Worldbuilding Podcast: The Shift, Part I

on March 21, 2015 in MU Blog

So, this is more laying the groundwork for a deeper discussion of The Shift by talking about the background of the Chaos Wars. The Shift proper will be dealt with in part 2. The Shift will end up being three separate mini-casts of probably 15 to 20 minutes each. The reason for breaking it up like this is it would have ended up being huge if I’d done it as a single podcast, and the problem with doing these in cold months is it takes a huge toll on my voice to begin with.

Big thanks to those who’ve pitched in since yesterday. Please keep it coming.


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5 Responses to “Worldbuilding Podcast: The Shift, Part I”

  1. Jennifer says:

    These are SO AWESOME. I adore your world building.

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  2. zeel says:

    So “human rights” aren’t really a thing? It’s “human privilege” instead. That certainly explains a few things.

    In an interesting reversal, in our history the US was using socialism as the excuse for war – which is, in a way, more lawful than capitalism.

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    • Nocker says:

      Privileges are only privileges until they can be removed. Given that pseudo-military drills are a popular sport and the populace is well armed, actually enforcing the difference probably isn’t viable, even before you get to the idea of a conscripted army being used against it’s own populace fighting at maximum effectiveness.

      I’m thinking there’s a REASON that the groups with privileges are also the ones with the most collective organization and fighting power. LAW can’t go after major dragons by their own admission, meanwhile Paladins and Bards can and do and they’re the two most notable groups there.

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    • Nocker says:

      I think the underlying logic, beyond ideological names, is still the same. That is to say, you have an enemy, and if they get too much power they could wipe you out utterly in a way conventional weapons can’t.

      People are quick to forget exactly what was at stake during the Cold War, or that the whole “Red Scare” thing was kicked off by multiple soviet spies giving out dangerous information that wound up legitimately risking global nuclear destruction multiple times(and still does, we just don’t like to talk about it as much).

      Law and Chaos aside, the real idea is more or less just to prevent another Malbus from what I gather. Even one wave like that catching a base unaware is probably enough to tear down a city that hasn’t got a convenient dragon battalion. As in real life people are clearly overzealous more than not, but given the sheer scale of both risk and danger it’s kind of hard not to be sometimes.

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  3. Readaholic says:

    Sounds like the Khazarus/Shift, is like the late, much lamented Terry Pratchett’s “miles and miles of bloody Uberwald”, only with the additional insanity-inducing property (in mapmakers and beauraucrats) of being literally unmappable and unmeasurable.

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