Why 64? If there are 8 timelines total, then the displacing during the Great Unveiling would've involved people from *7* different timelines finding themselves in Alpha. So, shouldn't it be a multiple of 7? Perhaps 49, being 7 squared? - Nik 04:14, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- 64 = 32 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1. Each uchrony sends either 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, or 1 person to each of the other 7 uchronies. Two other uchronies each get 1.
- As I said, the articles are written from the point of view of Alpha. One possibility is that 64 people are.... somewhere else. Just saying...--Marcpasquin 01:27, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
About the 64 u-transients and the 8 worlds[]
I'll give a bit of background on transbellum to make a few things clearer. Originaly, Transbellum was to serve as the background for a micro-management type videogame where players pick a faction (ethnic, religious, political, etc...) and try to achieve hegemony (the working title incidently) over the majority of the uchronies in that given social sphere (based on things such as membership size and territories controled).
Obviously it came to nothing but one of the element that was supposed to be integrated to the game was an outside force, sometime helping, sometime not. That exact nature of that force was a bit vague but was supposed to be responsible for both the Grand Unveiling and the existence of the 8 world themselves. The reason why it was 64 peoples (and not has had been justly pointed out, 49) was that while 64 people were taken out of each uchronies, only 56 from each (in group of 8) ended up on other uchronies. what happened with those leftover was that they were kept by The Power That Be as test subjects and the extra group of 8 on each earth were actualy spies for them (they had various alliegance which was why they could be either helpful or not). Out of these, some would act as if they came from that particular uchrony: the idea being that they appeared out of thin air at the same time as the others so even though they were not u-transient per say, they were still classified as such. Other would claim amnesia (with some helpfull "flashbacks") and not know where they are from.
As I said, the nature of The Power That Be was not realy explored but my working hypothesis was that they came from the "Original Uchrony" so to speak. On that earth, the cultures (and related factions) that represent the dominant ones in each uchrony were at a stalemate, each being in a position that prevent any other from winning (think of the 3 superstates in "1984"). Some of the higher scientists had decided to try an experiment to see which one was truly better and somehow "bended" the spacetime to created pocket universe in which the history would flow in such a way as allowing a particular culture to become dominant. For some reason, they cannot enter themselves to see how the experiment turned out so they did what resulted in the Grand Unveiling.
Now, if you've read so far, let me say that I'm not sure if I want to go that way anymore. Originaly the 8 worlds had cultures that were much closer and could all have come about by using only one Point of Departure and its aftermath. The way I have set it up now (branching points of departures), it would make little sense: how would you explain (just as an example) that on the original earth a modern day Medean Empire coexisting on the same earth as a french empire which is a direct descendant of the Napoleonic one ?. Because of this, I'm thinking maybe of simply going with 49 u-transients and make up some pseudo-scientific excuse for the mutual discovery of the uchronies. It would also help to concentrate on the cold war aspect.
What thinks you ? --Marcpasquin 00:30, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)