Activity for Mephistopheles
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | — |
A realistic reason for gods to be incapable of meddling with mortal affairs? So, gods. What are they. Gods are a race of various creatures that share a two important characteristics: They're connected to The Source. They can successfully produce offspring (though without god powers) with any animal (including humans and dragons) how that happens isn't clear, but it has some... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How to prevent this micromachine swarm from doing anything besides what it was intended to? So, there is this entity in my story, Slenderman, who's ultimate technique is the Blackout. Blackout causes electronic devices and light-based communication to fail within a 5 km radius of a chosen point. In layman terms, it makes everything foggy (that fog are the machines themselves), pitch black ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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So, magic is based on swarm robotics and nanotechnology. How can I have Anti-magic fields? So, at its core, magic is using a swarm of tiny (50-100 micrometers), naturally occuring robots to deliver substances to a given location and initiate chemical reactions that lead towards the desired result. It involves physics, chemistry, programing and communication. So, how to prevent sieges from... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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The best realistic spell to brick firearms Okay, so, how does magic work? Magic, at the end of the day, is a swarm of tiny machines (hardly visible to the naked eye, but still within the 10-100 micrometer range) that carry out a task. Individual machines have tiny manipulators with a "hand" that they can use to lock together and share info a... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How low can the density of a living creature be? In the anime, called Attack on Titan, the primary antagonists are these huge, humanoid creatures, called titans. Titans have sizes between 15 and 4 meters. Larger titans aren't unknown, but they splatter, more precisely, they nuke when hitting the ground. The reason why smaller titans don't nuke th... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Nanomachines and deception are the essence of magic, how can I explain meteor showers and similar large-scale weather spells? So, dragons have access to this thing, called word magic. Word-magic spells are typically need way more energy and processing power than regular magic, they also have nasty cool-down times. A dragon has so-called spell slots, larger spells take up more slots and need more time to have prepared again,... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How could a human-shaped fluid creature move like an actual human? So, there are creatures with insane regenerative abilities, like casually putting their severed head back on their neck and it's fixed in mere seconds. The reason for that is that it's not true regeneration. These creatures are made of a fluid, so if any part falls of or gets damaged, it can quickly... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Futrinka street and the plausiblity of comfortably habitable giant-pumpkin houses So, there was this pupet show about two characters, Mazsola and Tádé. They lived in a BIG pumpkin, that had been hollowed out and repurposed as a house. It looked something like this. Now, I kinda like the idea of a big pumpkin house, especially if one was to carve the windows so the lights woul... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
"Where are you going dragon, don't you dare leave your rider behind!" How can a rider keep up with their dragon? So, let's suppose I finally made it. A creature that's very agile, able to resist most small-arms fire and has a whale-oil breath weapon. Flight is solved with bones, as strong as carbon fiber, (laughs in limpet teeth) and even more muscle on the pecs. This example dragon's name will be.. Gyvaris. ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Aftermath of the "Were plague": Dealing with "Strays" One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into Legosi from Beastars. He felt a dull pain a bit above his behind, as he lifted his head up a little, he saw the rest of his body was covered in short, light-grey fur, his feet, s... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How could wyverns fight effectively if they can't carry stuff around? So, two nations are in a war, land is off-topic as it's filled with zombies and necromancer zombies. The other logical option is the sea. Now, one nation has these creatures, called wyverns. Wyverns are quadrupedal creatures, capable of flight. They retained five digits on both their forelimbs, wit... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Is there any plausible in-between of Endotherms and Ectotherms? Someone in the comment section of my previous question pointed out the energetic problem of ectotherms with human intelligence (the brain needs a lot of energy). I still want to keep my lizardfolk restricted to warmer climates, as all the other suggestions just didn't work (lizardfolk don't have bl... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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What to remove to make a realistic Omni-Directional Maneuver (ODM) gear? One thing I like about Attack on Titan are those lovely Omni-Directional Maneuver (ODM) gears! They're the perfect combination of a jetpack and a grappling hook. I love how the thrusters are placed at the center of mass (the hips), I love how it requires a full-body harness to distribute the force, I... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Realistic "Titan hardening" for living creatures: what's the hardest substance a biological process can produce? SPOILERS FOR ATTACK ON TITAN, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK... Hardening, or Titan hardening is an ability posessed by certain types of titans in the anime Attack on Titan. Since the setting has rifles and cannons, hardening comes in handy to protect against them. Now, I'm not trying to imitate the ridic... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would roleplaying as wacky Nazis help my deities maintain their mental health while they're stuck in a bunker? So, once there was a war between the titans and the gods. In the end, the gods' leader, Anon, found a way to permanently remove the titans from the world, but the victory extracted a terrible price. Titans and gods were fundamentally the same creatures, and the source of their power was also the sam... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
What's the deciding factor in what my Foresight can predict? When you have foresight, it's guaranteed that confusion will be your epitaph (thumbs up to the one person who gets the joke). Basically, it only grants you advantage on actions, so you still can't automatically succeed in, say, rolling a d20 (not on the table, in the game), aka: you can't immediately... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Is it possible for psychological trauma to cause a lasting coma? So, I was thinking about flavouring psychic damage and thought "If I'm anime > western civilization, then wouldn't it make sense for me to reflect it a bit more?" In an anime, I watched, there was this episode where one of the main characters was attacked with a special "ray of light" that basically... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How could this three-second foresight work? "However, King Crimson has already seen through it. Your movements in the future. The trajectory of your movements in the future." "No matter who you may be, everyone goes through their ups and downs. You succeed, and you fail. But if you happen to find the pitfall known as the future tha... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How could an illusion effect covering all senses scare someone to death? The "Weird" spell in my world is basically a magical version of the US government's goals with the "MK Ultra" project from the 1950s: it induces a shared hallucination in every creature within a 9.1m radius of the spell's ground zero. It manifests the victims' worst fears (and possibly combines them... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Can you replace goethite with something else in limpet teeth to decrease its density and maintain its strength? The limpet teeth's microscopic structure is analogous to man-made short-fiber composites. Its strength depends on the direction of the force, relative to the orientation of the fibers. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3350734/ For worldbuilders, this thing is a gift from Glarnak (our aw... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
The best role for a dragon in protecting a settlement? One of the plotlines, I'm currently working on, is about a dragon who is forced to serve a settlement to "pay" for some of his past "crimes". For clarity's sake, we call the dragon Gyvaris. Gyvaris is a roughly horse-sized, hexapodal creature with both reptilian and avian features. Intelligence is ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
My mysterious "ruins" wander around and change on their own, what'd be a rational way for them to do that? Civilization is fairly young in my setting. Thus, the sheer number of ruined buildings and abandoned structures, found throughout the wilderness, seems strange. The ruins vary a lot: has-seen-better-days forts, modern suburb houses, post-communist concrete slabs and lonely staircases (in-universe ca... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How can our boss play his theme song in (almost) any environment? So. our boss is kinda... nuts. His current pet project is to create a device that can play his theme song whenever his location is revealed to someone within a 50 meter radius. Naturally, he outsourced it to us. The device has to play the song in high-quality and loud-enough to drown out gunshots a... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Why would the Ressurectinator cause phantom pain in the people it brings back? The Ressurectinator is a handy machine than can bring back people from death. Unlike the virgin Lord of Light, the chad Ressurectinator does that without human sacrifice and/or permanent scars. You only need the person's brainscan. Everyone has one, it's constantly updated and nothing can destroy it... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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What would make a bigger animal be able to fight effectively against humans with firearms Basically, I have a creature that is larger than an average human, and smaller than a bigger shire horse. So, size is adjustable. The bodyplan is similar to that of a horse, except for a longer neck and a powerful tail for ranged attacks. This animal was supposed to be fighting humans armed with var... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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What would be the best propulsion system for this aircraft carrier? So, I was watching a funny movie about undead pirates when the realization hit me, I never once tried to create naval superiority for my Mary Sue. Well, guess I just do it now. Titanic 2: (n)Ice to meet you is the unholy offspring of Project Habakukk, CMF and Patrick Star. Titanic 2 is a 1.2 kilome... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How could a scientifically plausible Rust Monster quickly erode iron-based metal objects? Rust Monsters are one the few original monsters in D&D that didn't fade into obscurity. Probably because of their ability to turn James' favourite metal items into dust. Rust monsters are basically large bugs with two equally large antennae. The Rust Monster, with the antennae, rubs an unspecified... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Anatomically Correct City-leveling monster In many fantasy stories, dragons are portrayed as giantic monsters that can destroy cities, if not, then at least a castle. Now, we can theoretically create something flight-capable even with masses of 250-500 kg if we're willing to abandon evolution. We can also make that creature powerful enough t... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Scientific reason for incense burners to be an effective ward against malevolent "spirits" Malevolent Spirit: Malevolent spirits are swarms of barely visible machines that have accidentally been imprinted with a deceased person's memories. They posess swarm intelligence and communicate with each other through acoustic vibrations. They also share their energy through electromagnetic inducti... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Dragons have an armor that is similar to that of sungazer lizards. Why would the dragons have the spikes as well? A Smaug giganteus. If you do as much as think about slaying it, I'll force feed you gasoline and shove a match down your throat. Sungazers are awesome. They're so awesome I decided to base some parts of my dragons' appearance on them. Dragons in my setting are hexapodal, roughly horse-sized, omniv... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Is a 500 kg flying creature possible? I usually like to leave some wiggle room for myself when fleshing a concept out. Dragons make that sort of impossible, same's true for nanomachines but ripped senators are a question for another day. I was trying to expand my wiggle room by asking these questions: Would stronger tendons and bones ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would stronger tendons and bones allow for stronger muscles for the same weight? Follow-up to this question: Would linear increase of a muscle's dimension increase the power as well? Let's suppose there is a genetically engineered creature that has the abilty to synthesize graphene and use it in its tissues. This would allow for stronger bones and tendons for the same weight. ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would linear increase of a muscle's dimension increase the power as well? The square-cube law applies to bodies with the same shape, and require them to be increased/decreased in all three dimensions. If you were to take a cube, with every edge being a long, and expand it to be 3a in length on the y axis, it would be three times the weight and area. And with that, you just... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Heavenly Host Daycare and Correctional Facility for misbehaving gods: Bahamut and Tiamat 1/2: Containment Once upon a time there was a world called, "The Gone, but not Forgotten Realms", ran by #GamerGate Garry and #ClintonBodyCount Anon. One day, Anon got tired of Garry taking his work for granted and abusing his children. Therefore Anon, the stepfather of all monsters and gods, overthrew Garry and assu... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Requiem quietly plays: Is it possible for molecular machines to read and modify proteins in the brain? So, I had a concept (a bit large for a single question). One of it's parts is nanomachines rewiring the brain of the subject. Since we don't know much about the exact workings of the human brain, we substitute the ability of changing memories to being able to read/analyze and manipulate large organi... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Justification for predominantly late-medieval style buildings in a modern world So, my setting operates with some futuristic tech, which turned out to be pretty lame (especially nanomachines, they're just fancy pants medicine). Therefore, to spice things up, I encased it in a Late-medieval/Renaissance coating. This means an almost complete absence of Modern and Bauhaus design, ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How could a charge-type breath weapon work? Charge-type breath weapon: Creatures with this type shoot singular, high-damage, high-precision "charges" of (insert dragon's element here) that explode upon contact. Examples: Toothless from the movie How To Train Your Dragon and the Ender Dragon. Obviously the above examples suffer from problems i... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Can a feathered wing be also compliant? So, to quote pterosaur.net: Unlike the wings of birds, the wings of pterosaurs would have tended to change shape under aerodynamic load - something often referred to as 'passive cambering'. Camber refers to the curvature of a wing in cross section. Because pterosaurs possessed membrane wing... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How to restrain your dragon? There were many questions in this site about slaying dragons, butchering dragons, but never one about restraining them. Poor Gyvaris managed to avoid all those fates but the last. Gyvaris is a dragon, currently in the "service" of not St. Martha and not St. George. Having been nearly killed and unin... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
The right size for dragons Note: size here denotes the physical dimension(s) taken up by the creature in a natural, idling posture One of the many fantasy tropes that make me want to Fahrenheit 451 contemporary fantasy literature is of course: Literal power scaling (i.e: the bigger, the more powerful) This has led to drago... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How would flight factor into shepherding for Aarakocra (birdfolk, basically)? So, my setting, as of now, is a singular supercontinent, with a large mountain system running across one of its sides, basically the fantasy equivalent of the Andes. On paper this (or at least its ocean-facing side) is the home of the Aarakocra (aka: bird people with a stupid name). They have sophis... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Could a living creature produce silicon carbide? Silicon carbide is a ceramic often used in vehicle and body armor, but could a living creature produce and use it the same way? Assume the creature was genetically engineered. (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
What configuration would provide the most protection for a male dragon's reproductive organs against mechanical and chemical attacks? Dragons awesome (that's why sub-par writers and DMs use it as a substitute for an actually engaging story/setting) but they're still just animals, animals that reproduce. Besides it's painful to get kicked in the testicles and a surefire way to render a male opponent incapable of fighting and honest... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Armor design for bird people? | Gliding So, there are birdpeople/birdfolk in my setting. They're 170 cm tall bipedal humanoids with a pair of functioning wings, slightly below the shoulders. They're covered with feathers, except for the hands and legs, both of which have talons, though smaller on the hands. Their necks are slightly longer ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
How to encrypt the activation signal for my kill-switches to make them impossible to hijack Dragons are awesome, but they're still vulnerable thanks to their low-numbers and a certain type of people... So, to prevent those from killing even a single dragon I came up with the wedding rings of death. They kill by releasing a poison straight into the vitals (usually the brainstem), they're wr... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
Dragon scales are foamy inside, how to make them more bullet-resistant? The three most common properties of dragon scales are: being lightweight heat-resistance just plain resistance The first two are simple: by making the scales out of a substance similar to nacre, and by making that substance into a foam, dragons could effectively resist any change in temperature, ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
How does the atmosphere of this spaceship work if my brain doesn't? I want to have air and STP (standard temperature and pressure) around my spaceship. Other properties: Objects can enter and exit it without bumping into any kind of a barrier? In fact, there doesn't seem to be anything between the air and the vacuum of space. The barrier, or whatever that keeps th... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
Where would padding inhibit a limb's movement the least in a quadruped creature? Of the six limbs of classic dragons, the forelegs always stuck out like a sore thumb. They're dead weight in flight, etc... However, since in my setting you can find any sort of armament, short of a mini-nuke, they can't rely on primarily gliding flight in combat and are forced into ambush tactics on... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
Can my heraldic dragons fly? Heraldic Dragons Heraldic dragons are the creations of a mad god, called Anon, designed after the classical six-limbed ones. Measurements: Head+neck length: 180 cm Body length: 180 cm Height at shoulders: 180 cm Tail length: 280 cm Wingspan: 11 m Wing area: 22 m^2 Context of their creation Ano... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would it be possible to rearrange a dragon's flight muscle to somewhat circumvent the square-cube law? The square-cube law holds true only for objects that are similar. In evolution, you can't make big leaps forward, but since most fantasy worlds are created by gods or people who think they're gods, I'm free to abuse Intelligent design. Dragons have six limbs, the 2 wings are situated near the front ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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