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[Question] [ I plan to make this a series of questions to avoid being overly broad. Each question will address a particular fantasy species ("race" in RPG terms). The traits will be based on the content included in this question, though the traits can also be found in this question, which lists all of the races: [Med...
[Question] [ In the distant future, space-stations use centrifugal force to emulate gravity, effectively being a cylinder (or something similar like a wheel) spinning around a central axis at high speeds. A spacecraft is coming up to dock, but how can it dock to such a fast, spinning object? The possible approaches I...
[Question] [ **Closed.** This question is [off-topic](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- This question does not appear to be about **worldbuilding**, within the scope defined in the [help center](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/help). Closed 6 years ago. [Improve this que...
[Question] [ [Photo IDs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_identification) (for instance, a driver's licence or passport) are essential in many aspects of life (driving, buying alcoholic beverages, crossing international borders, voting in many places, etc.). As the name indicates, however, they rely on being able ...
[Question] [ Take the Jovian moon Ganymede as a real-world example. It has an orbital period of ~7 days around Jupiter, which is effectively its day and its year simultaneously. My characters will need the words 'day' and 'night' to refer to the 7 day dark-light cycle. What words might they use to refer to the 24 ho...
[Question] [ Think of this alien life form as something resembling earth bats, placed in a planet with Earth-like conditions. 1. Micro-bats have small and poorly developed eyes. Similarly, this alien species is completely blind, with the only exception that they can detect ultraviolet in low levels. 2. They make use ...
[Question] [ Suppose you want to build a large scale habitable structure in space or on a planet or moon without an atmosphere or any organics, and this would be a long term or permanent settlement, not a temporary location. Where would you get the oxygen for its inhabitants to breathe from? And, if you got it from a...
[Question] [ Similar, but a bit more broad, to [Would a zombie apocalypse be possible if a zombie existed?](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/2640/would-a-zombie-apocalypse-be-possible-if-a-zombie-existed) --- A secret lab (owned by a private company) near Chicago creates a virus strain called 'ZB01' ...
[Question] [ Let's say I have a **mountain range** similar to the [Andes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes) but with **no easy passes**, hence forcing everyone to circle around it (for hundreds or even thousands of miles) in order to get to the other side. I want to **cut through it** where it's easier: high enoug...
[Question] [ There were here some discussion concerning using [IQ](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/83199/what-would-be-the-possible-issues-with-an-iq-based-voting-system) or paid [taxes](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/34119/effects-of-tax-your-vote-political-system) as proxy of ci...
[Question] [ **Rain-powered transport** The plain of Soggi experiences a constant rainfall. Can a rain powered vehicle be built according to the following conditions? 1. The plain of Soggi experiences a constant rainfall of 10 cm per day 2. Flooding doesn't occur because the plain is floored with a porous volcanic r...
[Question] [ What methods could a medieval society (technology level around 1475-1500 AD) use to measure the temperature of a liquid? * The world is similar to medieval Britain/Europe, but with more trade so technologies are essentially shared across the different nation states * Magic does not exist * The measureme...
[Question] [ There are many interesting places, many interesting worlds. This world is not one of them. It has an argon atmosphere, and the planet itself is made of a very unreactive, insoluble, extremely difficult to erode, not at all shiny or luminous, monotone grey powder. It is about as dense as sand. You need no...
[Question] [ **Background:** A near future world very similar to our own, with two large power blocs (like USA vs USSR back then) in cold war situation, with many proxy wars and small conflicts. The third power is a somewhat small country, with advanced science level generations ahead of the rest of the world. **Play...
[Question] [ The question is fairly simple. Could a civilization progress so far as to have spaceships while still using swords, spears, and bows as their most advanced weaponry? (what those weapons are made of could, of course, have improved with better material science) The question is one of interdependent technol...
[Question] [ **Closed**. This question is [opinion-based](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- **Want to improve this question?** Update the question so it can be answered with facts and citations by [editing this post](/posts/112158/edit). Closed 5 years ago. [Improve this question...
[Question] [ Quoting from [TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MedievalStasis): > > Medieval Stasis is a situation in which, as far as the technological, cultural, and sociopolitical level are concerned, thousands of years pass as if they were minutes. > > > The world I'm currently building has...
