It's not for a sci-fi setting, but I could use some help.
I need help fleshing out and expanding the magic in my setting. To be more specific, I'd like to add more types of magic. As of now, my magic is mostly rune based and comes in three flavors: -Standard runes: runes added to objects to endow them with power (belt of strength, sword of speed, etc). Runic objects are time consuming to make and scale in power parallel to the cost of the item itself (belt with gold and diamonds would be stronger than a leather belt even with the same rune applied). >Scrolls/Binding: sort of related to runes. This involves binding a spirit or spell into an object, typically a scroll or staff (staffs would have room for multiple powers). Releasing the binding casts the spell or gives control of the spirit for a limited time. >Woad/Runic Tattoos: similar to regular runes, these are applied directly to the flesh of a person. The mixing of blood and ink gives the user great control over the use of the rune's power, but unlike regular runes these fade with use. Using a rune of strength as an example, this would be like giving a character a pool of 100 "strength." They can cash in some of that strength at any time, but the more they use at once the faster it goes away. Spells can also be applied via tattoo, but "miscasting" is much more dangerous. I like this system because it encourages players to plan ahead. It's like D&D wizards cranked up to 11; instead of having spells refresh daily after an hour of studying a spellbook, you get a larger number of much more powerful magic, but will be limited to what you start with for most of the campaign, unless you're characters take a month off to revamp their gear.
In all these cases, the more experienced a character is with the specific rune the more powerful it becomes when THEY use it.
I'm also toying with an innate magic ability system that works a bit like demi-gods from Greek Myth.
1/2
Hunter Anderson
2/2 Something like Hercules being super strong. Characters descended from certain bloodlines can get a single magical ability, like speed or speaking to animals or being immune to fire.
I'd also like to include some more traditional magics, but need to work them so that they compliment and compete with the above types without overshadowing them.
I'm planning on including necromancy in some capacity (I have an idea for the first campaign I'd run), and might use some divine casting split between getting power from gods or classic-style demons.
The setting itself is all-human, with ancestor-based polytheism for most religions.
I'm open for ideas and suggestions.
Hunter Morris
You should always include wbg in the title to make it easier to search the catalog and for an SF theme thread include the nasa globe map projector:
Making a Sci-Fi themed Ethnographical questionnaire would be helpful too.
In any case, I'm working out how to make a space dragon/leviathan. It is to be a Terran ship whose AI has gone somewhat insane and is blaming every alien race for the disappearance of the human race. It has rebuilt its body as a massive weapon capable of extreme speed and maneuverability that can be matched only by other pure AI ships with ancient tech at their disposal. It "preys" on ships in its territory and when it encounters an planet with an advanced alien race on it, it smashes it back into the stone age to make them suffer instead of immediate genocide.
It has also been hoarding scraps and artifacts of imperial Terran technology at an old colony world system, hoping to one day find Terrans again and they would need the tech to rebuild. For comparison its like a non-reproducing Berserker in terms of combat, its technology makes it unbeatable in combat, more a force of nature. I have to decide on the basic architecture and systems it uses.
Parker Sullivan
>Something like Hercules being super strong. Characters descended from certain bloodlines can get a single magical ability, like speed or speaking to animals or being immune to fire.
Most the rest of your magic system seems based on runes and their meaning. I'm not sure if bloodline style magic makes much sense in context.
>I'd also like to include some more traditional magics, but need to work them so that they compliment and compete with the above types without overshadowing them.
By traditional, do you mean vancian? You could simulate that by having all prepared casters bind power to an object or objects they carry via runes, such as with your scroll and binding system.
>I'm planning on including necromancy in some capacity (I have an idea for the first campaign I'd run), and might use some divine casting split between getting power from gods or classic-style demons.
Would necromancy come from binding spirits into dead bodies, simply carving runes of motion and servitude into the bones, or marking them with tattoos made from one's blood and ink?
Evan Fisher
I propose to include those links on the OP posts for worldbuilding:
In my sci fi setting space combat does exist, but it is 99% planning because once the shooting starts the fight is pretty much over -- there are no dog fights in space so either you disabled their ship before they returned fire our you didn't, in which case both ships are now in huge trouble.
One big conceit is of course the faster than light travel in my setting which works by doing short "jumps" in the direction the ship is facing. This is a big part of space combat, but there isn't any magic faster method of detection than light. If you spot a ship in the distance, not only would they have been able to spot you, but if you are very far away the ship is not in the position you are seeing it at.
Typically forces planning to engage eachother will be hiding on opposite sides of a planet, or sometimes at much greater distances than that, using laser communication with drones to try and scout the enemy's position while considering that their information will be several seconds, or longer, behind, communication between ships becomes very hard if they are spread out over great distances, and that they need to shoot at enemy drones the moment they are spotted (though by that point they have already been spotted by the drone). When they feel they have enough information on the enemy's position, they jump in and attack. If they didn't plan carefully enough or mis-estimated the position of the ships, the enemy will counterattack.
There is no stealth in space unless you are in blending in among traffic near a station, but I am not sure that counts.
Joshua King
>In my sci fi setting space combat does exist, but it is 99% planning because once the shooting starts the fight is pretty much over -- there are no dog fights in space so either you disabled their ship before they returned fire our you didn't, in which case both ships are now in huge trouble.
So GENOCIDE EVERYTHING is pretty much what happens.
Jacob Garcia
Only tangentially related to sci-fi, would there be any significant effect to Earth having another moon? [the mass of the moons can be altered to avoid unstable orbits, provided one is possible.]
Nicholas Williams
I think altering the moon's mass(spread out in two) would be problematic since it theoretically contributed to the evolution of life on the planet by tidal actions, atmospheric bleeding and I think rotation braking. It also helps shield the planet from strikes.
I don't see how there could be two also if your going by the strike formation route. Captured bodies may be handwaived but you run into the initial issues. An extremely small second moon like a large captured asteroid may the the best option around several issues.
Jose Collins
Tides would become more complicated.
