Post by Catsmate on Mar 10, 2015 18:01:48 GMT
In his apartments at the top of the Hourglass Club the man who called himself, and had come to think of himself as, Gandalf Grey was studying the newspapers. A pile of them, British, French, German and Russian amongst others. Plus a stack of telegraph flimsies, letters and messages from agents, contacts and acquaintances across Europe and Asia.
He poured a cup of tea from the service one of the club's stewards had left, and drank. It was cold. Not surprising really, he'd been awake for days and couldn't remember is last proper meal.
His notes on the Event were probably as detailed and comprehensive as any in the time and place. Even the British government had asked him to advise them, highly unusual given their usual policy of police avoidance of the club. Someone there knew something was wrong; sot that surprising given their agents.
But what to do. He looked at the mosaic of aerial photographs he'd arranged for; local technology only of course, but quite sufficient to see the devastation of the city
He pondered to himself, "who could be responsible". And more importantly "How can we fix this?".
He poured a cup of tea from the service one of the club's stewards had left, and drank. It was cold. Not surprising really, he'd been awake for days and couldn't remember is last proper meal.
His notes on the Event were probably as detailed and comprehensive as any in the time and place. Even the British government had asked him to advise them, highly unusual given their usual policy of police avoidance of the club. Someone there knew something was wrong; sot that surprising given their agents.
But what to do. He looked at the mosaic of aerial photographs he'd arranged for; local technology only of course, but quite sufficient to see the devastation of the city
He pondered to himself, "who could be responsible". And more importantly "How can we fix this?".
But what if that explosion was relocated a little bit? The Russian capital of St. Petersburg is on the some line of latitude...
- I know that orbital mechanics is more complicated than this, simply delaying the comet/asteroid/meteor would cause it to miss the Earth, by about three million kilometres in fact.
It is Wednesday the 22nd of July 1908, 22 days after the Russian Empire's capital city of St. Petersburg was obliterated by some sort of cosmic impact.
- All dates are in the Gregorian calendar though Russia hadn't switched form the Julian in 1908 so the impact occurred on 17 June using their calender.
- Technically the event wasn't an impact as the object detonated between 6,000 and 10,000m above the Earth's surface
About a million and a quarter people died in the destruction of the city, with as many as half a million more more injured. Amongst the dead were most of the Russian Imperial family (in the Summer Palace to the south of the city but within the butterfly shaped blast) and their court, including their adviser Rasputin. Also killed were the higher echelons of the civil service and secret police, much the Russian Baltic Fleet, and most of the central government apparatus, Duma, intelligentsia and nobility.
Impact and aftereffects
The impact happened at 10:17 on Tuesday the 30th of June, preceded by a column of bluish light, nearly as
bright as the Sun, moving across the sky. Everything within about ten kilometres of the centre of the city is destroyed immediately, with heavy destruction out to a further thirty kilometres. Fires were ignited out to about sixty kilometres, adding further casualties to the toll.
The shockwave radiated out from the blast with sufficient force to break windows in Helsinki and Tallinn, hundreds of kilometres away and be detectable in Britain. The explosion was audible in London, Barcelona, Athens, Berlin, Vienna and Rome, announcing that something had happened.
Across the world seismic stations registered a magnitude 5.0 earthquake.
For several nights afterward night skies in Asia and Europe had a visible glow, leading to further fears about the events. Observatories logged a decrease in atmospheric transparency (caused by increase in suspended dust particles) that hasn't abated.
- The glow was caused by ice particles that had formed at high altitudes from water lost by the impactor.
Within hours investigations of the ruins of St Petersburg had begun and information was being telegraphed around the world.
Reaction within Russia.
Russia in 1908 was still a primarily agrarian country, and quite superstitious. The destruction of the capital and death of much of Imperial family is widely seen as a visible sign of God’s displeasure; though displeasure with whom depends on which faction is speaking (usually shouting). The orthodox Orthodox line is that the "sainted Romanovs" were called to heaven away from the "wicked sinfulness" of the people, and blames the usual suspects; liberals, reformers, socialists, intellectuals, atheists and, of course, Jews.
The unorthodox Orthodox line is that it was the fault of the Romanovs and their libertine foreign ways. Plus the usual suspects.
