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[Question] [ How would you design armour to be effective against wizards? For simplicity's sake we'll have the only magic available to the wizards be elemental magic(fire, ice, electricity, wind, light), and they have to cast it as a bolt or stream from a wand or staff, where the wand can be fired off in quick succes...
[Question] [ Imagine both humans uploaded into computer networks and biological humans exist in the same society. The uploaded humans have the normal range of human personalities (not an evil-AI-takes-over-the-world plot). For the rest of this question, I will refer to the uploaded human AIs simply as AIs. Because th...
[Question] [ I have some isolated ice age civilizations in a setting I'm working on and there's one thing I'm not quite sure about; rapid sea level changes. [![Ice Age Sea Levels](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1XXLh.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1XXLh.png) Sea level during the last 10,000 years or so of the ice age was...
[Question] [ Usually "space battle" posts want to achieve some particular fantasy aim (like, realistic where fighters still exists), or they are focused on aliens and whatnot. I am instead trying to figure out how space battles work when it is humans vs humans, sometimes even having friends on the other side, people ...
[Question] [ Suppose, for instance, you lived in a world filled with nasty monsters and other creatures of the night, all of whom wanted to kill you and eat you in various ways. Now, the good news here is that we all know such creatures cannot cross running water. So, if you're in danger, all you need to do is hop ov...
[Question] [ Let's imagine a society X. Society X is at a modern, 21th century (Information Age) level of development. Society X is run exactly like any modern, free, developed, and democratic society (ex. modern day Germany, Japan, USA). However, within 100 years, a caste system develops: * People are assigned to on...
[Question] [ How effective would it be to use [fusion scoops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet) as an actually effective method of interstellar travel? How quickly could you generate thrust? How much fuel would such a thing need, and would it work in deep space? What sort of procedures would be needed for...
[Question] [ ## Premise I was inspired by [Karl Niklas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_J._Niklas) who used computer modeling to simulate the ideal structure for a tree when different traits were favored. Here is a chart summarizing his work: [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/llkgX.jpg)](h...
[Question] [ **This question asks for hard science.** All answers to this question should be backed up by equations, empirical evidence, scientific papers, other citations, etc. Answers that do not satisfy this requirement might be removed. See [the tag description](/tags/hard-science/info) for more information. As I...
[Question] [ In my world a space civilization is colonizing a massive solid planet. The planet has an extraordinarily fast rotation. The gravity is severe at the poles, making life impossible, but life flourish within a wide belt at the equator. This “green belt” is possible thanks to the extreme rotation - the ce...
[Question] [ I'm writing a story that will eventually escalate from being focused on one planet to the entire star system that planet belongs to, and finally to a big story involving the two nearest star systems to the one the Original planet is located in. So what I would like to know is what is the minimal distanc...
[Question] [ Imagine a large room, perhaps 50 metres in length and 35 in width, with its ceiling 40 metres above the floor. On this ceiling, there are LED lights, rendering the brightness of the room to look something like this: ![A well lit room](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uaull.jpg) On the floor, there's a large poo...
[Question] [ I have this protagonist who has has the ability to magically nullify newtons of force when they would harm him. Functionally speaking, this makes the character immune from most forms of damage, both external and internal. While extremes of temperature, suffocation, and starvation can definitely kill him,...
[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/111451/edit). Closed 5 years ago. [Improve this question](/posts/111451/edit) ...
[Question] [ In a hypothetical scenario humans have discovered a new material that is decently expensive (not antimatter levels). Let's say it's slightly cheaper than gold. What properties would it need to have to make things like bullets, tanks, and gases obsolete during war? It would be preferrably if it replaced t...
[Question] [ I had a thought last night about how to build a more efficient furnace in a fairly low tech society. (I build Games, so this is part of my world mechanics) My question is: How feasible is this idea - could it actually be done? So I had a thought, "Lodestone" or more precisely "Magnetic Lodestone" has bee...
[Question] [ Say that an apocalyptic even takes place, a genetic disease wiping out most of humanity in a matter of years. So, there are no bombs, nuclear winter, or any sort of event that messes up the environment. **60 years have passed after the event.** Leftover people live in small independent settlements, sev...
[Question] [ I just thought of something. Carnivorous and dangerous monsters are often depicted as common and dangerous enemies in fantasy, especially things like RPGs, but in real life herbivores far outnumber their predators. But what if some boost in prey levels caused their numbers to increase enough that they at...