Daniel Bennett
>great leader creates an empire spanning the continent >sets the continents culture and customs in stone >present day is full of small infighting kingdoms who dream of restoring that empire Too cliche?
Joseph Parker
Would it be too laughably implausible to have a 2nd asteroid-moon captured some time around the early years of civilization? (with the interesting mythological situation that early-medieval texts and images clearly show two moons, while the earliest mythologies reference only one.)
Anywhere I can read what kind of practical implications there would be for tides without delving so deeply into science I become hopelessly lost?
Kayden Parker
Hey folks, I've never done something this before but it seems fun to make a world/setting and maybe run as a game or something once fleshed out to play on. I've looked at a few resources but they all seem to bombard you with a lot of information and direction and as someone who's never done this before it seems confusing on where to start and daunting as a whole.
Where do you guys suggest I start at as someone who doesn't know anything about world building? My setting idea is barely at infant stage of some dream mash up of Christian myth + Eastern mythologies, Exalted, Kill Six Billion Demons, and maybe Soul Calibur. At work but will try to respond as soon as possible, thanks.
Andrew Roberts
I like the secondary new moon concept.
Traveller has a >lot< of info on crunchy world building, but I don't remember this covered in detail. It all depends on the size and orbit of Moon #2. Wikipedia has good info on Lagrange points and stable orbits. If they are stable in relation to each other the tides would tend to be regular. if they are like the hands of a clock they will line up periodically and cause dramatic tides.
Brayden Perez
It''s cliché for a reason. Historically great and long lasting empires left huge legacies as they shaped the future by being the foundation of culture, law, civil society and how people view themselves and others.
It would be weird if your great empire didn't leave such a legacy.
Jaxon Morris
Make a modest island kingdom, a few hundred miles across. If you want life even better, use a good premade map. I recommend Kingdoms of Kalamar' map and just put your mashup somewhere. I have made very successful campaigns using a real world map turned sideways. Ireland would not be a bad choice. Find an old map, rename the big cities, look up Ireland in Enc. Britannica 1911, copy down the geological feature info. If your group is Irish, use somewhere else. Go to town building your culture.
Gavin Lopez
More like too normal. Not really a problem though.
>Would it be too laughably implausible to have a 2nd asteroid-moon captured some time around the early years of civilization?
Not really but a lot of the REEEE would come from how it was captured, simple happenstance would feel so contrived(but not impossible) that it could break suspension of disbelief.
Going purely by brute force physics the likeliest way an asteroid/comet can be captured is to have enough speed to escape earth's pull as it comes near enough to capture or be on a collision course. This of course requires a force to reduce its speed enough to get into stable orbit. You can handwave it with magic but another option is to have it glance-bump into something of suitably bigger mass, like the Moon. Loose use of cosmic billiards gives an excuse to reduce speed enough to nudge the body into a capture orbit that may/may not stabilize in time. If the body's mass is small enough momentum imparted to the moon can be said as negligible. The resulting collision should spread debris in orbit and likely cause a lot of rock/ice to fall on earth which may be useful for story purposes. The body will almost certainly be worse for wear and not be spherical.
Julian Taylor
Two moons the size of Earth's natural satellite would not probably survive in stable orbits ("stable" as in surviving hundreds of millions of years). The moons around gas giants have a tiny mass compared to their primaries, and so do Phobos and Deimos compared to Mars. While Pluto and Charon could be considered a double dwarf planet due to their close sizes, the other 4 moons are again tiny. I think that if the Earth-Moon system had another moon, it would have to be so small and orbit around both bodies in such a way that it would only look like a fast moving star to the naked eye. Otherwise, its orbit would probably deteriorate within thousands of years.
Saying it's an asteroid captured recently would certainly be a good way to science it if you don't want to resort to magic.
Here's a photo of Deimos from Mars' surface. It orbits exceptionally close to the planet, so some of its features are visible despite its small size. A captured asteroid might look something like this.
David Parker
The Earth moon system doesn't have truly stable L4/L5 points, but you could perhaps pull off a horseshoe orbit relative to the Earth-Moon system.
Caleb Reed
Sorry for taking so long to reply back. Sort of passed out last night. If I go with the bloodline magic, it will be the original human magic, with runes developing as a way to at first replicate the powers, and later to expand upon them. Still, I see your point.
Necromancy is an odd duck, but I almost want it to be so. It'll include simply speaking with the dead to reanimating corpses, but I don't want it to be to closely related to runic magic. In fact, I'd almost like it to be older, even have it be a threat that led to the bloodline magics coming into being to counter Necromancy.
As fire"traditional" magic, I'm not entirely sure what I meant. I suppose I was trying to say the Isiah fireball throwing stuff, but with the user not requiring runes or scrolls or the like. I'll probably just drop it.
As you can probably tell, I'm still in the early stages of worldbuilding.
Leo Walker
Posting an updated version of my map. Any suggestions/ideas/thoughts?
Kayden Gutierrez
Looks great, actually. I'm a bit worried that the jungle is to close to the main continent to have such a different climate, but that's not a huge issue. Might be fun to have the jungle area be the source of some incredibly important resource. The Empire has to exert considerable effort to hold the territory, which might limit their ability to expand elsewhere, without weakening the overall threat they represent.
Landon Moore
Yeah, I was going for a kind of "New World"/"Era of exploration" feel. I've also left parts of the map purposefully blank, terra incognita, such as the western and eastern parts of the main continent, and the east island. I think this would make it more fun to play in, adds more mystery, and allows me to take a small break to develop other stuff about my world than the map.
Wyatt White
It's fine. A lot of worldbuilding is pitting something in, finding it doesn't fit, and then removing it.
I quite like the idea of Necromancers using spoken word to raise the dead. Maybe music/singing is the source of their power?
>WHAT is it's form of governance? >WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? >HOW are their relationship? >WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? >WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? >WHY does it have to be worried?
Brody Campbell
I like it. But why are there no forests south of the huge ones? It looks lie in your world wind shadow of mountains is a necessity for forests and that orests can't form without it.
