by James Cambias and Phil Masters

Art by William C. Eaken

When Steve Jackson Games acquired the license to publish a

GURPS version of R. Talsorian's Castle Falkenstein, they had an
obvious problem to solve: there was a full-scale game already
out there, complete with a half-dozen supplements, and the new
book was going to have to be consistent not only with the
specific contents of those books, but also with the feel and
"traditions" of the old game. The whole point of the license was
that Castle Falkenstein is a game with a following, a fan base;
losing what made it so popular would have been a mistake.

Perhaps fortunately, the company knew a couple of authors

who'd written for both GURPS and Falkenstein, and we were able
to do the job on the timescale that the company wanted. As a
bonus, because we had both written Castle Falkenstein
supplements that had not been published when R. Talsorian
Games put the line on hold, we were able to add a certain
amount of previously-unpublished material to the mix. On the
other hand, that added yet more to the size of the finished
project. Even after a certain amount of cutting back, this is a
relatively large supplement, and some things never made it into
the final draft. One particularly interesting cut item was a
discussion of how the parachronic explorers of Infinity Unlimited
(from GURPS Time Travel) would deal with the unique perils and
opportunities of the Castle Falkenstein universe.

Castle Falkenstein and Infinity

The world of GURPS Castle Falkenstein is a rich and interesting
campaign setting, but now that a GURPS adaptation exists, it can
also be combined with other GURPS material. One obvious, if dramatic, possibility
involves the "Infinity Unlimited" setting described in GURPS Time Travel. Suppose
that Infinity and its corps of Paracops stumbled across this parallel?

As soon as parachronic explorers finish surveying the world code-named

Falkenstein, Infinity would surely wish to keep it secret, for several reasons. First, all
"weird parallels" with magic or other supernatural powers are considered very
dangerous, and Infinity doesn't want casual visitors meddling with powers they don't
understand. Second, the Castle Falkenstein world already has factions capable of a
form of parachronic travel themselves. The Faerie visit other worlds through the
Faerie Veil, and magicians appear to be able to reach other realities. Infinity and the
Paracops have enough on their plate coping with Centrum's agents, and adding
multiple Falkensteinian explorers with their own conflicting agendas would only
create headaches for the Infinity Council.

However, it may be impossible to keep Falkenstein entirely under wraps. The chance
to study magic in a world which has already begun to apply scientific methods to
sorcery would be very tempting, and technical experts might want to learn more
about Falkenstein's weird steampunk technology, or even the secrets of Engine
Magick. Finally, Falkenstein seems to be a whole universe with the Weirdness
Magnet disadvantage. Despite Infinity's best efforts, parachronic traders and Time
Tours groups may wind up blundering into New Europa. Once word leaks out, it will
be hard to ban Time Tours from running package tours of Falkenstein for Victorian-
wannabes and fantasy fans. Consider how much people would pay for the chance
to meet fictional characters like Captain Nemo and Sherlock Holmes . . . or Count
Dracula.

The discovery of not one but two non-human factions with inter-universal travel (the
Seelie and Unseelie faeries), and magicians with similar powers, is close to Infinity's
worst nightmare: parachronic travellers completely outside their control. The only
relief would be that magicians and faeries seem severely restricted in the range of
worlds they can reach, and their powers may not work in most universes.

The Falkensteinians also seem to insist that their interdimensional travels take them
through a region of "pure energy," the so-called "Faerie Veil," which does not seem
to correspond to Infinity's understanding of how parachronic travel works. Perhaps
Infinity Inc. technology traverses this region instantly, leaving its users none the
wiser, or perhaps the Veil is itself a parallel universe, with extremely unusual natural
laws. Interestingly, all the material worlds visited by the Faerie seem to follow the
same general course of history, even though their physical laws vary widely. Perhaps
the Veil only allows access to a limited number of worlds, or perhaps the Faerie
simply don't have enough imagination to find weirder alternates.