[Question] [ *This is question is related to the medieval world from [my earlier question](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/101214/what-qualities-could-a-hominid-evolve-to-make-it-a-better-farmer) in which several types of intelligent hominids evolved in isolation, until they were rediscovered, conqu...
[Question] [ This question is related to [Deadly, Heavier than Air Gas](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/14792/deadly-heavier-than-air-gas), and [Is a world with two different types of air possible?](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/61663/is-a-world-with-two-different-types-of-air-po...
[Question] [ Let's say there's a planet with 18 times the radius of Earth, but has the same density as Earth. If so, how would it be possible for a big planet to such a density of Earth? Would it have the same gravity as Earth? [Answer] # That's no planet! Let's say that the radius is $18R\_{\oplus}$, where $R\_{\...
[Question] [ One hundred years into the future, humanity colonizes the first planet in another solar system. A big ocean world! Yay! But there is a problem: Most of the flora is toxic for consumption, so the only option is to hunt the animals for meat. Most of the aquatic animals on this planet can be used as food, ...
[Question] [ I've built a magical world. In this world, mages crop up one of two ways. 1) Genetically passed down. 2) Through exposure of magic, for example, growing up in a magical forest. I would also like the folks who get their talent from environment to be able to pass down their talent genetically to the next g...
[Question] [ The money a country spends in defense is usually really high. There are many countries in a world like ours where the army is hardly ever used. Could it be possible for a country that is surrounded by allies to drop its army and use the money for something else? Would their allies see this as an opportun...
[Question] [ > > The term "middle class" has had several, sometimes contradictory, > meanings. It was once defined by exception as an intermediate social > class between the nobility and the peasantry of Europe. While the > nobility owned the countryside, and the peasantry worked the > countryside, a new bourgeo...
[Question] [ **This question asks for hard science.** All answers to this question should be backed up by equations, empirical evidence, scientific papers, other citations, etc. Answers that do not satisfy this requirement might be removed. See [the tag description](/tags/hard-science/info) for more information. I'd ...
[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/55149/edit). Closed 7 years ago. [Improve this question]...
[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/34947/edit). Closed 7 years ago. [Improve this question](/pos...
[Question] [ Two planets rotate each other and are tidally locked. They are where earth is around a star nearly identical to the sun. One planet is much wetter, featuring oceans, swamps, jungles, and forests. The other is much dryer with plains and deserts. Both are about earth-sized and have similar atmospheres. The...
[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] [ After I asked [what language the Anglo-French Empire would use](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/29720/what-language-would-the-anglo-french-empire-use), I got a few comments that made me realise that I haven't really thought about how this would arise in the first place. For starters, as...
[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 8 years ago. [Improve this que...
[Question] [ Let's suppose we have found a new human colony today, somehow populating Pluto. They have good technology, much like ours and we don't want to slave them. We want to establish a communication link between us and them. How could we do it using our technology? Ok, let's assume some things first. * Wormhole...
[Question] [ I have been reading on Wikipedia about [cloning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning) and am considering it a possibility for reproduction in my world. I am finding it slightly difficult to find all of the cons and pros associated with it. I have these: * Pros + Faster reproduction is theoretically po...
[Question] [ What sort of circumstances would allow for a parasitic relationship between two dominant species of an Earth-like planet? The criteria for an answer is as follows: * The relationship must involve no more nor less than 2 separate species * Both species must be dominant, ie. independent, intelligent and ca...
[Question] [ Centuries ago, the world was locked in a three-way cold war scenario between three large empires with nukes. The tech level was roughly equivalent to 2000's technology in our world. Runaway climate change occurred as the three superpowers doubled down on fossil fueled development in an attempt to get an ...
[Question] [ If humans die out tomorrow the two most likely candidates to achieve sapience after us are our closest genetic relatives. One of these, chimpanzee, has been discussed quite thoroughly in stories such as 'Planet of the Apes', but chimps have been done and are boring. We have another relative, just as clos...
[Question] [ I was bouncing ideas off the wall about empires that could've plausibly existed in Asia if certain things went differently, and I stumbled across the very physical barrier of the Himalayas. So my question is this: how great a physical obstacle is the Himalayas, exactly? Is it totally impossible for a pol...