Sebastian Turner
>>WHAT is it's form of governance? Elected Prince rules for life. Electors usually support whoever precedecor appointed unless he really fucked up. >>WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? City dwellers are former colonists from an empire that suddenly met an unexpected end mostly live inside city walls. Nomads from steppes as well as some of their agrarian offshots outside >>HOW are their relationship? Originally, colonists were suservent to nomads who acted as military/nobles. However over the course of history merchants grew in influence while nomads suffered decline >>WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? A few hundreds years ago. I haven't worked out timeline properly yet. It didn't change in borders since fall of the empire >>WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? The last exarch and first Successor Prince Nikolai, whose diplomatic skills saved the nation from destruction and slavery at the hands of barbarians. >>WHY does it have to be worried? Internal strife. Many modern nomads are resentful at their loss of wealth and influence and consider breaking the agreement, rebel and invite their cousins who still roam the steppes and take what is rightfully theirs.
Alexander Brooks
I love it. I'm glad I posed these questions, because I never get invested in big walls of text, but these answers absolutely won me over for your setting - It's all humans I assume?
Ian Wilson
Spoken word? Something like True Name magic? That actually sounds pretty good.
Hmm, in a way, wouldn't that be like a verbal representation of runes? Might work as the connection between the different types.
David Adams
>>WHAT is it's form of governance? Government is almost entirely town//castle based, with each large settlement being mostly independent and ruled by a collection of founding families, whose elders rule in a council. Larger political entities exist, but are ill defined and rather weak. Mostly it's about tradition: their ancestors were friends with our ancestors, so we're allied still. That, or due to personal friendships between leaders. A king would have to be charismatic and badass to have any power outside his home city/town. >>WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? Humans. There are 9 Tribes, each broken down into several Clans, which in turn are broken into Families. Your Family/Clan/Tribe is your "nationality." >>HOW are their relationship? Not sure what you mean by this. The current ruling families are descended from leaders from the past. Current "peasants" are descendants of their followers. Nepotism and tradition keep everything stable. Mostly. >>WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? It's a Viking-age tech-level society spread across a large area. As far as the people know, it's always been like this. Some elders grumble about there being more towns/villages nearby than there used to be. History is more of an art than a science. >>WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? Every town/village/city/castle has it's own great hero, but the leaders of the old Nine Tribes (often more than one per tribe) are revered by pretty much everyone. They united the Clans, (mostly) drove out the monsters, and set down the laws governing the people today. Each was considered a great warrior, or had some other trait making them just as valuable. >>WHY does it have to be worried? Not very organized, so powerful foreigners could do a hell of a lot of damage if they invaded. Also, the wilds are home to many man-eating monsters.
Lincoln Green
Yes, those are all humans. I'm not very fond of non-humans.
Anthony Turner
Guess I'll respond for my world: For the Imperial Republic >WHAT is it's form of governance? Imperial Republic (duh) >WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? Humans, almost exclusively. >HOW are their relationship? Former warring kingdoms, now in a (unstable) union. >WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? Haven't figure this out yet. >WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? The first emperor (Whom I haven't decided upon yet) >WHY does it have to be worried? It's a huge multicultural empire, with a bunch of people with their own history and beliefs. Shit's unstable as fuck yo.
Luke Howard
Words, or more accurately Sounds, seem to have shape to them. Ever seen that thing where a row of lighters react to music? Like that. Sounds are nature's runes.
Wyatt Cooper
Works for me. Many thanks, user.
Brayden Edwards
Whats a good type of engine my spaceships could use for purely orbital maneuvers? My FTL is a reactionless warp drive, but doesn't work in planetary gravity wells above a certain size. I want enough delta-v and thrust for ships to move around freely in orbit, but not enough that can travel between planets without FTL.
Isaiah Wilson
Monopropellant?
Camden White
>Who has the best army in your setting?
>How large is it?
>How is it organized?
>Who can serve? Who can't?
>How is the leader chosen?
>What kind of tactics do they use?
>How long has the army been top dog?
>Give me a brief overview of their most famous battle.
Brayden Gonzalez
Naga Empire >WHAT is it's form of governance? Triumverant Monarchy -> Rotating Empire -> Lamian Theocracy >WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? Lamia, Naga, Yuan Ti, Gorgon >HOW are their relationship? Formerlly good, but now openly hostile to the point of a de facto collapse of the empire >WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? Government was founded 200 years ago. It reached its height 1000 years ago. It became its current size 100 years ago. In universe, years are recorded according to the founding of the Naga Empire. The current year is 1473. >WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? Ilam, Sahazel, and Yuan Xo, the first three monarchs Because of the nature of three in the empire, heroic legends always include three >WHY does it have to be worried? Naga invasion, the potential of a Gorgon exit of the Empire, and now the worry of human invaders from the sea.
Brody Bell
>Who has the best army in your setting? A force of mainly human mercenaries. >How large is it? Three sub-armies of about ten thousand men each. >How is it organized? >Who can serve? Able-bodied soldiers, males above the age of 16, females above the age of 18. >Who can't? Women who have children, the sick, those that are judged incapable warriors by recruiters, former POWs who have been with the force less than two years, warlocks that are not of the god of war, deserters, anyone with a history of being a traitor. >How is the leader chosen? Generally the position of head commander is hereditary, but they can be (and often are) replaced in a 'King's Champion' fashion where the band's leader elevates one of his/her subordinates to the position of high general. >What kind of tactics do they use? Terror, fast strikes, high reliance on archery and cavalry. They have a special division of berzerkers that accompany riders and engage strong formations by putting themselves into a poison-induced frenzy while the rider charges at the enemy. The berzerker would then jump off his ally's horse and begin to butcher the enemy formation from the inside, heedless to his own safety. If the riders can't break into enemy formations, the berzerkers fix that by engaging the offending formation in hand-to-hand while receiving archer support from the rider,s who back up and fire over their troops' heads. >How long has the army been top dog? They've broken up and reformed several times over the history of the setting. The current unit has been the strongest military force in the world for six years, but they've been the strongest on-and-off for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Camden Allen
>Give me a brief overview of their most famous battle. The reason they have such a long-lasting impact on the setting is that they were participant in the last age's end and reformation. They were much smaller at that time, allegedly numbering 37, but regardless, set up a perimeter against the forces of chaos while the 'PC party' of the time attacked the head warlock of the demon responsible. The mercenary leader himself fought a shadow dragon one-on-one. Since the world's population at the time was decimated to perhaps a thousand at the time, these were the only people that could be scrounged up in time to make the rush for the warlock. If the effort had failed, pretty much everyone would be screwed.