[Question] [ I have in my world a "crystalline desert". The idea is that a major cataclysmic event turned the surrounding area into glass, color irrelevant. Then following the event, major earthquakes and the passage of time broke it up into much smaller pieces, at least on the surface. There could be major chunks of...
[Question] [ I have a character who is mute and they would need a voice synthesizer to assist them in their day-to-day communications (shopping, working, romancing, etc.). How could that work in a Victorian-Steampunk universe? I'm after an assisting device that can be easily carried, with a similar functionality as t...
[Question] [ In the future, the world is in a parlous1 state. Earth people of the future (let us call them Futurians as in the answer by DWKraus) are desperate but they still have a number of time portals in working order. They decide to raid the past. They will travel back in time and steal resources that have lasti...
[Question] [ Alright so let’s say that we have a massive dragon about 2 miles long. This big guy needs a lot of fuel to power himself and since there is only so much food he can eat at one time, he decides to run on nuclear power. Now dragons (in this universe) utilize metals in large quantities for various purposes ...
[Question] [ I'm building the world of my story for my comics and I've come to a bit of a standstill with a particular idea. Assuming there were no other planets in our universe, just a single planet Earth. 1. The Sun is as the same size as the Moon (maybe slightly bigger). 2. The Sun has the same proximity the Moon...
[Question] [ The sand worms in Dune are gigantic creatures. Confirmed sizes reach up to 450 meters long. And in the wiki it says "Some people believe that worms from 700 to even 1000 meters existed in the southern pole regions, but this could not be confirmed" In all cases the sand worms are huge. They are territoria...
[Question] [ The Emperor of the World wants there always to be a full moon. His Scientific Advisor (the SA) comes up with a plan. He plans to cost out the venture, hand it over to the Keeper of the Treasury who then has the unpleasant job of explaining to the Emperor how much it will cost. The SA's plan is to to cove...
[Question] [ **Closed**. This question needs to be more [focused](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- **Want to improve this question?** Update the question so it focuses on one problem only by [editing this post](/posts/125333/edit). Closed 5 years ago. [Improve this question](/po...
[Question] [ What is the lowest, most basic technology level needed for a human population to be able to develop a reliable flying machine capable of transporting people over medium-short distances (at least a few kilometers)? # Context I have a setting where the world has no solid surface and is instead made of floa...
[Question] [ A multi-state feudalistic medieval society manages to accomplish certain advancements (directly agricultural and supportive), specifically discovering/refining/implementing: * Crop rotation * "Modern" plough * Transportation infrastructures, such as improved roads and canals * Land conversion, land drain...
[Question] [ **Passage of the Childhood Ownership Act of 20X8** [Bob](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/25242/how-can-a-single-person-with-unlimited-lifetimes-and-persistent-memory-affect-th) has finally made it to a position of power as a rich white male in the First World after hundreds of lives as ...
[Question] [ A long time ago I asked a question about dragon saddlery([Dragon Riding Question](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/214095/90300)) and later on how to pilot flying animals([How to pilot flying animals?](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/218432/90300)), but recently I saw a lot of art on t...
[Question] [ So, in my setting, there are dwarves that make good steel. Shocker, I know. To refine the ore, they rely on the bloomery process like everyone else, using anthracite (when they can get it), charcoal (the normal fuel) or bituminous coal (when they can't get a hold of anthracite or charcoal). From there, m...
[Question] [ I have a clan in early middle ages when both man and women of a military aristocracy train for war. All the daughters of the warriors train archery from the early age. It is expected they should be able to protect their fortified homes together with the boys when the men are on campaign. In the emergency...
[Question] [ Humans (and mammals) have 2 lungs, one right and the another left. The right lung has 3 lobes and the left have 2 lobes because in the "third" there is the heart, so the right lung is bigger than the left. I want to make a race with two hearts so I have to remove one lobe of the right lung to locate th...
[Question] [ My galaxy exploring ship is powered by a fusion reactor (back up with some solar panels but they spend a long time between stars). We know that stars are powered by fusion too, so they have all the ingredients we need and I've seen sci-fi use this...but the question is: **Could we actually get our fusion...
