Posts by Random
This question is pretty straightforward. I would like to build an earth-like world in which humans don't have access to iron, or at least can't mine any prior to full scale industrialization. They ...
I'd like my world to have humanoid protagonists, while still reinforcing that they are ultimately not human, but have simply evolved in a similar way due to convergent evolution. To provide a const...
I'm still fiddling with my map, and I got to thinking about continental drift. My world has two large large continents and a couple of other notable landmasses between the size of Iceland and Austr...
BACKGROUND The world I'm designing currently has a gas giant of the type known as a hot Jupiter orbiting close to the sun and causing solar flares. I would like the inhabitants of my Earth-like wo...
QUESTION It's been established that one could invent microscopes early with a magnification of up to 1500x. It occurred to me, though I really know nothing about this, that putting metals under a...
QUESTION Other questions have covered what the physical structure of a humanoid giant might look like. Assuming that anatomically modern humans (or something close) were dispersed into several dis...
I'm continuing to work on my map, and one thing that's giving me difficulty is figuring out the geology of a region that I wanted to be similar to the Ethiopian highlands and African rift valley. T...
I've been playing with ways to make my world interesting, and also further justify the limited use of ferrous metals. One idea I had was that my world might undergo regular and intense geomagnetic ...
BACKGROUND So I was working on a map, when I suddenly realized that despite the many helpful tutorials on this site I have very little idea what I'm doing. I thought it might be a good idea to put...
QUESTION I was thinking about ways of justifying practical balloon flight for a pre-industrial civilization, when I remembered that some microorganisms produce methane, and better yet, hydrogen. ...
BACKGROUND A corruption has seized hold of the land, turning great swathes of it into a poisonous waste that humans may only enter at their peril. Perhaps all who enter the waste grow sick or go m...
QUESTION I'd like a nation in the world I'm working on to be able to transport natural gas and hydrogen, for fuel and possibly ballooning. Natural gas pipelines and cylinders were first invented i...
Inspired by this question from yesterday. Solar flares can give off a large amount of radiation, but on Earth this is typically absorbed before it reaches anywhere but the poles, and even then on...
Alright, my understanding of both modern physics and classical cosmology is a little shaky, so I hope this question is neither unclear nor foolish. Here goes: In Aristotelian cosmology all matter...
BACKGROUND In the antiquity of my world, a college of pyromancers attempted to create stronger magnifying lenses so that they could apply their ability to control heat to ever more finely detailed...
BACKGROUND I'd like my earth-like world to have a naturally formed narrow strip of land that bridges a major sea. Now, before anyone rushes off to comment about island chains and land bridges, I'l...
BACKGOUND I'm working on a region for my world, and I have a very distinct idea of what I want the physical landscape to look like. Below is a description of what I'd like for the land, and an app...
This is question is related to the medieval world from my earlier question in which several types of intelligent hominids evolved in isolation, until they were rediscovered, conquered, and bred int...
BACKGROUND I'm working on a medieval world in which homo sapiens domesticated several other species of intelligent hominids during their prehistory, at first enslaving them to take advantage of sp...
This is a self-contained follow-up to a different previous question. Based on the answers I got there I've taken a different approach to my original idea, and now want to try using antigravity on ...
Ok, so this is an very odd little question. I've been working out the economy of an industrial age world; figuring the major industries, trade routes, etc. I have a tropical region I was consider...
The Scenario: My late Victorian Era mad scientist wants to domesticate the dinosaurs and mammalian megafauna of his "Lost World" island getaway, for use as companions, guardians, draft animals, and...
The Scenario: Airships are awesome, but in the real world airship design is greatly constrained by the problem of lift. It seems like this, above all else, is what makes the elegant and compact s...
The Scenario: A technologically advanced mother culture wants to manage mass outbreaks of virulent disease in its technologically regressed colonies, who are inclined to resist most of what the mot...
This is a follow-up to an earlier question. My intent here is to work out the details, and explore the potential consequences, of one of the many excellent answers I received. Relevant questions ha...