Logan Robinson
So your setting is cool with female soldiers? Or is it just this group? Might I ask the gender ratio for the army?
Oh, and you say they're mercenaries. Who can afford to hire such a large army? Also, what do they do when they don't currently have an employer?
Elijah Fisher
In a setting I'm making, corporations started a "gold rush" in the asteroid belt, and many had plans for colonies on other planets. Things were going pretty well, Earth saw a huge revival of space travel, however, the population crisis has hit an all time high, cities have started pushing their borders further and further and leaving little room for farmland, while wars started due to limited room and farmland. This led many people to sign up for colony programs and PMCs for spacefaring corporations, since the ships are seen as self sustainable and the colonies as bountiful. These factors lead humanity to expanding in the solar system at a massive pace.
The fact that these corporations were able to feed and give meaning to the colonists where governments failed led to the death of nationalism, and gave birth to a whole new ideal; corporatism. Imagine brand loyalists on a whole new level. Around the time that this movement was gaining momentum, PMCs became so loyal to their corporations that they became a literal army for them, able to recruit from their colonies and receiving funding straight from the corporation.
Now with most of the solar system colonized in one way or another, the willingness of space travel, and the potential profits, and the new warp drive being developed, humanity has begun exploring nearby stars, and discovering all of the fucked up shit out there.
Ryder Green
Larry Niven's 'Known Space' setting.
Adrian Richardson
Aww man. I had a feeling the idea was taken already. Any ideas on how I can give it it's own twist? If it's any help, I'm making it a setting for stuff like Event Horizon or the Alien franchise.
Colton Wilson
>Who has the best army in your setting? Probably the nation of Aquileon >How large is it? A bit under half a million men. >How is it organized? Fairly similarly to the German army of the 1880s >Who can serve? Who can't? Women can serve in non-combat roles but frontline roles are male exclusive. The Aquilonese Republic is fairly racially mixed due to a long period as the Aquilonese Empire's heartland, so racial prejudice isn't a big factor. >How is the leader chosen? The Commander in Chief of the Aquilonese Army is appointed by the Republic's Council, ensuring democratic influence on the army's control. >What kind of tactics do they use? The Aquilonese Army emphasizes that artillery is king; artillery officers are senior to infantry officers of equivalent rank, and the infantry's main purpose is to support the artillery, >How long has the army been top dog? A little less than thirty years. When the Aquilonese Empire collapsed, the majority of the army's officers went over to the seceding province of Astaria, but those who remained built the army over again in a professional model based on personal achievement rather than aristocratic connections. Without a major war to fight, the army has gone untested since then, but it's confident of being able to take its foreign counterparts on and defend the Republic >Give me a brief overview of their most famous battle. N/A. The army hasn't fought any major battles yet.
Anthony Hernandez
Setting is cool with female soldiers in the sense that fantasy females generally have the 'PC potential' as well. If you can't cut muster, you can't join. The male-female ratio of the mercs is 50-1 at BEST, though, mostly because A) Most women don't like to put themselves at risk of being part of the army/don't like bloodshed/don't like being around soldiers all the time B) They face discrimination regardless of ability due to the fact that they generally take indirect combat roles (ie: they're cowardly) and that most who try don't make the cut C) Women are seen as more necessary for up-keeping population and as such it's generally considered idiotic to put them on the field of battle >Who can afford to hire such a large army? They normally don't field all of their men at once because they're generally paid appeasement to keep to themselves by surrounding nations. When they are hired, it's usually in bands of no more than 100, or even 10. They get requests from far-off nations for temporary service or military and tactics training. In fact, one of the nations they're currently at war with had a tendency to hire them as guards for slaves, a fact that caused one of the biggest coordinated turnover of resources in history as all of these seperate guard groups suddenly turned on the plantation/shop/land/slave owners and took all of their stuff. >Also, what do they do when they don't currently have an employer? Anyone who isn't training or working is foraging or hunting- the plains they have access to are massive, which along with the appeasement sustains their population. They have a tendency to break up into tribes over long periods of time (they were only re-united recently after two-hundred years of infighting and seperation), so this is basically unusual for them. If that's still not enough, they go north and bust a few settlement heads for 'support'.
Parker White
So they're like a mini-nation of mercenaries, or a knightly order without the knights? I can dig it.
Henry Cox
Since you seem to be making your first forays into writing sci fi, I'd suggest reading a lot more. Check out the Known Space series to start with. Rough order for reading
World of Ptaavs A Gift From Earth Neutron Star Protector Ringworld
Bentley Butler
They would be considered a kingdom if they were to say, build castles, or stop fighting each other and surrounding areas long enough to settle down. There's jokes about them that they enjoy fighting so much that they forget they're mercenaries until they get paid, or one more common one is as such: Two hundred or so of their goons meet up with one ambitious mayor who pays them in advance to attack an enemy city. A few days later, they come back and start laying waste to the city that hired them. The mayor come out and begs them to stop, and they tell him they got paid by the other city to sack this one, also in advance. When the mayor begs them and says "Whatever he paid you, I'll pay you more," the reply comes, "Yeah, that's what the other guy said. We sacked them, too."
Aaron Taylor
But that would make them completely unreliable. Who would ever hire them? Why hasn't anyone wiped them out by now?
Don't get me wrong, I like what I'm hearing; mostly just playin' Devil's advocate.
