Veeky Forums creates a soft sci-fi setting

The setting is in an another galaxy, and if humans are present, they aren't the dominant species.

>Soft sci-fi.
>Another galaxy.
Pretty sure that makes it hard sci-fi by default.
Like any setting where inter-stellar travel is possible makes it hard sci-fi.

Soft sci-fi would be something that's more like "twenty minutes into the future", like changes in agriculture mean that food can be grown anywhere and soil can be made fertile through a chemical injected into the soil, etc.
Making technology that seems very fantastical into a mundane triviality.
Especially where aliens are involved.

Hard sci-fi generally means that the laws of nature apply as we know them now, so interplanetary travel takes days or weeks and interstellar travel takes decades or centuries.

FTL is impossible.

Oh, I wasn't aware.
Sorry about the confusion then.

I guess the first step would be deciding if humans evolved there, traveled there (if they did, how) or if humans are even there at all.
Personally I vote for something like Phantasy Star. Humans have evolved into Space Elves and those that haven't have been forced into being Soldier-Droids.

Light, as far as anyone can measure, travels instantaneously, even across interstellar distances.

You have no idea what hard or soft sci-fi is...
Harder is "Obeys more or all rules of physics"
Softer is "Psychics are real, nanomachines break the laws of chemistry, radiations makes super heros, space ships laid out naval deck style, space is both ocean and sky depending on ship shape."

Note, wether or not you have "FTL" isn't a factor, so much as the kind of FTL and how many rules it breaks. If your FTL is "Fuck Einstein, throttle up!" then it's a soft form of FTL, but you could still have hard sci-fi if that's the only rule you're breaking. If it's "Well Einstein only said these methods of FTL are impossible, these methods of FTL are possible or implied by Einstein" then you're on the hard side until you you have psychics or grey goo.

Wow, so authoritative.

I get it.
Thanks for the explanation user. I'll not make an ass of myself again.

>if humans are present, they aren't the dominant species.
The galaxy is dominated by an alien species who are obsessed with human culture, fashion, and style.
Many go to extremes of gene splicing themselves to look like their idols in the next galaxy over.

Dude. It takes 8 minutes for light to just go from OUR sun to earth.
Instantaneously my ass.

so?

How do they have human genes to splice?
Have they found documents on the human genome and managed to copy it?
Does this mean they also like war?

Gratuitous space battles fought between huge space-navies composed of hundreds of large cruisers, destroyers, and dreadnoughts accompanied by thousands of tinty fightercraft are a must. These should be mirrored planet-side by crunchy firefights between squads of soldiers supported by heavy armor and orbital fire support.

>Does this mean they also like war?
Yes, but they mostly do tacticool stuff they saw in movies.

>Imperial Guard: The Species
I like this.

>They misunderstand war and think of it as the greatest fashion/athletic/scientific/philosophical/religious/moral debate/competition of all time.

> Large gravity wells, (stars, black holes, etc.) are linked by hyperlanes, invisible “tunnels” through spacetime. The space inside hyperlane tunnels is apart from spacetime, and consequently, it is impossible for conventional matter to exist within a hyperlane tunnel without a bubble of spacetime shielding it from the void in the tunnel. Some large gravity wells don’t have hyperlanes, and a few have as many as a dozen hyperlanes, most large gravity wells have 1-4 hyperlanes.

> FTL travel doesn’t exist, as under newtonian physics it is impossible for matter for travel faster than light. Interstellar travel, however, does exist, and is made possible by hyperlanes. Using a hyperdrive, a starcraft can form a stable “bubble” of spacetime around itself, breach one side of a hyperlane, and propel itself through the tunnel at FTL speeds, reaching the large gravity well at the other end of the hyperlane.

> This is possible because spacetime, and by extension, conventional physics, are absent from the hyperlane tunnels, and starcraft are able to insert themselves into the “flow” of the hyperlane, rapidly propelling their bubble, and the starcraft generating it, to the other end of the hyperlane. It is theoretically possible for an infinite amount of starcraft to travel in the same hyperlane simultaneously, as outside of an individual starcraft’s bubble, mass does not exist, and it is impossible to crowd the interior of a hyperlane.

> It is not however, practical for an infinite amount of starcraft to travel in the same hyperlane simultaneously, as forming and holding a stable bubble of spacetime requires an obscene amount of energy, and too many bubbles in a hyperlane tunnel can cause it to become unstable, which is, to say the least, a bad thing.

> (1/2)

> When a hyperlane becomes unstable, it has a high chance of collapsing, which worst case scenario, would phase any traveling starcraft inside it out of existence, or, best case scenario, force them to exit the hyperlane and enter material space, where they have no large gravity well within light years, and no way to re-enter the hyperlane, forcing them to spend decades or centuries traveling to the nearest system at sublight speeds. As most starcraft are designed to sustain themselves for half a year, or a decade at most, this is often a terminal mistake.

> Because of this, in heavily populated civilized space, traffic between hyperlanes is heavily regulated, taxed, and bureaucratized to prevent the disaster a hyperlane collapse would cause. In the frontiers there is much less traffic to warrant such regulation, and little authority capable of regulating it to begin with. Consequently, hyperlane travel is much less of a hassle in the frontiers.

> Hyperlane travel is not instantaneous, nor is it danger free. Travelling via hyperlane takes anywhere from two months to two decades, depending on the length of the hyperlane and relative strength of the large gravity wells involved. Expected travel time often varies, shortening or lengthening for weeks or months, even years in extreme cases.

> While hyperlanes are a natural part of the universe, hyperlanes are not a universal constant. With the passing of time, hyperlanes collapse on their own, and more rarely, spontaneously come into being. The fact that old hyperlanes are collapsing faster than new hyperlanes are forming is the cause of much controversy, and many believe that sometime in the future, all hyperlanes will collapse, leading to the end of quick interstellar travel, and by extension, interstellar civilization.

> (2/2)

Seedships, my man.
Mankind united itself to create a fleet of generation ships to escape some kind of catastrophe on Earth.

The destination is a Earth like planet where they shouldn't have too much trouble adapting.

Arriving in the system. They wake up and discover that there's a welcoming party for them.

I love parties!

>One of the inhabitants of the galaxy is the Sarv, a species of small invertebrates, that look a lot like regular Earth starfish. They can be any colour from light teal to dark grey, they're usually about 1-10 inches in diameter, and have 4 limbs or more. While they can survive in almost any environment and can go decades with no nutrition, they prefer to stay in water or low gravity conditions as it's easier for them to move there.

>A Sarv, by itself, is not a particularly interesting creature. At most, it will move around a bit to find a more comfortable place to do nothing. But as soon as you get more than a few of them in one place, they take on an entirely different behaviour.

>These creatures are actually sentient, semi-conscious, and communicate telepathically with their own kind. Once they have gotten to know each other they're capable of acting almost like a single entity. As their collective grows, they become smarter and more coordinated, as well as more likely to have future goals or hold strong convictions. A large, active collective is capable of anything from subduing and consuming much larger creatures, to dismantling and repurposing complicated machinery, and they can do so with incredible efficiency.

>In some particular cases, Sarv collectives have even been known to learn languages and communicate with other species. While these incidents have been insightful, they have shown that the inner workings of these hives are far too complex to be properly explained, other than These incidents are exceptional, and in most cases they prefer to not have to deal with us single-minded creatures at all.

Feedback, questions and suggestions pls

So are the other aliens in the setting mostly of the rubber-forehead variety, or do we have some truly alien beings out there?

I lean more strongly toward rubber-forehead.