While things haven't gotten bad yet there are stories from Moscow (the de-facto capital) of violence against foreigners, the start of a new round of anti-Jewish pogroms and an outbreak of religous preachers. The Patriarch of Moscow has spoken publicly about the need to purge Mother Russia of pernicious foreign influences.
- Technically Vasily Nikiforovich Bogoyavlensky wasn't Patriarch of Moscow but Metropolitan of Moscow (with the name Vladamir) but the older title was commonly used. He appears to have been moderate by the standards of the time criticising Rasputin's influences and decrying the Protocols of the Elders of Zion while maintaining the standard Orthodox lines of anti-Semitism and nationalism. He's firmly of the "sainted Romanovs" faction.
Due to the unrest and the generally poor communications not much is known about the happenings in rural Russia. There are numerous survivors in line-of-succession to the Imperial throne, however exactly who will be the next Tsar isn't definite and there's no plans for a coronation as yet.
Reaction from other countries.
The confusion and disorder in Russia is being seen as both a threat and an opportunity in other countries. Germany especially is eying Poland and the Baltics, and is inclined to support Finnish independence (under a suitable member of the Prussian royal family naturally). The Ottomans, the Japanese and the British are also eying the Russian Empire "with knife, fork and spoon to shovel as much on our plates as possible" as one commentator put it.
- Yep that's a Terry Pratchett reference.
The Japanese (who beat Russia rather comprehensively in 1905) are looking a Vladivostok and Manchuria. And perhaps dominating all of Siberia. Austria-Hungary is looking forward to a freer hand in the Balkans; without Russian support Serbia is likely to be absorbed by Austria during the inevitable next round of Balkan Wars (historically 1911).
Turkey is interested in reclaiming its ancestral territories in Crimea and Transcaucasia.
Britain is, as always, focused on India, and looking at a suitable buffer in central Asia.
Everyone is eager to "restore order" to Russia, in much the same way they dud five years earlier in China, after the Boxer Rebellion. Many wonder will Russia survive as a nation at all.
There's also an interesting pair of movements starting around the world. One group (the religious) views this as a sign of the End Times and the world will end soon. This is noticeable in the USA especially and may well effect the coming elections. The other, competing, movement is more scientific and warns that more impacts might happen and it's time to plow some serious money into science to Be Ready.
Globally the economic effects are likely to worsen the existing Depression
So what happened?
Something or someone altered the course of whatever lump of cosmic debris that 'should' have safety exploded over Siberia, killing a million or so people and altering history rather drastically.
Involving the PCs.
It's a fairly gross change to history so most people with a knowledge of history should notice changes pretty quickly. If the party arrives in (say) 1950 to find a very different World War in progress, or recently ended, then a little investigating might be needed to find the change. If they arrive soon after the Event it'll be pretty obvious except to those grossly ignorant of human history.
Cause.
Loosely there are three possible sets of motivations for the change.
1. Accident.
The change was down to something unintended, perhaps a passing spacecraft triggers a chain of events that causes a minor alteration in the asteroid's trajectory. Ooops.
Fix: The PCs will need a craft capable of space and time travel and the ability to correct the course of the impactor. Plus a good computer to chart the trajectory.
2. Malice.
The change was deliberate, but with no supporting plan. Perhaps just a random act of destruction, or someone wondering what will happen. Whomever is responsible may be monitoring the situation or not.
Fix: Go back in time and stop the change.
3. Planned intervention
This is the most interesting cause (in my opinion anyway). Someone has deliberately and spectacularly destroyed St. Petersburg as part of a plan to change history and is supporting this plan wit other acts. They may be planning on grabbing power in Russia, manipulating events to carve out their own empire. Or they many be associated with other governments, British, Japanese or German seem most probable, as part of a longer term power grab. They could be British/Japanese/German nationalists who plan to assist their country to prosper in the new history. Or they may be more idealistic and plan to eliminate the Great War, the Communist revolution and subsequent horrors.
- This could be linked to my other Edwardian adventure ideas with the same group (or a splinter from it) involved in the destruction of St. Petersburg.
Comments? Complaints? Suggestions? Requests?