Luis Edwards
>PICK a country The Federal Republic of Ehreist
>WHAT is it's form of governance? Federal Presidential Constitutional Monarchy
>WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? They are a mix of humans and dragons, and are one of the few nations in the world where the two species enjoy relatively equal rights and economic status.
>HOW are their relationship? Internally, their constituent states work fairly well together, and federal authority is consistently respected; they are a stable nation. Externally, they have suddenly found themselves the premier great power due to their overall victory in the recent world war. Of course, they have also made many enemies, chief among them their old rivals, the United Kingdom of Orelle.
>WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? Around five hundred years ago, King Allard I began the process of uniting the many disparate tribes and city-states of the Ehreist Crescent, succeeding after several decades of conquest both military and social. Allard kept counsel with the heads of state of each nation he conquered, and this laid the groundwork for the nation's evolution into a republic.
>WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? King Allard is also known as Allard the Great for a reason--he is a figure who commands reverence from both humans and dragons, for one of the keys to his rise was his enfranchisement of dragonkind. During a battle as a young prince, he was saved from a pair of lethal bolts by a dragon auxiliary, and this sacrifice gave him an uncommon respect for dragons as people. He made the "Martyr's Bolts" his standard, and it quickly became a symbol of benefaction which dragons flocked to.
>WHY does it have to be worried? The problem with being a world power is that the world's problems follow. Ehreist is having to deal with numerous threats both political, economic, and social, and are struggling to maintain their newly-won prestige.
Jonathan Brooks
>Who would ever hire them? People who were willing to take the risk- anyone who would trust a PMC. They're usually hired on for their reputation rather than their particular ability- if they didn't do their job well enough and consistently enough, they WOULDN'T get hired. As it is, the vast majority of them are willing to forsake robbing the guy that hired them blind so that they can get fair or even cushy pay. They're usually more loyal, so long as they get their due, but in the following order: Head Commander>Unit Leader>People who hire them>People who have hired them in the past>People who pay them tribute If you betray someone lower in the line for someone higher, you're considered a traitor and anyone in the group who kills you can take your stuff. As the head commander is responsible for keeping up the merc's reputation, turning on a paying customer without leave from him generally counts as betraying him. Also, the joke was taken at expense of their intelligence, as they're generally seen as extremely simple-minded. >Why hasn't anyone wiped them out? Because whenever they as a set of tribes are threatened, they find it much easier to put aside their differences and attack the guys that are attacking them. Also, they have a substantially higher ratio of warrior-to-population than most kingdoms.
William Nelson
That should be >If you betray someone higher in the line for someone lower, you're considered a traitor and anyone in the group who kills you can take your stuff. Sorry about that.
Brayden Ward
Thanks. I'll look into those.
Luke Turner
Arx Sidera >WHAT is it's form of governance? Socialist Democracy >WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? Mostly humans descended from the colony ship 250 years prior, though some immigrated from either Earth or the other colonies after faster than light travel came into being >HOW are their relationship? Head of the Sidereal Coalition with the other colonies, very tense relations with Earth. Gives out privateer licenses to allow citizens to freely attack Earth ships. >WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? The colony ship landed around earth year 2182 with a population of about a hundred thousand. 120 years later the population has grown to about 2 billion, 90% of whom live in a single city with the rest of the planet dedicated to agricultural or ecological purposes. >WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? Dr. Henry Lambel, who developed the first worst working scale prototype of faster than light transportation, though it wasn't implemented on a full scale for another 50 years. >WHY does it have to be worried? Most of the powerful corporations on Earth want their share of the pie, and they have a lot of resources to throw at getting it. Furthermore, the Sidereal Coalition does not have a standing army.
>Who has the best army in your setting? The Russian Federation >How large is it? 650,000 total enlisted, with over 800 vessels with faster than light capabilities >How is it organized? traditional ranks >Who can serve? Who can't? Only Russian speakers can serve. >How is the leader chosen? Officers work their way up the chain of command >What kind of tactics do they use? Big blobs of ships assuring certain death for any opposing force >How long has the army been top dog? Since the United States disbanded its military forces in favor of a fully privatized military in 2218 >Give me a brief overview of their most famous battle. comment too long
Adrian Mitchell
(after fixing astronomical error) >Give me a brief overview of their most famous battle. The battle in which they made their space presence known.
The rogue pirate fleet of 86 ships under the command of Dread Pirate Little Ed had been antagonizing pretty much everyone. One day they ambushed a couple of Russian cargo haulers near Io.
Though it took over 30 minutes for the light from the conflict to reach earth, within a just an hour there were hundreds of Russian battleships near Jupiter. And so ended the career of Dread Pirate Little Ed.
Julian Parker
bump? bump
Jacob Long
While not strictly Sci-fi, I have a space fantasy tumbling around in my brain. It's based on the concept that there's magic in the universe, it has a physical form, and it's almost everywhere. ALMOST everywhere of course meaning that little ol humanity never got any to play with. So of course alien civilizations, with magic-powered FTL drives, give us a visit. Of course, they got to the FTL stage much faster than we ever could without, so we somehow end up the galactic leader of technology being uplifted by aliens somewhere around WW1 in tech level
I have a lot of things I'm wondering about that I can't really seem to give a good answer for. Mostly higher level stuff for the "sounds cool but is it too much" category.
>How many alien races would be a good line for there being TOO many? >Should there be a strict rule of 1-race-per-planet, with maybe an extremely rare planet with two, or should I be lax on that. >Psychic bullshittery is already in. With both wizards and mind powers running around, how deep should things like cybernetics, genetic engineering, and other sources of crazy stuff be looked into? >How crazy should hacking be represented? Should it be real world "just have the botnet brute force the password" type of stuff, movie-level "I'm gonna backtrace his IP address and dump a virus on his modem" level of dumbassery, or should I go full cyberpunk "excuse me, I need to plug into this magic mineral wizard wire with my brain-jack so I can have a digital swordfight with this asshole" level. >With the fact that life support is run off of enchantments, engagements have to be at close enough range to get accurate readings on the structure of the enemy ship. But does this justify having space fighters and/or giant space robots? >Speaking of robots, should there be AI? Should it be limited to large systems, or should your roomba have an attitude? Should there be full humanoid robots, or even realistic androids?
