Doctor Manuel refuses to accept any version of reality other than the one he sees. That version includes Egyptians with iron weapons.
When the heroes return to Hotel Cairo, they find a message waiting for them from Professor Robinson. In the message he expresses his gratitude for the heroes having spent their time to come and help him, but he explains that he feels he no longer needs their aid as his magnetism theory really doesn’t need any outside support after all.

In reply to The Great Karnac (msg # 316):

"before you do cast us out Doctor. Just by checking this little thing we call a computer I find that indeed your theory does have historical justification and I am quoting here

quote:

"The main metals used in ancient Egypt were copper, gold, silver, and iron. Copper and gold were more abundant, while silver was relatively rare, and iron emerged very late in Egyptian history (only in the first millennium BCE, although meteoritic iron was already in use as early as the fourth millennium BCE)."

So if it is alright with you I would like to stay and listen to your presentation.
  Good boy K9 thanks for the heads up."

"Master it is why I am"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:55, Sun 04 Apr 2021.

"Dr Robinson might have dismissed us, we can still spend some time here in Cairo. His reaction is quite surprising; or maybe not if he is driven totally by his ego."

Darryl adds "and the fact that his theory about the pyramids being erected by Superbeings then changing to Magnetism as the cause isn't worrying to you because????" Darryl was certain that someone was monkeying around with time. He checked his notes to see if there were any worldwide experts on time-traveling and ripple effects. Other than Drifter, of course. The man might be able to do it, but he could not detect it nor analyze its locus.



09:17, Today: Darryl Starre rolled 7 using 3d6.  KS The Superhuman World 13-.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Sun 04 Apr 2021.

In reply to Darryl Starre (msg # 319):

"To be frank Master Starre! I am not worried about a theory as it is just that a theory. Black Holes, The sinking of Atlantis (when we have seen in person that one version of that story the city was submerged not sunk and on a totally different planet in the Pegasus galaxy... if I got my reference right.  Theories are just a lot of possibilities that might have some actual merit.

I am not even worried that there might be some entities manipulating things in the background.

Governments do it often and the only time the population worry is if things start to inconvenience them.  But that is what we have the Media for... to show us common people what is in the works.  However a road trip is a road trip and well as KO has pointed out we are in a tourist area.  We could make the best of it and get to know a little about Cave Crusader the newest member to this rag tag group of unusual individuals."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:38, Sun 04 Apr 2021.

Shade waits until the group has slightly more privacy before slipping out of the shadows. "Do you guys want me to do a quick check of Ciro to see if any other changes have happened?"

The city hasn't changed, much. There is a bit more architecture with a pyramidal scheme, formerly unadorned columns are now structural statuary. There are signs, in many places, indicating Cairo is the capital of the Egyptian Hegemony.
Other than that, it's pretty much the same as it was before you entered the museum.

"Oui. That would be appreciated, Monsieur Shade. And try to stay low. I am actually more concerned about fellow heroics being misguided." Stuntman had to admit to himself that the "quick solution" had crossed his mind. Acting on that, of course, would be an admission that he could not roll with a group of real superheroes - an inability to keep a promise.

Besides, it was too early to dramatically break that promise. They had just met. Also, he didn't think Manuel was malicious - merely dangerous. More like a tiger walking down the sidewalk than a tiger stalking people in the bushes; potential danger as opposed to active danger.

He gave his firearms a quick glance inside his duster. He was hoping they hadn't been turned into crossbows or something. "My fellows, this is not ideas being true. This is ideas being made true. This is different. Manuel might be more terrifying then he realizes. Did anyone else catch the change to his voice?"

Shade vanishes and returns shortly with the said information. Shade had seen Ciro the before the change, and any obvious differences would be noticed. Any place he had used shadow senses would show him thier differences.

"So...what if the whole world has changed? I mean...is this limited to Ciro or is this a whole Back to the Future situation with Biff in charge of everything? I can quickly check back home as well..."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 11:03, Mon 05 Apr 2021.

"Hopefully nothing has been changed before the Egyptian kingdoms. I unfortunately do not know much about Egypt as it rose and fell during my sleep". 

Starre turns to Drifter. "Drifter, I already know that you can travel to different Realities. Do you possess the ability to detect changes in a Reality? To analyze how those alterations are taking place?" Might as well ask while Drifter was mostly present....

In reply to Darryl Starre (msg # 326):

"That is an definite no, yet a subtle yes Mr Starre.  With a little check on the local Market Values and Public Supers I might get at least a rough idea of location Dimensional locations.  No point in shipping chocolate to a place that has banned coco if you get my Drift :P

We need a paper with some market data.  Do you have a Omnicomp?  Have yet to find one anywhere but I know that the idea is out there"

"Let me make some calls 1st before I head out..."

The easiest thing he could think of is to contact his job. They where a major media empire, and he knew enough people there for them to give him the lowdown. Of course, he had to pretend like nothing was wrong. His text messages had to be subtle.

Ooc-07:04, Today: Shade rolled 13 using 3d6.  Rolling on group media contact . 13 or less roll.