[Question] [ Assume you have a culture that eats some or all of their dead at the funeral as a ritual, instead of burying the dead as we do. Assume somewhere between medieval and renaissance level of technology/science. What is the risk of disease being spread through such a custom? Would the risk of disease lead to ...
[Question] [ If a human standing on bedrock could indefinitely increase their mass without increasing in volume, how much mass could they add to themselves before they start causing damage to the ground? How massive can they get before they sink into the ground? [Answer] Ooh, this is an interesting question. Assum...
[Question] [ Many factors in history have contributed to society's taking a long time to accept the heliocentric (= the Earth orbits the Sun) model: the first that come to mind immediately are **religion** and, more generally, people's instinctive **resistance to drastic changes in ideology**. While **the sphericity ...
[Question] [ How can I create holidays/traditions for my fictional world? I want these holidays to be believable and original, not just something inspired by a holiday we have here. An obvious course of action seems to be to investigate the origins of our own holidays. A lot come from religion (Christmas, Easter, et...
[Question] [ So, my world is a sphere (roughly) within [hyperbolic space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_space). Since the surface areas of spheres in hyperbolic space grows exponentially with radius, it has the same surface area of the Earth (indeed, we can assume that the surface *is* the exact same as th...
[Question] [ The world I'm currently writing is an alternative Earth with Space Age tech that advanced much faster than our Earth because of Ancestral Guidance: 1. In the middle of every graveyard, there is a patch of special material (called Pactite). Once a person is buried in this graveyard, his memories and brain...
[Question] [ I've asked before about my [polytheists with competing moon gods](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/71/28). I now have a better understanding of how tides -- a very visible manifestation of lunar influence -- work with multiple moons (thanks), but now I need to disrupt it. My story calls for a hu...
[Question] [ So, I’ve seen other settings before where magic-users – mages, sorcerers, wizards and similar – are basically gods. There have been fantasy stories where a mage can singlehandedly wipe out an army, and no mundane man could challenge them. In those settings, the mages typically have forcefield shields, en...
[Question] [ The idea of the trope is that at some point, Earth is doomed, humans flee into the stars, knowledge of Earth is lost in the process, eventually becoming legend or myth, either due to loss of information, revisionism due to state propaganda, or even something gone horribly wrong in the early days. So, th...
[Question] [ In the mobile game ["The Path To Luma"](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.NRG.PathToLuma&hl=ko/), the main hero travels to very tiny planets. Let's not think about where is the sun and how we leap through such small planets. What I want to ask is, if there is a spherical planet with a rad...
[Question] [ * How could a creature explode itself? * *Why* would it? We see example ideas of these all the time (Scourges, creepers, etc.) but nobody ever said how or why a creature would intentionally explode. I am not referring to intentional combustion, but explosion *specifically.* This would be an evolutionary ...
[Question] [ I asked a similar question here on the site but it was too broad, so I'm attempting to break it down into smaller topics for people to dissect: this will likely be one of many. I am attempting to write a project/start a thought exercise on how a society could be built on the rules and conventions of an ...
[Question] [ In sci-fi, we can find the concept of artificial fertilization and incubator quite commonly. I work in a company that's heavily involved in that technology, so I became curious to adapt this to my medieval Europe-inspired fantasy world as some magical force. It could be some sacred tree that a couple can...
[Question] [ **Closed.** This question is [off-topic](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- This question does not appear to be about **worldbuilding**, within the scope defined in the [help center](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/help). Closed 5 years ago. [Improve this que...
[Question] [ How might such a species evolve? How would they swim, navigate and breed? How big could they grow, and what complications might arise out of their growing very large? [Answer] I think an alternate biochemistry might be what you're after. On Earth, we already have extremophiles that, while they retain ...
[Question] [ The CGI (Cosmic Gateway Interface) System is a set of commands which (nearly?) anyone anywhere can intone in order to trigger some kind of alien tech (which exists somewhere far away), which opens a wormhole between two points, with the size of the gate and the locations of its end points defined by the ...