I just wanna avoid the "kitchen sink" feel
Camden Williams
>How many alien races would be a good line for there being TOO many? Depends. If this is alien of the week/adventure type like Star Trek or Doctor Who, sky is the limit. If there's more detailed stuff, keep them few and each in their own niche, because the excessive races will go the way of hupplepuff house >Should there be a strict rule of 1-race-per-planet, with maybe an extremely rare planet with two, or should I be lax on that. One sentient race per planet is more plausible, but you can have multiracial planets - just make sure you do something with it. And there's expats >Psychic bullshittery is already in. With both wizards and mind powers running around, how deep should things like cybernetics, genetic engineering, and other sources of crazy stuff be looked into? Personally, I always thought both magic and superscience is usually redundant. Find a way to make them distinct and not redundant and use at your leisure >How crazy should hacking be represented? Should it be real world "just have the botnet brute force the password" type of stuff, movie-level "I'm gonna backtrace his IP address and dump a virus on his modem" level of dumbassery, or should I go full cyberpunk "excuse me, I need to plug into this magic mineral wizard wire with my brain-jack so I can have a digital swordfight with this asshole" level. You probably not going to represent hacking both fun and realistic, absurd artistic licence at least saves you from scrutiny. >With the fact that life support is run off of enchantments, engagements have to be at close enough range to get accurate readings on the structure of the enemy ship. But does this justify having space fighters and/or giant space robots? Nothing justify giant robots, IMO. As for fighters, dodge is probably best defence in space age
Jayden Morgan
Wait, if it's ALMOST everywhere and none exists around earth, how do the alien FTL devices function around our planet if they're charged by magic?
You could make a decent setting out of an alien ship that gets stranded on our planet and the occupants have to integrate into Earth culture. Reverse-engineering what tech we could, we make a near-FTL ship that can make contact and return the alien descendants.
Of course by then the alien descendants are so alien to their own kind they don't fit in anywhere. And now humans have a combination of technology and magitech that's making the universe at large nervous.
Ryan Stewart
>Wait, if it's ALMOST everywhere and none exists around earth, how do the alien FTL devices function around our planet if they're charged by magic? I guess I kinda was bad at explaining it. Magic has a physical form, there's just a few big containers full of FTL-fuel. Now, you don't just wait until you have one less, unless you're a fucking madman. That shit can miscast, and many times it just sputters out and you have to use another (saves you cash on the restock at least), while sometimes it miscasts and "something bad" happens. While trader joe can always wait for some asshole ready to take all of his profits for a couple jump's worth of fuel to go home with, explorers need to be careful and make sure they have a backup, or even two, still in stock when they get back home. Then you get a nice wizard's union to have a batch of FTL juice whipped up, pay out your ass for a restock, and enjoy your little profit margin.
Miscasted magic is the biggest threat to the universe. You would rather work in a coal mine than work in the magifactory where you make it out of thin air. Even the desk job in the back.
Jaxson Roberts
>Former warring kingdoms, now in a (unstable) union
that sounds like there's a more interestig answer regarding ethnicities than "they're mostly of the human race" and leaving it
>It's a huge multicultural empire, with a bunch of people with their own history and beliefs.
Oh, you just ignored the ethnicity part.
Tyler Baker
Throwing around in my head a sword and planet sort of game. Take Spelljammer, throw out the crystal spheres and phlogiston and add something like the Warp in 40k and call that the Astral Plane. Add in some dashes of Cosmic Marvel and you're close to being set. Playable races besides humans all came from a particular homeworld but have since spread out quite far. Elves or the Eldari have this weird plant bio-technological magic. Dwarves or the Dverga inherited the legacy of the Celestials and their Creation Forges. The Orcs or the Scro have been all but wiped out in the last great war, but their mark has been felt throughout the galaxy. Tieflings are the result of Demonworlds. Bahamut is a massive worldeater akin to Galactus, who purges whole worlds of evil.
Benjamin Nguyen
Does anyone have that tl;dr image on making scientifically accurate continents?
Samuel Ross
You mention two different times in Arx Sidera's colonization. Is it 120 or 250 years?
In 250 years, going from a population of 100k to 2 billion would require a growth rate of 4.0%, and the average mother would need to have about 4 children that survive to reproduce if a generation (average age of all children born to a mother) is about 30 years. This is about the same as some of the poorest nations in Africa, or peak baby boom level in the US, and somewhat reasonable. Having children would probably need to be encouraged by legislation, as numbers like these don't last for two and a half centuries except in exceptional conditions. Each colonist that decided to stay celibate would require another colonist to have double the number of children, so marriage and having a certain number of children might be mandatory or at least heavily promoted by tax breaks, stipends etc, especially for women.
If the time is only 120 years, the growth rate is 8.6%, and mothers would need to have about 10 children if a generation is 30 years, and about 8 if it was 25 years. This would require massive social policies geared towards maximum fertility, pretty much a draconian "mandatory 10 children policy". An average 8-baby mother would be expected to pop a baby ever other year from age 18 to 32, to give their bodies time to recover from pregnancies. Almost half of the colony's population would probably be underage, and colonists would be expected to become parents no later than age 20. Current day Niger is a good but not exact comparison: Slightly fewer than 7 children per mother, and the median age at birth of first child is 18. 50% of the population is children aged 15 and under, which is of course affected by the life expectancy of less than 60, lower than an futuristic society where the same number would probably be 80-100 years. High childhood mortality in Niger (10% death rate at birth, 27% death rate at age 1-4) pretty much cancels that out.
Chase Kelly
Man, that kind of governmental stuff is how Romanian orphanages happened.
Nicolae Ceaușescu was fucking obsessed with making people reproduce. Women had to get monthly check-ups from gynecologists, to make sure they weren't cheating somehow.
