etashi said.
“I understand” Curious Forest said, dejectedly.
“I didn't say that I was rejecting your offer. I am willing to take my company from Gallie Var to your kingdom where the intelligence will be more recent” Etashi said.
“You will come?” Curious Forest asked.
“Yes” Etashi said.


Willing to take his company there, but not yet willing to commit to a contract? Are there other opportunities in that direction? Or?


And so as Etashi left the pub, he was already mentally going through the preparations needed for a journey to the Kingdom of Seneida.


Planning, a good sign.


Curious Forest was heading back to the embassy where the ambassador would send a message via the semaphore back to Seneida.


! Semaphore communication that works across 1500 miles? Very impressive!

[Whatif?]

Curious Forest's name would be in his native language instead of the 'language of the city'.

Unless he uses it as a trading/diplomatic name.

[Fardell]

Location, location, location. Given the description of a portal we saw in the 'Discovery of the Cape Verdean Portal' episode the skyline in that city must be quite something - particularly if it is often night on one side and day on the other.


Definitely. It is on a spot that is very desirable, and the lighting effects caused by the variing day-night cycles make the city very beautiful, which its architects takes into account!


Only a thousand years old? A fairly young city.


There had been previous settlements in the general area of that portal. Gallie Var just happened to be permanent.


Uh-oh. I wonder what they think of the change in administration. Or the new trade opportunities.


Reports are that the 'Espanol' are very oppressive and are 'forcing their religion down our throats!' Which those in Gallie Var, as members of a relatively tolerant society don't like the sound of...
However there are others who do want to know what the 'Espanol' would want to trade, and that just because that distant kingdom was conquered by an oppressive expansionist power doesn't mean that trade should stop! (And they then cite many examples of such powers [though they are less expansionistic] closer to home.)


Ok...... Show us something interesting and yank it away.


That story will be told in time.


Ok. (Just to be pedantic, 'Iroquois' is a European name for the tribe. Although a descendant of that culture that had changed enough technologically and culturally to have a kingdom would probably be using a still different name for themselves.)


Any suggestion as to what to call the general grouping that would be more plausible? (As Senieda is not the only 'Iroquois' kingdom in the 'known multi-world' of Gallie Var)


! 100 rooms in an average pub? This town has some fancy public houses!


Indeed. :)


Curious Forest's name would be in his native language instead of the 'language of the city'.


As Whatif? said, perhaps it is his diplomatic name.


Willing to take his company there, but not yet willing to commit to a contract? Are there other opportunities in that direction? Or?


There may be other oportunities in that direction. There are many nations and other groups in between Gallie Var and Senieda.


Planning, a good sign.


Definitely


! Semaphore communication that works across 1500 miles? Very impressive!

Fast and effective communication is in demand in that region of the multi-world, and the population is capable of supporting it.

[Fardell]

Part 7


The 9th Century


850
Naddoddr becomes lost sailing from the Faeroe Islands to Norway. He discovers what will become Iceland, landing on the east coast.




Approx. 860
A storm pushes Gargar Svavarsson's ship to the north from the Faeroe Islands. He lands on the East coast of Iceland. On his subsequent circumnavigation of the island he discovers two strange formations on a northern cape. He makes note of them but he doesn't explore through them as of yet. His circumnavigation proves that Iceland is an island.


Nattafari escapes from Gargar with 2 slaves somewhere on the northern coast, and settles there. (Alternatively they were left behind)




Shortly after this Floki Vigardarson explores the western coast before returning to Norway.




874
Ingolfur Arnarson arrives at where Reykjavik will be and settles there. This is the beginning of the Settlement of Iceland.




890
The Portals are sighted again by emigrating Norsemen arriving in Iceland. The discovery is reported in the Reykjavik area, and quickly spreads to all the settlements.




891
After much discussion it is decided that the portals will be investigated. Several settlers voyage to the the western portal and carefully row through it. They find a land that looks much like Iceland under an alien sky. They return and report their finding.


