One of the greatest secrets of the Continuum is that Narcissists are, at least in part, right. Reality is mutable, and the proper application of Frag can free them from the walls of our reality. The rules that create Continuum space are simply one interpretation of the physics of time travel, and not an inherent feature. Certain segments of the Quicker Fraternity have to embrace at least the edges of this truth earlier, but almost willful self-denial often keeps them from fully accepting the ramifications. Spanners who achieve span 6 are fully educated in an experience much like receiving their memories of the In Between. Having lived a lie for dozens, if not hundreds, of human lifetimes and often hunted and killed those who they discover were proclaiming the truth the moment of revelation rocks many spanners to their core.
However, the Continuum insists, the lie is necessary. The wall of sentient will produces a potent defense, not against the Narcissists which lesser spanners believe to be the great plague of their reality, but against much darker and more alien civilizations with their own, incompatible histories that lay beyond that wall. The cost, the sacrifice of the potential realities Narcissists dream of, is one the Continuum is more than willing to accept to protect the time of the Societies and Inheritors. In fact, the building of that great wall required the scouring and scorching of entire realities too different from our own to be absorbed but close enough to allow access. It was, in fact, this act that created the great deserts of our own history.
From this defensive position the Inheritors launch ships Down, beyond the Antedesertium Capracornian era, to the Continuum's true battles for survival. Here, Continuum fleets launch incursions against these hostile civilizations and defend against attacks from those eternal enemies. The battles against the Narcissist kingdoms are merely a sideshow compared to these great clashes; fending off a society trapped as an unwilling rearguard against invaders which make the Inheritors seem all too human.
Continuum: Roleplay in the Yet has been described as one of the most beautifully designed and utterly unplayable RPGs. An intensely simulationist game designed to represent the trials and struggles of time travel in a semi-deterministic world. This, of course, makes it fascinating to me. I can entirely understand why most gamers would feel it's unplayable, with the heavy bookkeeping and abusable skill rules. However, conceptually, it's a fantastic piece of work. Unfortunately, it's been out of print for far too long and shows no signs of a rebirth, let alone the intended sequel Narcissist. I've seen one of the playtest versions of Narcissist, which came with a number of interesting ideas, but one of the issues (and, from what I've been able to frune, one of the things that's kept it from seeing print) was how to make Continuum and Narcissist exist in the same multiverse without creating unresolvable paradox. Really, what I saw was that Narcissist was originally designed to be all about crashing free and then... they didn't know what to put outside that made for an interesting story. I've seen hints and suggestions that they may have been making progress as late as 2013, but nothing substantial has been said publicly in 15 years.
So, I did what I usually do in the absence of something official; figured something out myself. As with any time you homebrew things, the hope is that the people who do this professionally will come along and replace your work with things that utterly blow your mind and make you wish you were a fraction as creative as they are. Meanwhile, though, as long as no further information is available here...
So, today we homebrew some background; a way to bridge past the official playtests' apparent ending of breaking free and thus becoming a minor god. I've tried here to extend this boundary without invalidating the struggle of the Continuum. Both groups have their own conflicting, but still potentially worthwhile, goals and neither is simply wrong. Narcissists are right about the physics of breaking free, and the Continuum knows it- but denial is a valid defense in this case and the Swarm is not the only, or even the greatest, threat to humanity. With this background Narcissists can look down on the Spanners, and may even be right to, but are they right to put the Hegemony at risk without being able to replace its protection?
However, the Continuum insists, the lie is necessary. The wall of sentient will produces a potent defense, not against the Narcissists which lesser spanners believe to be the great plague of their reality, but against much darker and more alien civilizations with their own, incompatible histories that lay beyond that wall. The cost, the sacrifice of the potential realities Narcissists dream of, is one the Continuum is more than willing to accept to protect the time of the Societies and Inheritors. In fact, the building of that great wall required the scouring and scorching of entire realities too different from our own to be absorbed but close enough to allow access. It was, in fact, this act that created the great deserts of our own history.
From this defensive position the Inheritors launch ships Down, beyond the Antedesertium Capracornian era, to the Continuum's true battles for survival. Here, Continuum fleets launch incursions against these hostile civilizations and defend against attacks from those eternal enemies. The battles against the Narcissist kingdoms are merely a sideshow compared to these great clashes; fending off a society trapped as an unwilling rearguard against invaders which make the Inheritors seem all too human.
Continuum: Roleplay in the Yet has been described as one of the most beautifully designed and utterly unplayable RPGs. An intensely simulationist game designed to represent the trials and struggles of time travel in a semi-deterministic world. This, of course, makes it fascinating to me. I can entirely understand why most gamers would feel it's unplayable, with the heavy bookkeeping and abusable skill rules. However, conceptually, it's a fantastic piece of work. Unfortunately, it's been out of print for far too long and shows no signs of a rebirth, let alone the intended sequel Narcissist. I've seen one of the playtest versions of Narcissist, which came with a number of interesting ideas, but one of the issues (and, from what I've been able to frune, one of the things that's kept it from seeing print) was how to make Continuum and Narcissist exist in the same multiverse without creating unresolvable paradox. Really, what I saw was that Narcissist was originally designed to be all about crashing free and then... they didn't know what to put outside that made for an interesting story. I've seen hints and suggestions that they may have been making progress as late as 2013, but nothing substantial has been said publicly in 15 years.
So, I did what I usually do in the absence of something official; figured something out myself. As with any time you homebrew things, the hope is that the people who do this professionally will come along and replace your work with things that utterly blow your mind and make you wish you were a fraction as creative as they are. Meanwhile, though, as long as no further information is available here...
So, today we homebrew some background; a way to bridge past the official playtests' apparent ending of breaking free and thus becoming a minor god. I've tried here to extend this boundary without invalidating the struggle of the Continuum. Both groups have their own conflicting, but still potentially worthwhile, goals and neither is simply wrong. Narcissists are right about the physics of breaking free, and the Continuum knows it- but denial is a valid defense in this case and the Swarm is not the only, or even the greatest, threat to humanity. With this background Narcissists can look down on the Spanners, and may even be right to, but are they right to put the Hegemony at risk without being able to replace its protection?
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