Asher Gonzalez
>Worldbuilding General - Making Realistic Sci-Fi Settings Edition Okay okay
So, what if we invented FTL by harnessing the sheer power of an extra-universal force and this force came from SOULS! Like you know how physicists say dualism can't real because the energy would break the law well what if it was real and it did break the laws of physics?
Cooper Gomez
Wait, Souls or Minds? Because if a.) Then what's the function of the soul, is it the Greek interpretation of it being the emotional part while mind is the rational one, and by harvesting it, we become less and less emotional, or is it the immortal soul(TM) that goes on to live forever, in which case that is the ultimate form of nonsustainable energy on the one hand, but opens up the logical next step of invading heaven on the other.
If b.) do people just become less and less aware of themselves, the more energy they use, ending up as literal robots?
Which of course opens up the next question, b1.) If soul is understood in the post-enlightenment meaning of just the mind, do AIs have them as well, and if so, could you just make a perpetual motion machine by starting up AIs, harvesting their soul and rebooting it?
and if a.),
a1.) would the same perpetual motion machine work by having breeder slave armies?
John Wilson
Clarify what you mean by soul, what it's from and the mechanism that translates this into FTL.
Leo Long
So, warp travel in 40k?
William Garcia
How large is the planet and what latitudes are those?
Jace Brown
Hamilton cylinders are so inefficient. If you want to use windows for lighting, use a torus for fuck's sake.
Nicholas Turner
Not really Sci-fi. Copied my setting's map from a sketch into Inkarnate. Something about this feels awful, I dunno what it is though. Something just feels off.
Jaxson Johnson
Everything is angular and straight. The settlement symbols are very large by map scale. Artos, Cluci and Deinti look like they are one city.
Alexander Gonzalez
Start biting off pieces of shore with substract tool. This is so much fun I literally can't stop doing it on my map, soon I will run out of land.
Michael Watson
It was intended to be the ship departed 250 years ago but took 130 years to arrive at its destination... Good note about the populations though
Colton Roberts
Yeah, that's Inkarnate for you. I think I'm going to replace everything but Stonedale and Brickburg (the actual cities) with plain dots.
That's actually a really good idea lol thanks
Lincoln Bell
Any suggestion on what The Wastes should be like? It partially exists due to magical influence from Borderlands, but does this kind of patch really make sense? What would be more fitting? Salt planes, just plane infertile rock? Can there be a patch that is just plain infertile?
Colton Parker
Fixed it up a bit. I feel like it's a bit cleaner-looking now.
Caleb Myers
Did they build Stonedale on a spring or something? Water goes out, but none goes in.
Kayden Thomas
Yeah a friend said the same thing, so I decided to fix it up a bit more. Added more rivers flowing from the mountains into the sea, and also removed a long straight chunk of mountains because I felt that range was too wide?
Nolan Hughes
Apparently, rivers do not split up when they reach the sea.
Austin Rogers
Pls explain lol.
I mean this is more fantasy and the world's been wracked by a cosmic/magical explosion so I mean, I dunno. I want to stick to geography and science but maybe a bit less natural than is normal?
Something about the rivers does look a bit off though.
Camden Ross
What would you guys want to see in a gunpowder fantasy setting? Basically middle earth with guns, with a mordor like country, but I want to know what you're u want in a setting that is like DnD with guns and airships.
Josiah Foster
I'm not a geologist but I think rivers don't make another path when they already have one. There's one drain and it doesn't need another.
But maybe someone dug it out for some reason, who knows?
Daniel Sanders
Adventurers still use bows, crossbows and maybe have pistols while all the blackpowder weapons go to the military and whatnot.
Anthony Ward
Yeah that's one of the things I was thinking. Like they've had this land colonized for about 100+ years so I guess they could've made unnatural rivers and such. Especially up north where most of the farmland is.
Lucas Stewart
The idea will be that muskets and crossbows and bows will all be on fairly even footing. It's a Savage Worlds setting so that's pretty much how it is in the rules anyway.
Owen Miller
Ever played Arcanum?
Anyway, simply adding a primitive pistols would probably change little. Particularly with individual adventures.
I think it would be interesting to experience fantasy in style of Fenimore Cooper, although I haven't read him since I was a kid.
Adrian Rivera
>>Pick a country Duchy of Mizar >>WHAT is it's form of governance? Noble Monarchy with primeogeniture succession. >>WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? Mostly Sauri, with a minority consisting of Humans, Golems, Chitin and Halflings. >>HOW are their relationship? Humans are almost always mercenaries from the Outer realm. Golems act as administrators and generally oversee the buerocracy. Chitin are nomadic herders, disliked by many locals and usually barred from entering cities. >>WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? The Duchy has existed since the fall of the first empire, initially only controlling the far side of Lake Gragnost. It expanded over the centuries until it controlled the entire River basin before it was annexed by the Restored Imperium. >>WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? Arguably the first Duke Ravish, who murdered his 2 brothers in order to claim their fiefs for himself. Cunning is valued highly among the Sauri >>WHY does it have to be worried? There's been talks of a plague from the Southern Jungles that has been devastating Imperial outposts and it's only a matter of time before it spreads north. The Duchy itself has seen better days, as a famine has left the land barren in recent years.
Aiden Howard
Could highly compressed air work as a crude "battery" in a setting where electronics don't exist yet in order to work small machines? Coal-driven steam power handles larger machines, but I'm trying to figure out how to scale it down.
Jaxon Williams
>WHAT is it's form of governance? The Lords of the islands meet as an assembly, headed by the Siege (Sjedʒ), an individual elected by the council of his fellow Iogeorii (Jɔdʒorii)- the aforementioned Lords.
>WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? There are only Humans. As the islands cover a relatively large area from just above the equator northward, though the planet has a slightly wider orbit than Earth, the people of the Deicolorii tend to be tanned, with dark hair. Haven't gotten too far into physiology yet.