A second group investigates the eastern portal and finds an archapelago of volcanic islands, that look similar to Iceland. They find the night sky at once familiar but find stars in different locations. They also report their finding.




895
A settlement is established on the other side of the western portal. The land is named Brynjarmark, after its discoverer. Exploration begins along the coastline.




896
A settlement is established on one of the islands on the other side of the eastern portal. The island is also named for its discoverer, Hrafnsholmer. Exploration begins of the sea surrounding the archapelago.






And a map of Iceland and its interstellar colonies

[oscarzoalaster]

Definitely. It is on a spot that is very desirable, and the lighting effects caused by the variing day-night cycles make the city very beautiful, which its architects takes into account!


I can imagine a lot of possibilities. And since the city will be getting light from two separate stars, on planets with different day and year lengths, there will be quite a few times when the city has one sun set shortly after the other one rose.



There had been previous settlements in the general area of that portal. Gallie Var just happened to be permanent.


i.e. hasn't fallen yet.



[snip] Any suggestion as to what to call the general grouping that would be more plausible? (As Senieda is not the only 'Iroquois' kingdom in the 'known multi-world' of Gallie Var)


Haudenosaunee, Akunęhsyę̀ni, Onondowahgah, Guyohkohnyoh, Onöñda'gega, Onayotekaono, Kanien'kéhaka, and Ska-Ruh-Reh are names I pulled off of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois). Once you get this to a point where you are trying to publish a version of this you might check with the Iroquois themselves (http://www.iroquois.net/).



[snip] As Whatif? said, perhaps it is his diplomatic name.
[snip]


A reasonable thought. And a more diplomatic name than 'Speaker-to-Animals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker-to-Animals)'.



Part 7 The 9th Century
[snip]
874
Ingolfur Arnarson arrives at where Reykjavik will be and settles there. This is the beginning of the Settlement of Iceland.




So up until this point almost everything in that part of the world is the same as in our timeline....





[snip]
891
After much discussion it is decided that the portals will be investigated.


Typical humans, always sticking their noses into things.



Several settlers voyage to the the western portal and carefully row through it. They find a land that looks much like Iceland under an alien sky. They return and report their finding.
A second group investigates the eastern portal and finds an archapelago of volcanic islands, that look similar to Iceland. They find the night sky at once familiar but find stars in different locations. They also report their finding.


And a few years later discover other portals on each of those new worlds.....



895
A settlement is established on the other side of the western portal. The land is named Brynjarmark, after its discoverer. Exploration begins along the coastline.


Warmer? More fertile soil? Asynchronous seasons? Fantastic fishing?



896
A settlement is established on one of the islands on the other side of the eastern portal. The island is also named for its discoverer, Hrafnsholmer. Exploration begins of the sea surrounding the archapelago. [snip]


I'm not sure about the scale on the maps – are the new islands approximately the same size as Iceland? Or?

Great to see more of this!

[Vault-Scope]

How about a continent-sized alien lifeforme or colony/swarm of lifeforms that have learned to travel from world to world, devouring/mutating anything in its path?

An organism or collective of organisms mutating ecosystems a bit like North America in Blood Music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Music)...


However, the Amerindians are going to multiply and spread throughout this area of the galaxy,


They where not the first in North America. Links of websites as given by the "first-american" blog (http://first-americans.blogspot.com/), that website itself is shit thou, it closes every 60 seconds.