[Question] [ One property of life is communication. In particular sound is very useful due to it's non-directional nature. An alarm call is heard by every member of the pack and warns them immediately of the danger whether they are looking in the right direction, or asleep, or doing something else entirely. It also t...
[Question] [ This question is about a fictional scenario where an evil suicidal scientist has built a high-energy weapon somewhere on earth. His intention is to shoot a beam of some form of energy (or high-energy particles) to the sun, in order to disturb the nuclear fusion processes and in process kill all life on e...
[Question] [ **Closed**. This question needs [details or clarity](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- **Want to improve this question?** Add details and clarify the problem by [editing this post](/posts/150515/edit). Closed 4 years ago. [Improve this question](/posts/150515/edit) ...
[Question] [ I want a substance, of which the victim does not notice any effects, except for a very severe withdrawal effects. Ideally, it could be a natural water contamination. (Fungus?). I want severe physical withdrawal symptoms, comparable to heroin. And I want people to start clean and become addicted by accid...
[Question] [ I know iron is valuable, but I was wondering if iron was extremely rare, rare enough that it could not be used for construction, weapons, or anything our society uses iron, what this society would look like. Would they be able to find a good alternate or several alternates in order to accomplish the same...
[Question] [ My world geographically separates agrarian from urban centers. A large caravan (hundreds of different 'farmers') travels to the cities every harvest, to sell their goods. The caravan is over a month in length, with the first and last weeks being in the wilderness between cities and farmland. The farmers ...
[Question] [ So, this is a trope common to any number of science fiction worlds: humanity emerges from its solar system to discover that there are a bunch of alien races out there, but, importantly, at least the major players are all within decades of each other when it comes to technological advancement. Star Trek i...
[Question] [ Many myths have creatures like sirens who can use their voices to lure men to their deaths. But is there any way a creature could exist in the real world that had that power? I don't just mean fooling animals by using scent or color to lure them in, I mean actually causing humans to approach without defe...
[Question] [ One of my fictional planets (which is largely terran in nature) is notable for an unique animal. Said animal is a dangerous predator that is notable for several things: * It is physically separated into three parts: one "hunter", one "digestor" and one "reproducer". All three parts share the same DNA and...
[Question] [ In a story I'm working on, a rogue nation-state has decided to attack another country. They want to make the attack seem more natural, though, and so they've decided to trigger an earthquake. This nation-state has access to quite a lot of funds, and has bought weapons from a number of arms dealers; their...
[Question] [ In my world, telekinesis is a common ability, to the point that it is unusual not to be able to use it to some degree. It is an ability that was genetically grafted onto the human genome when humanity had access to advanced technology. A series of wars, and technology disrupting magic use have lowered th...
[Question] [ I am a skilled metallurgist and engineer and, like most well-educated people, I'm terrified by the possibility of an impending apocalypse. Let's not worry too much about what form it takes. Nuclear, ecological, cosmic - I mean we're spoiled for choice after all. The point is that it's going to be so cata...
[Question] [ Like on a scale of one to ten, how plausible are Alcubierre drives in terms of our current understanding of physics? Plausible enough to be considered "hard sci-fi", or are they just another form of handwave like hyperspace? This isn't asking about how the science behind the Alcubierre drive works (exce...
[Question] [ On earth our continents move...real...real slow. This is of course a good thing for sentient life. I am trying to imagine/develop a world where...things move a bit faster...ok a lot faster, but in a regular pattern that doesn't generally result in two plates ramming into each other...the idea is that the...
[Question] [ I recently watched a special on cave divers in the Yucatan Peninsula and part way through that show the divers encountered a feature called a Halocline, a meeting of two different water masses of differing salinity. It looked like a mirror, or a surface in the middle of the water. This sparked an idea fo...
[Question] [ So I'm thinking about having my race of lightning wielding rabbits wear metal armour. The first one that came to mind was gold. And then a quick Google search later told me gold is one of the best conductors of electricity in the world. I have also read some novels where they say that metal armour were u...
[Question] [ On Earth, there are many species that communicate using pheromones - from the simple (cats marking their territory) to the complex (ants conveying information about food, danger, and the current status of the colony). In the interest of creating a highly alien-feeling species, I would like to consider th...