[Question] [ In Dracoriri, I plan to have a species of small dragon called a Malidge (by small, we mean about the size of a human). These dragons are red, shiny, and covered in plates instead of scales, a natural armor fitted so well together that it is virtually impenetrable, much like on a Mesmerake. They are also ...
[Question] [ If we consider a planet with the same characteristics as the earth, (diameter, mass, rotation period) what would be the maximum possible diameter of a moon on a geosynchronous orbit? Considering the Roche limit and other considerations of which I have no clue. This moon would be made of the same material...
[Question] [ Humans are terraforming what they believed to be a barren planet when they encounter a new species of bacteria. This species is exobacteria (bacteria of extraterrestrial origin), but the human scientists can't immediately tell. The species should be sufficiently biologically similar to be able to pass fo...
[Question] [ I'm designing an alien race with limited points of articulation, and it got me thinking what is the minimum number of phonemes needed for a language to function? That would help me determine their physiology? I've seen [Is a Language with Two Phonemes Feasible?](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/qu...
[Question] [ What kind of footwear would be worn by a race of anthropomorphic cats in a fantasy setting? They live as a roughly medieval society in a temperate climate, and their feet have the same shape as cat paws. [Answer] Cats are digitigrade, they'd be better off without shoes. # Crocs Claws are important to ...
[Question] [ If the right requirements are met, could bacteria survive on the Sun? The bacteria would spend most of their time in hibernation and reproducing, and when the time comes, they spread out on plasma concentrations and fly towards the nearest celestial bodies. * They are like [water-bears](https://en.wikipe...
[Question] [ I have a specific idea to draw out an alternate society. My plan is to design propaganda prospects or posters. Do you guys have some tips how I could show/tell most through-out this medium to understand the alternate society I'm trying to create? Which information would be essential to show? [Answer] ...
[Question] [ ### Background The concept of an old and dying red planet is common in [pulp novels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barsoom), [comics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krypton_(comics)), and [gaming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Sun). What I am interested in is a world dying under a sun that has turned...
[Question] [ Cryomancy is cool, ice is cool and ice mages too. But does it actually hold any utility other than keeping your food fresh, specially martially wise(?) How could an individual with ice magic powers be able to use his magic in combat, a life or death situation where fleeing is not an option ? The magic w...
[Question] [ **Closed.** This question is [off-topic](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- You are asking questions about a story set in a world instead of about building a world. For more information, see [Why is my question "Too Story Based" and how do I get it opened?](https://w...
[Question] [ It's easy to imagine how would a water-breathing aquatic race outfit its spaceship - take a normal spaceship, insulate it, fill it with oxygenated water, possibly add some enhanced turbines to pump water so that users will be able to stay at the consoles without having to swim all over all the time. But ...
[Question] [ The relationship between the *distance*, $d$, of the event horizon from a black hole's center and the *tidal acceleration*, $a$, experienced by an object near a black hole allows for scenarios in which a human could - assuming no other forces than gravity - cross the event horizon un-spaghettified. In fa...
[Question] [ Throughout history we've seen that governments which expanded far and wide all ended up today controlling just one area on the map. I was playing Civ 6 and realized it can be tough even in a simplified game environment to control territories far away from home. A popular story line in movies and games la...
[Question] [ Magic is drawn from an alternate dimension and used to alter reality in the world around you. It generally involves three steps. * The first is tapping into this other realm and drawing energy from it into your body. This is a slow, arduous process that cannot be rushed. Every spell has its own time fra...
[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/71714/edit). Closed 6 years ago. [Improve this question](/pos...
[Question] [ Welcome to Nottonmap, a small village in Whateverdrivestheplotland! The entire village has an impressive total of 500 inhabitants and doesn't really have more to offer than a smog-free and peaceful environment. Because the village is so small everyone knows each other, and often get together on holidays ...
[Question] [ The Utopians are a wise and benevolent civilization with Ancient Rome-like technology. Unfortunately, they are so peaceful that they are constantly on the verge of being conquered by the neighboring and envious barbaric tribes. So the Utopians prayed to their gods and they looked with favor to the poor m...
[Question] [ Most members of my species are fairly human-like and can communicate using speech, but many of them possess mutations that make normal speech impossible. These mutations can also significantly change their limbs and digits, so a shared sign language won't work either. So that everyone can talk to each ot...
[Question] [ As part of a story idea, I'd like to create an alien civilization that colonized different solar systems in a manner similar to how European nations colonized other continents here on Earth. This civilization would have the technology to make travel between solar systems feasible, though certainly not wi...