Blizzard still believed it was most likely someone had messed with time. Given the new prominence of Egypt in the modern era it had to be someone with at least nominal ties to Egypt. Someone that would have benefited. Perhaps a descendant of the Pharoahs or a High Priest. Still he didn't know enough about such people to know who had the power to enact such a change.

He suggested to the others, "Perhaps we should seek out a bookstore and get a modern map and perhaps some books on history? That way we might could narrow down what's happened, as the change would likely occur when the history there deviates from our history."

Stuntman rolled his eyes. He hated indecision. He knew the situation was dangerous, he knew how it was dangerous, and he knew something needed to be done.

"Perhaps we could ask Monsieur Manuel who taught him so much about history. Perhaps that would provide some insights. In fact, while all of you are trying to figure out la dévastation de la campagne," He sighed. He was speaking French in an non-French land. This was not Moracco or Algeria. "Why everything is gone. It doesn't matter. These things happen. Usually its a scientist, or a supremacist, or a god, or an insane AI. You can debate. I'll be talking to Manuel."

He still had to make sure he didn't make Manuel realize he could potentially kill them all, though. He walked over, and proceed to ask Manuel exactly what he said they should ask:

"Who taught you so much about history?"

17:49, Today: The Stuntman rolled 9 using 3d6.  Conversation TN 8-, just in case it is needed. I hope it is not needed, or that I have a hidden bonus for playing to his interests.

In reply to The Stuntman (msg # 330):

"who ever said he was taught history?"

Current status
1. Meteoritic Iron
   • Doctor Manuel explains that the weapons on display weren't made from meteoritic iron
   • the ore for the weapons had to have been mined from some lost mine
   • it's not uncommon for scholars to make fruitless excursions into the Sahara believing the mine to be there, covered in sand
2. Temporal Physics is a shallow, some say meaningless, field of study
   • no one knows any specialists, not even Darryl Starre
   • those with doctorates in physics know a little about it
3. Drifter could detect dimensional shifts, the changes are not
4. Media contacts
   • other than being asked why he's interested in the first country continent the media contact doesn't give anyone any new information
5. Maps
   • modern maps show the entire continent of Africa as The Egyptian Hegemony
   • the United States includes the Baha California Peninsula, Sonora, and Chihuahua
6. History
   • Egypt does not decline and there is an Egyptian representative at most historically important events
   • the American Civil War lasted twenty-five years, mostly due to the Egyptian Hegemony's support of the Confederate States, the dissolution of the Confederacy dealt a severe economic blow to Egypt
   • the United States was deliberately isolationist till World War I as they recovered from this exercise in self-immolation
   • after Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination, Egyptian forces bolstered the ranks of their German allies for a short time, more of the Egyptian forces were felled by weather than by bullets
   • when the American forces entered the World War I battlefield, they terrified the fighting men on both sides, after a generation of killing each other the American people had developed a focus on martial art (not the martial arts) second to none
   • after the war, while Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald built their legends in Paris, Roger Wayne Forsythe and Donner Weehawken scandalized their way through Cairo
   • the blatant racism of the Third Reich gained them the implacable enmity of the Egyptian Hegemony, there appear to have been fewer victories for the German military than you remember
   • the war in the Pacific is little changed
7. Doctor Manuel
   • received his bachelor's degree in history, focused on the African sub-continent from the University of Cairo
   • Received his master's degree in archaeological studies from Loyola (in Chicago)
   • Subsequently received hid doctorate (archaeology) from the University of Cairo

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:23, Thu 29 Apr 2021.

"Well I'm no history buff but I'm pretty sure the Civil War didn't last 25 years in our time," Blizzard said as they gathered information, "What it last 4-5 years then Reconstruction another decade or so, so the fighting went on way to long here. I'm surprised Johnson and Davis wouldn't have sought a peace long before so long a war. I mean I think this is worse than Turtledove's Southern Victory series in our timeline. Egypt never diminishing in power means the real change might be the lack of a Roman Empire, or at least one that never controlled all the Mediterranean. So history diverged centuries before the Americas were ever discovered by Europeans, fascinating."

In reply to Blizzard (msg # 333):

"Look...I really dont wanna go back to the Confederate states of America. We were too close to that already. Any ideas on how we can fix this?"

"I don't suppose any of you can Time Travel?" Blizzard asked.

OOC- point 3 in the above synopsis. Drifter can detect Dimensional shifts...like a temporal ripple effect. This alteration we are seeing is not such an effect. I think Stuntman might be onto something concerning Dr Manuel.

In reply to Blizzard (msg # 333):

_{"your dimension... but is this it"}

OOC: Changing the Timeline does not necessarily change your dimension.....depending on the rules of time the GM is using...

"Master. Calculations indicate a 92.436% probability someone has affected the time stream."

Stuntman did everything he could to keep his eyes from glazing over from Manuel's gleeful description of his life's story. He had asked for it - and he got it, both barrels of it. It explained a lot, actually.

"Oui, oui, but your colleague's theories on ancient history - our raison d'etre relative to this, if you will. Were you around when they dug them up?" This was the real meat of Stuntman's questioning, and he was really hoping that what he had just endured to get it was going to be worth it.