[Question] [ If a person from a culture that uses money was to try and introduce such a system to a tribe of people that use a barter-based system, how could they do this in the shortest amount of time? What methods are there that don't screw up the existing dynamics? 1. The tribe can be considered to be around 500 ...
[Question] [ There are various arguments on the web stating that the domestication of zebras is impossible, because zebras are bad tempered and skittish, and/or animals elsewhere are even-tempered and friendly. for instance [PBS/Jared Diamond article](http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/variables/zebra.html), [Brief hi...
[Question] [ I have a generic Earth like planet, same atmospheric composition, and the same oceanic composition. The crust of this planet is predominantly silicon based but plenty of iron, nickel and copper. Life started on this planet too and currently covers the entire surface, both above and below the waves. *My o...
[Question] [ Some of you may know my mutant thread, and guess what? It's back. I'm wondering if there is any biological means to improve muscular power without greatly increasing the volume of said muscle. My conundrum is that I have some mutants easily able to lift 6 tons (and more - as in lift above their head and ...
[Question] [ I'm currently working on two connected continents for the world I'm building. They've created a [convergent boundary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_boundary) where they meet, which has given rise to an east-west mountain range, in addition to a north-south range on the northern continent. Ther...
[Question] [ The next setting I'm working on is a desert made entirely of sugar. It's unclear how this came to be, but it's created a unique and bizarre landscape. Something I've been considering, is what might happen if it rained there? If we assume the sugar is endless, what would it look like during a rainstorm? A...
[Question] [ A world similar to earth (climate fluctuations, the need to cook food), and because the natural atmosphere doesn't have oxygen, the intelligent organisms there don't breath oxygen. How far could a civilization go without fire, if at all? Is there an alternative to fire for heat and light? It doesn't have...
[Question] [ Supertall buildings are buildings that reach between 300 and 600 m tall. My question is regarding the possibility of constructing such a building with a level of development and understanding limited to that of the world in the 18th century. From what I've researched so far, a combination of techniques ...
[Question] [ First off -- this differs from our [history](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/from-which-point-on-would-including-a-dragon-on-one-side-of-a-historical-battle) [questions](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/21719/dragon-vs-antiaircraft-artillery) on this topic in that...
[Question] [ We have built a space elevator using carbon nanotube. The cable is just strong enough to sustain the counterweight, with a narrow margin to survive storms. **PROBLEM**: Terrorists of the Spaghettic State have vowed to destroy the gluten-free appendage. * What are the most probable attacks terrorists will...
[Question] [ Contrary to popular belief, Unicorns are not related to horses but instead are descended from the [Siberian Unicorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium). [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JtRgr.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JtRgr.png) Over time: * their fur became whit...
[Question] [ How could a group, very possibly militarized, cut off a small-medium sized city from the rest of the world for an overnight period? This includes outside responses like police, national guard, so on and so forth. Also, something that would keep as many people from escaping the city as possible before the...
[Question] [ In this world I'm creating, humans are shrunk down to 2 centimeters tall, and have been teleported down to an earthlike dimension consisting only of insects, plants, fungi and other invertebrates. The landscapes are mostly mountainous, but the general crust layer of the world has about the same contents ...
[Question] [ I started to wonder about the possibility of a tentacle massage machine. To make the setting even more bizarre, it was intended to be a mass market home appliance. The tech level should be comparable to contemporary, with somewhat better electronics and data processing. The thing that makes me wonder: i...
[Question] [ Inspired by some of the comments on [How to safely capture someone when you have super-strength](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/101134/how-to-safely-capture-someone-when-you-have-super-strength) I am wondering how police departments would handle a super-hero entering the police academy...
[Question] [ The Humern Empire is a vast, well established empire that spans the galaxy. Despite having no FTL travel they have kept their empire together with a series of subluminal transport methods. Heavy cargo loads are moved from system to system using a finely tuned web of [Photonic Laser Propulsion](https://en...
[Question] [ I am the leader of the of the Egyptian nation. I want to invade the Middle East and recreate the Muslim caliphate of old. I do know, however, that with the United Nations in my way, I will never accomplish my dream. Assume that I want to dissolve the United Nations. The only way I can see this happening ...