http://www.clovisinthesoutheast.net/stanford.html (http://www.clovisinthesoutheast.net/stanford.html)
http://www.pnas.org/content/98/17/10017.full (http://www.pnas.org/content/98/17/10017.full)
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~tgschurr/pdf/Jantz%20and%20Owsley%202001.pdf (http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~tgschurr/pdf/Jantz%20and%20Owsley%202001.pdf)
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant322m_files/1stpersons.htm (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant322m_files/1stpersons.htm)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stoneage/tool-nf.html (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stoneage/tool-nf.html)
http://www.nv.blm.gov/cultural/spirit_cave_man/SC_final_July26.pdf (http://www.nv.blm.gov/cultural/spirit_cave_man/SC_final_July26.pdf)
http://members.chello.nl/jperk/Ancient%20DNA%205.pdf (http://members.chello.nl/jperk/Ancient%20DNA%205.pdf)
http://www.neara.org/Guthrie/lymphocyteantigens01.htm (http://www.neara.org/Guthrie/lymphocyteantigens01.htm)
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~gen155/lectures/brownwallace.pdf (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~gen155/lectures/brownwallace.pdf)

I disagree. Planets have to have enough of an ocean to produce an oxygen-rich atmosphere to make it habitable. That ocean can't be too hot or too cold. This Sweden-is-the-warmest Planet would have too much ice and would be too cold for enough plants to produce enough of an atmosphere for the entire planet. Arctic Florida would be such a warm planet that the equatorial regions would boil away the oceans and create a Venusian atmosphere.


There have been ages where Earth´s climat have been colder or warmer than those mentionned scenarios.... :o

During late dinosaure era, temperature of abyss water was 22C, +20 than today.


http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/attachment.php?attachmentid=57247&stc=1&d=1226628390


Same scale?

[chornedsnorkack]

I can imagine a lot of possibilities. And since the city will be getting light from two separate stars, on planets with different day and year lengths, there will be quite a few times when the city has one sun set shortly after the other one rose.

And there will be passage of weather systems on both planets. Thus strong winds at the portals.

Depending on how nasty the winds are, it may be easier to build cities a few km from the portal, so that the winds have spread out and weakened.

i.e. hasn't fallen yet.

It need not fall. A portal will not lose its strategic importance when conquered, so a conqueror is likely to seize and use the adjoining city rather than destroy and abandon it.


And a few years later discover other portals on each of those new worlds.....


Not so fast!

Gunnbjörn was blown past Iceland to Greenland coast early in the settlement period. The Icelanders knew there was land to their northwest, but it was remote and seemed unwelcoming. So the let the matter rest for half or whole century.

In 978, one Snaebjörn did try to settle the land. After one unpleasant winter, his fellows killed him and returned to Iceland.

Three years later, Erik the Red was not discouraged: he followed the Greenland coast southwards, and did find good lands. He spent two winters in different places (i. e. he explored Greenland widely rather than pick the first spot to stay - Floki had also spent his two winters in different places, and Ingolfur had spent two years exploring southwest Iceland before picking Reykjavik to stay) and on his last summer, sailed far north along the west coast of Greenland.

With plentiful lands available in Brynjamark and Hrafnsholmar, the first settlers would explore some distance around the map - and then pick the best vacant spot around the portal. It would take some time before they go off the map.

Now, in 920-s, the settlement of Iceland is dense enough that they are wanting to found Althing in addition to several local things they already had.

In OTL, founding Althing did take some preparations. One chieftain travelled to Gulating in Norway to learn the laws there (and how to run a thing for a large area), another travelled around Iceland to explore the island, lobby for founding Althing, consider the selection of assembly site and electoral districting, etc.

Eventually, a peasant at Thingvellir happened to be outlawed for murder. His lands were forfeited, and those were turned to use by Althing.

Thingvellir was not awfully important place strategiocally. There was no settlement there outside the two weeks of Althing. When, in 1056, a place had to be found for an episcopal see, it was founded at Skalholt, some distance away from Thingvellir.

In TTL, there are no powerful arguments in favour of Thingvellir. And there is a powerful argument in favour of Westfiords! This way, all areas of Iceland can attend Althing just as easily as they did in OTL, but the settlers of Hrafnsholmar and Brynjamark can also easily travel to Althing on Earth. So, Althing is founded on the shore of the northwest peninsula between the two portals.

