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Babylon?
bluegrassbeast
Posts: 1,906 Arc User
So, this might be a valid source for a character of mine...
As I understand it, Babylon is essentially 'every city, ever, historical and fictitious, all blended together,' and its magic takes a decided technological aspect,correct?
Does that include blasted ruined cities, post-apocalyptic style, and would that magic include "making devices based on disproven but highly-imagined scientific concepts and outdated technology function'?
As I understand it, Babylon is essentially 'every city, ever, historical and fictitious, all blended together,' and its magic takes a decided technological aspect,correct?
Does that include blasted ruined cities, post-apocalyptic style, and would that magic include "making devices based on disproven but highly-imagined scientific concepts and outdated technology function'?
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For the image or concept of a city to take form in Babylon, it has to have penetrated the widespread public consciousness and imagination as an iconic archetype. Mere size isn't enough. Victorian London is more "real" and present in Babylon than modern-day London. Hiroshima, with its cherry trees within sight of nuclear devastation, is more prominent than Tokyo. Purely fictional cities in Babylon would be like the Emerald City of Oz, or Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
Possible fictional post-apocalyptic cities to have materialized as a district in Babylon could include the domed city from the movie, Logan's Run; Judge Dredd's sprawling "Mega-City One;" New York from the movies, Soylent Green, or Escape from New York.
Magic and technology have a weird coexistence in Babylon, based on the fact that while the dimension itself is highly magical, modern cities are defined by technology. For example, many people treat their vehicles, appliances, etc. as being alive, so in Babylon some of them are. Many cities have trouble with packs of stray dogs -- Babylon has packs of stray cars. "Elementals" in Babylon can include Smog or Toxic Waste; Electricity; or Plastic. The native species of Babylon, called Conurbites, look mostly human, but with smooth plastic-looking skin like store manikins, sometimes incorporating bits of metal, glass, ceramic, or machinery. They can morph parts of their bodies into tools or appliances, including things to attack with.
Actual blending of science and magic, technology and sorcery, is very rare because the disciplines are so different; but it isn't unknown. Moreover, the presence of ambient magic on Champions Earth is what "loosens" the laws of physics enough to make radical scientific breakthroughs possible. (Technological devices created this way are still technology, not magic.) I would say if it works for your concept, there's enough precedent to go for it.
I just wish I could do HandyMan properly in CO. When originally conceived in Champs (3rd ed), he had a Cosmic Point Pool limited by access to parts, even if they were junk parts. Basically, he was a version of the X-Man Forge, except his inventions always looked like the trash they were made from (like the Robot Incapacitator, an electrical projector that looked like two empty soup cans hot-glued together and stuffed with the parts from a child's sparking toy because those were the basic components). (He was also subject to paranoid delusions, believing that robots were trying to replace humans and take over the world, and he ran into just enough robot villains to keep the delusion going...)
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Silverspar on PRIMUS
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Never had the opportunity to play Deadlands, but the setting looked downright fascinating - steampunk mad science run by burning the souls of the damned... The poker-hand mechanic it started off with was, IMO, a little difficult to get behind, but it did give it a unique flavor that was missing when it was removed in later editions.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Most inhabitants of Babylon are humans, but The Mystic World describes a number of others, some quite bizarre by our standards. On one of my previous posts above, I mentioned some of the "elementals" which are native to Babylon: toxic waste, smog, electricity, or plastic. It's not hard to imagine what abilities they might have, but I could suggest some based on past published examples. The Conurbites, in addition to their body-morphing ability, may have the power to transmute other matter, and/or to mentally control machines. Mundane machines can also be alive. In fact in Babylon, anything shaped to resemble a living thing might come to life itself, like paintings, toys, or statues (including decorative gargoyles). All such can at least talk, while some are mobile.
Some of Babylon's animals are intelligent and can speak. They form communities away from the sight of humans. Anything that lives feral in a modern city could have an intelligent representative in Babylon: dogs, cats, rats, raccoons, pigeons, even roaches. Some of the more wild imaginings of urban wildlife are real in Babylon too, such as giant sewer alligators.
Many pop culture icons, either imagined or real (but deceased), have dopplegangers in Babylon: Elvis and JFK; Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper; Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny. Urban legends such as Bloody Mary are also real. If Babylon existed in a universe that included DC Comics, there'd undoubtedly be a Batman stalking the Gotham City district. It would be reasonable to create an analogue to any of those characters, with abilities appropriate to them, hailing from Babylon.
Since Babylon combines cities from all time periods, you could also have characters who appear to come from other eras, without having to deal with actual time travel: Spartan hoplites, medieval knights, samurai, etc.
If that doesn't sufficiently answer your question, feel free to post a followup.
This magical race is analogous to the elves of the dimension of Faerie. The Conurbites live TV-commercial lives of glamour and conspicuous consumption. Just as the elves embody the unpredictable influence of Nature, the conurbites personify the urban environment. They dislike natural surroundings and unprocessed foods. Unlike the elves, who cannot understand any machine more complicated than a water wheel, conurbites love technology. Every conurbite has some technical skill such as Mechanics or Electronics, or a craft skill such as Blacksmith, Weaver, or Painter.
Like the elves, conurbites live forever (unless slain) and lack souls. Also like elves, they tend toward amorality. Conurbites, however, tend to be mercenaries rather than tricksters. Their attitudes to human religious codes range from casual ignorance to biting contempt. Instead, conurbites follow a general code of professional ethics: to do a good job, without regard to the nature of one’s client. Some conurbites are friendly and some are truly vicious, but almost all of them are company men, even when they are self-employed.
Conurbites look very human, mimicking the features and coloration of all the major human racial groups. Conurbites are all good looking, but their features are a little too regular, their skin too smooth, like plastic store mannequins. Their ears are flattened on top. In the last few decades, some conurbites have appeared with small amounts of metal, glass, ceramic, or even machinery in their bodies. A conurbite might have TV screen eyes, teeth made of cut glass, a circuit board with tiny winking lights set in the forehead like a third eye, or nails of polished metal. The appearance and abilities of conurbites may well change in the coming centuries. The race has not yet reached its final form (or forms), and no one knows what that form will be.
Conurbites dress in the high fashion of every district of Babylon, from Roman togas to power suits to acidwashed jeans with $100 sneakers. Some of them hybridize fashions, producing combinations such as business suits embroidered with Chinese dragons, silk cravats worn with studded leather jackets, or turbans with togas.
The innate magical powers of conurbites emphasize the control of force and matter. All conurbites can “morph” part of their body (usually a hand) into some sort of tool or appliance that they can also use as a weapon. (They can also “morph” their hands into the ordinary hand tools they would use in their chosen Professional Skill. For instance, a conurbite auto mechanic could shape his hands into wrenches, a carpenter could make hammers, screwdrivers, and small saws, while a painter would turn her hands into normal brushes or airbrushes.)