[Question] [ Communal dining of some form is a custom amongst virtually every human society. Whether inviting friends around for a meal or going on a date together social eating is a common way of tying communities together. This extends to international diplomacy, where formal banquets and informal lunches all provi...
[Question] [ In my near (+200 years) future world teleportation has been invented and is now in common use especially for off-world travelling, but it works by creating a perfect copy of the travelling human nearly instantaneously at the destination not by moving the traveller in space. The evil corporation that inve...
[Question] [ Imagine that in modern world, a [Faceless Man](http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Faceless_Men) of Braavos is walking among us. He is able to completely change his appearance in a split second, and, unfortunately, keeps killing people. Would it be possible to catch such man? Here are a few assumptions: ...
[Question] [ How would melee combat develop in a zero-g environment? What kind of formations, and techniques would be developed to combat both other zero-g melee combatants and arrow fire? This applies for both man-to-man combat, zone defense combat, and formation to formation combat. [Answer] Your primary conce...
[Question] [ Suppose you became immortal\* or came by the ability to live for thousands of years due to some inexplicable/irrelevant event (you still appear to be human by all standards except aging). What would be the best way for an immortal to live in an American society while maintaining access to benefits of tha...
[Question] [ [Darmstadt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Space_Operations_Centre), Germany, current day: All ESA members meet on super secret meeting. They had it enough with NASA and want to claim their first place in space. How do they want to do it? Landing manned mission on Mars first! "Err... Do we have m...
[Question] [ Note: I am aware of this question [Could two planets be tidally locked to each other so close they share their atmosphere?](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/4460/could-two-planets-be-tidally-locked-to-each-other-so-close-they-share-their-atmo) My question is not about that. It is specifi...
[Question] [ There is a really obvious problem with going to a planet we have deemed "habitable". Even if the temperature is perfect, the air composition is perfect and the terrain is perfect we still have the problem of micro-organisms. If the planet has checked the aforementioned three boxes then it is very likely ...
[Question] [ **Closed.** This question is [off-topic](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- Closed 7 years ago. * This question does not appear to be about **worldbuilding**, within the scope defined in the [help center](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/help). * You are aski...
[Question] [ ### Intro and Context (feel free to skip if TL;DR) This question does not come in isolation. It is intrinsically linked with several previous posts ([Challenge of Control](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/6340/the-challenge-of-controlling-a-powerful-ai) and [Humans as Pets](https://world...
[Question] [ Suppose, through some fantastical mechanism, all macroscopic (i.e. reasonably massive) objects in the universe were instantly made at rest. In other words, the relative velocity between every two of these objects is set to 0. Subsequent to that instant, Physics resumes business as usual. What happens nex...
[Question] [ **Closed**. This question needs to be more [focused](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- **Want to improve this question?** Update the question so it focuses on one problem only by [editing this post](/posts/34475/edit). Closed 7 years ago. [Improve this question](/pos...
[Question] [ I had posted a question recently for my world building project concerning fungal lifeforms in place of traditional plants in a certain region of a tidally locked world. Had really good and informative responses. Now I would like to pose another question about this setting. To the east of the main contine...
[Question] [ I want to be able to graph the change in daylight hours across the year for a given latitude, to get an idea of what kind of cycle in available daylight people at that latitude would live through and adapt to. I'm assuming "daylight hours" is the time between the two periods the top of the star is tangen...
[Question] [ **Foreword:** I'm aware of the limitations of the square-cube law involved in sizing an animal up, as these limitations have been relentlessly stressed in every discussion of realistic fantasy creatures. In this case, I'm discussing not an animal, but a slime mold with animal-like motility. # Slimes Sli...
[Question] [ I'd like to set a story in our solar system with Earth and the inner planets becoming uninhabitable and a new planet being required. If human beings decided to build a world by making slight deviations to asteroids in the main asteroid belt, trojan asteroids, and Kuiper belt until they start to coalesce,...
[Question] [ I was wondering what would happen if there was a planet with a "shell" of stone entirely surrounding it (not connected, just held in place by gravity), with a few holes all the way through the outer shell, and two civilizations - one on the outside, and one on the inside. Would this be feasible? Would th...