But how will the districting of Althing work? In OTL, Iceland was fully settled by 930, so the original districting to 36 chiefs was found unsatisfactory and reformed 30 years later to have 39 chiefs and 9 extra representatives - which arrangement lasted till 1264. In TTL, Iceland is as fully settled, but at least Brynjamark has active expansion going on at frontiers - does Althing have steady arrangements for adding new electoral districts as Brynjamark expands?

[Codae]

http://first-americans.blogspot.com/ (http://first-americans.blogspot.com/)


but has been suppressed in the general public, as mass media has been controlled by so few people with a clear anti-European /anti-white bias.

Are you sure that site is reliable?

[oscarzoalaster]

Are you sure that site is reliable?


It is bogus. My first clue was the way it attributed every advance of civilization to the journeys of white people.

[oscarzoalaster]

[/quote]

And there will be passage of weather systems on both planets. Thus strong winds at the portals.


Some of the time. Significant potential for wind power, and perhaps for tidal power....



Depending on how nasty the winds are, it may be easier to build cities a few km from the portal, so that the winds have spread out and weakened.


Since the city is, at least partly, in the portal I imagine this is not a severe problem....at least not then and there.....



[snip brief history of the settlement of Iceland]


A few years, a few decades, all pretty much the same at this 'early exploration' stage.



In TTL, there are no powerful arguments in favour of Thingvellir. And there is a powerful argument in favour of Westfiords! This way, all areas of Iceland can attend Althing just as easily as they did in OTL, but the settlers of Hrafnsholmar and Brynjamark can also easily travel to Althing on Earth. So, Althing is founded on the shore of the northwest peninsula between the two portals.


The first rule of Real Estate is 'location, location, location'.



But how will the districting of Althing work? In OTL, Iceland was fully settled by 930, so the original districting to 36 chiefs was found unsatisfactory and reformed 30 years later to have 39 chiefs and 9 extra representatives - which arrangement lasted till 1264. In TTL, Iceland is as fully settled, but at least Brynjamark has active expansion going on at frontiers - does Althing have steady arrangements for adding new electoral districts as Brynjamark expands?


If the lands beyond the portals are attractive enough that there is sure to be a growth in the number of Things I would assume that they create a mechanism for adding additional districts. And if Brynjamark is a really nice place the balance of power may shift there in a few generations.....

[chornedsnorkack]

(http://www.abdn.ac.uk/%7Egen155/lectures/brownwallace.pdf)
There have been ages where Earth´s climat have been colder or warmer than those mentionned scenarios.... :o

During late dinosaure era, temperature of abyss water was 22C, +20 than today.

Yes, but this does not have to mean that the whole Earth or even the polar areas were 20 Celsius warmer. The ocean deep waters are formed in Weddell Sea today. The deep waters of Red Sea are +22 C right now, just that they do not fill the bottom waters of the rest of ocean, because they mix and spread out at a few hundred metres of depth. Mediterranean deep waters are +13. Sargasso Sea waters are +18

How deep are the waters of the portals?

[Vault-Scope]

Yes, but this does not have to mean that the whole Earth or even the polar areas were 20 Celsius warmer.

Indeed, in average the deeper sea is less affected than the surface, if change there is +1, surface change is bound to be +1.§§§
The ocean deep waters are formed in Weddell Sea today. The deep waters of Red Sea are +22 C right now, just that they do not fill the bottom waters of the rest of ocean, because they mix and spread out at a few hundred metres of depth. Mediterranean deep waters are +13. Sargasso Sea waters are +18


Those are only limited areas, where temperatures are inconsistent.

There is the also matter of the antartica fossiles, that include dinosaurs. A flying creatures with 14 meters wingspan, shells 1.5 meters in diameter etc.

Example of that area is that a florida-in-the-artic certainly won´t result in any catastrophic oxygen shortage.


Neither would a world with boreal climate at the equator have oxygen shortage, there would be less plant life but also less animal life to consume the oxygen.

[Whatif?]

I can imagine a lot of possibilities. And since the city