Falkenstein's numerous inventors and scientific masterminds may be more difficult

to control. Once a Falkensteinian inventor gets the idea that interdimensional travel
is possible, it's only a matter of time before a jerry-built conveyor controlled by
brass levers and powered by banks of sputtering electric cells goes careening
across the time streams. The risk isn't so much what a party of stalwart Victorian
adventurers might do, but the thought of such a home-built device falling into the
hands of the good people of Shikaku-Mon or Reich-5 is enough to give even a
Centrum agent nightmares! To keep the Secret, Infinity's Paracops may have to
kidnap a few scientific geniuses from their Falkenstein laboratories, and perhaps
destroy some manuscripts before their eccentric scientist authors can submit them
to the Royal Society. Heroic characters in a GURPS Castle Falkenstein campaign
may be called in to investigate the mysterious rash of disappearing inventors, and
may find themselves doing battle with the fiendish Invaders From Beyond Time!
Infinity's agents may have some trouble learning the true state of affairs in
Falkenstein. If they simply stop in the British Museum and grab some encyclopedias
to take home, they will learn nothing about such major factions as the Second
Compact, the alliance between the Unseelie and the Prussians, or the menace of the
World Crime League. Agents in a followup team may well think they are visiting a
relatively harmless Victorian parallel, until a Criminal Mastermind or Dark Lord
decides to take them captive and learn about their outtime technology.

The Secret Is Out

Once the threat of the Unseelie is

understood, an alliance with the Second
Compact would seem very attractive, and
to blazes with the risk of giving the Seelie
too much knowledge. Various Homeline
governments might try to befriend their
Falkenstein equivalents; in the case of the
United States, the extent of secret
Freemason control might not be apparent
to a casual inspection, and the hidden
rulers of Falkenstein America would love
to get TL8 weapons from Homeline's USA
to deal with the Twenty Nations once and
for all. In the case of the United Kingdom,
the British Empire of Falkenstein might
wish to help its "fallen" Homeline twin
regain its rightful position as leader of the
world!

The knowledge that their world is

considered a quaint and old-fashioned place by the people of Homeline could either
be a devastating blow to the confidence and optimism of Falkenstein's leaders . . .
or might stimulate empire-builders to seek out new opportunities beyond the Faerie
Veil. On the other hand, the fact that Infinity and Homeline have almost no
knowledge of Magick would certainly increase the prestige of the various Sorcerous
Orders, and it is possible that the governments of Falkenstein would try to balance
the superior technology of the outworlders with magic.

Falkenstein is probably on a Quantum level inaccessible to Centrum; if not,

Centrum's rationalist distaste for magic would likely lead them to ignore it anyway.
However, if they did intervene, they might support the British Steam Lords and
American Freemasons in the quest to construct a rational, English-speaking world
government. This would logically lead to Centrum allying with Infinity and the Second
Compact against the Unseelie, but it would probably be a highly uncertain
partnership, rife with distrust and double-dealing. Centrum's agents are dangerously
inexperienced in negotiation with powerful nonhuman beings, while the Unseelie
have centuries of practice in tricking and manipulating mortals. The Adversary might
well fool them completely, making Centrum think they were pulling the strings even
as they did exactly what he wants. Once discovered, an Unseelie-Centrum axis
would cause Infinity to hit the panic button, hard!

In this context, hitting the panic button would probably involve overt military action
by Infinity and the Homeline great powers on a number of parallel worlds including
Falkenstein itself. The cost of transport would make it impossible to deploy
overwhelming force, but regiment-sized cadres of early TL8 units working in
conjunction with local allies would be a potent force. Gamemasters who like to run
military campaigns can have lots of fun exploring the potential of tanks and
helicopter gunships (supported by dragons, flying cavalry and the awesome Verne
Cannon), pitted against steam Landfortresses, pirate airships, and the Wild Hunt!

Article publication date: September 1, 2000

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