>HOW are their relationship? Though there are often inter-island rivalries, the unity under the Siege and their religion has strengthened the bonds of the many islands. As they are central, the Deicolorii see many differing peoples, as they often act as a trading hub. Their own merchants are seen almost as commonly as those of the Sea Peoples.
>WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? The Deicolorii have existed in their current form for over 400 years, when the first Siege, AS YET UNNAMED, called the first council of the Iogeorii, with help from the Church, who spread the doctrine that all the different Gods of Waters that islands worshipped were different faces of the same God, uniting them religiously as well as logistically.
>WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? The first Siege has many statues made in his name, the greatest of which towers behind the throne of the current Siege, looking over their shoulders.
>WHY does it have to be worried? The Albani, an island far to the North, have begun expanding, already taking the Serpent isle and setting up a new government. Eventually, their hungry eyes will turn South.
Austin Perez
I remember a book series where they used compressed air batteries, the races in it were humanoids based off insects, with related abilities. Shadows of the Apt series.
David Foster
I guess I post another of my nations >>WHAT is it's form of governance? Absolute monarchy on black market North Korean steroids >>WHICH ethnicities/races live in it? Two distinct nations - descendants of foreign invaders and local slaves >>HOW are their relationship? Brutal oppression like you wouldn't believe. Although not every aristocrat practices it, most see nothing wrong with entertaining their guest by murdering some slave. Although freemen are organized and well-equipped, they certainly won't survive slave uprising so they have to double down on reign of terror >>WHEN was the country in its current form of governance founded? When did it become the size it is now? Some time ago, empire wanted to counquer oversea lands and set up foothold. Empire since then collapse leaving expedition corpus cut off and with delusion of being true successor (Unlike who has dirty brabarian blood in them) >>WHO is the greatest hero in the country's history? I haven't fleshed history of fallen empire yet someone out of them >>WHY does it have to be worried? They are a) Broke as fuck b) A complete outcast in international society c) Slave uprising any moment now d) Current Exarch successfully pissed off everybody including his own children
Jonathan Morgan
Sci-fi lore shit or good? Trying to get some feelers.
>Earth goes to shit with oil starting to end >Overpopulation and small scale nuclear wars (Pakis,Indians and Iran) >Energy Crisis solved with cold fusion or similar >The few power blocs with access to that technology starts their own Coalition (think G8 nations doing all major politics and saying fuck you to everyone else) >Year is about 2130 when major problems are solved. >space elevators built and invented >Moon and Mars get colonies >2200 large generation ships with experimental pulse engines are send. >2500 they arrive to their destination.
>meanwhile the Coalition forms Terran Commonwealth (is that a shit name?) >pulse engine tech gets better and better, but size restraints force only small scale trips out of system >small colonies in nearby systems built in either space or on planets that don't actively try to kill you by 2300 >2400 FTL pulse drive invented and by 2450 more colony ships are sent. >These ships are still much smaller than those gigantic generation ships sent 250 years earlier >2500 those ships arrive and each carries somewhere between 100000-500000 inhabitants. >2550 smaller and faster ships arrive to same areas >2570 first contact with sapient aliens. Humans did meet few sentient creatures before, but no sapient. >2600 present day and buttloads of more sapient aliens arrive. Shit has nearly hit the fan
Cont
Asher Cooper
So basically factions are following
>Terran Commonwealth The umbrella government of humans that is based in earth. Has most control in core worlds and partial in mid worlds ( worlds withing 6 months of communication) Commonwealth is controlled by Earth, Mars and Moon colonies. Political battles to acquire control is constant.
>Midworlders (need better name) Wealthy colonies of early conlonization, some supporters of Commonwealth more than others. Life is pretty good here as wealthy inviduals from Sol retreat here.
>Generationists Those who travelled hundreds of years to far rim worlds. Doesn't really listen to orders from Earth. Highly independent and invidual colonies
>Newworlders Those who arrived later on faster ships. They are more pro-Commonwealth due to they were more closely chosen than Generationists.
>Offworlders Due to laws each citizen needs to be registered to colonies. If you aren't registered, you aren't citizen. This has lead to voidborn and people living in space stations not in planet orbits to not have Commonwealths protection through law and order.
>Aliens Not much here
FTL Pulse Drive works as following. Heavier the space ship more powerful engines it needs. This has lead the old gigantic generation ships to not to be effective anymore as you can do the same trip multiple times, but with smaller cargo. The interplanetary communication is done by small drones that can fly super fast and accelerate all the time until hard braking just before destination. Messenger drones are literally shot by railgun and caught with tractor beams at destination.
Opinions? This is very bare bones.
Jayden Fisher
Continued
Space ships are usually one part engines and one part everything else. With this 1:1 built they can actually be fast enough to travel across deep space and carry enough stuff to be viable and cost efficient.
Warships are usually armed with either railguns beam weapons or missiles.
Railguns either fire slugs or plasma shells usually. Plasma shells are basically HEAT rounds of this setting. Railguns are universal weapons, they usually knock reflector shields down in one salvo and do nasty things to ships itself. Beam weapons are super accurate, but they lack in power in long ranges as the beams concentration breaks. Missiles follow targets and if fitted with nuclear warheads are very effective.
Addition to those is attack craft whose main mission is to either protect own ships and destroy missiles and other craft or carry their own missiles to destroy warships.
Warfare in space is done in super long ranges. It is kinda submarine warfare, but in space. Ships computer calculates 100% hit change firing solution to computer and fires the rail guns. At receiving end target ship puts all power to front reflectors, fires its own railguns and activates RCS as it tries to manouver away. This continues as long someone is dead. To break this stalemate they throw attack craft, missiles and beams. The result is surprisingly quite big furball.
Jackson Nelson
You should include another Chinese civil war. Also, if it's a big enough problem, which it would be, there would be laws like the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Colton Carter
The how things were shit before glorious space conquering is minor thing, but good points nevertheless.
In my mind is that those big nations just forced others to follow them or just annexed them. The old nations are still there in 2600, but they are more or less united in space because it is beneficial to them.