[Question] [ **This question asks for hard science.** All answers to this question should be backed up by equations, empirical evidence, scientific papers, other citations, etc. Answers that do not satisfy this requirement might be removed. See [the tag description](/tags/hard-science/info) for more information. Gues...
[Question] [ And I'm not talking about insects. In what kind of environment could a large number of different species all develop six legs/limbs/appendages the same way most vertebrate species on Earth have four? Could it just be up to chance or is there a reason all animals on Earth have =< 4 limbs? [Answer] I ha...
[Question] [ Glass has been around since 3500 BC, and since then, it has been one of the many everyday materials of choice. We pretty much see them everywhere nowadays--our windows, our windshields, our mirrors, our fancy wine bottles. But now, it seems, glass is going to suffer some stiff competition from something ...
[Question] [ [Food for thought from /r/worldbuilding:](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/4j61hl/do_separate_races_not_species_automatically/) If the dominant race (typically human) of a given world, without any other context, has a huge cultural diversity, then is racism **surely** going to appear? If t...
[Question] [ In *Halo*, there are large mechanized suits called [Mantises](http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL_Mark_IX_Armor_Defense_System). These are heavily armed and bipedal (kind of like the the AT-ST). There is no doubt that they *can* be built, but why would they? What would the advantages be of a bi...
[Question] [ Assuming fission thrusters as described here: [Would a nuclear fission thruster with continuous fuel injection be possible?](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/21596/would-a-nuclear-fission-thruster-with-continuous-fuel-injection-be-possible), and assuming drilling for the planet's molten ...
[Question] [ This question is intended as a follow up to this one: [Naturally occurring wheels - do the 'mech' vs. 'tank' comparison apply to organics?](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/20664/naturally-occurring-wheels-do-the-mech-vs-tank-comparison-apply-to-organi) I agree with the arguments against...
[Question] [ In the novel Alien Influences by [Kristine Kathryn Rusch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristine_Kathryn_Rusch) an alien species is presented with no concept of past. In the novel they have some other way of accessing older knowledge, but let's assume some intelligent alien species have no concept of pas...
[Question] [ Two nations are at war over something rather trivial, but offenses have been perpetrated here and there such that the conflict has escalated from a couple of guys shooting each other to massive bombing runs by both sides which can kill thousands. The bombing runs are *a la* the strategic bombing campaign...
[Question] [ Is it possible to have a major trade city built on the edges of a lagoon? For a city I'm designing it is situated on a lagoon but if there is a small strait/canal so that ships can move in and out of the lagoon does it still qualify as a lagoon? I ask not only for geographic understanding but also becaus...
[Question] [ When traveling at fast speeds through the galaxy, would it be possible to identify where all the black holes were on your path? I know most black holes are identified by their affect on other nearby objects. But what would happen if it was all by its lonesome? Would we be able to 'sense' it somehow befor...
[Question] [ I am trying to imagine a terraformed solar system in the late 3rd millennium to early 4th millennium AD. As a result, I am curious if plants on this Mercury, which would have all the oxygen, CO2, soil nutrients, and water they need to survive the sunlight intensity on Mercury. Also, this Mercury has had ...
[Question] [ I was thinking of a story I wanted to write, but I had a legal question. It involves a war story, and a group of around 12 soldiers. Members of a regular armed force, with the authority of the head of state legally behind them, have taken a position in an armed conflict and have in the process captured s...
[Question] [ I am thinking of adding an element to my world that is primarily desert that consists of a semi liquid sea of possibly high silica sand that's inundated with salt water. Would such a mixture have the effect of a sea like body of sand? Thank you for your time [Answer] # Two words: "Gassy ground". You m...
[Question] [ I want to design alien plants in which wood and cell walls are not made of the lignin/cellulose mixture wood and plant cell walls on Earth are made from, but I don't actually know what materials would be suitable. On it's own, I admit, this isn't a very helpful thing to say, as what counts as "suitable" ...
[Question] [ (Before I begin, I would like to assure everyone present that, yes, I'm fully aware of the lunacy of this idea.) Let us assume this takes place on a parallel Earth sometime in the early 1900s, during the dawn of the great age of airships. You, an aspiring aerostat engineer of great creativity and little ...
[Question] [ Post-Apocalyptic modern world, a group of civilian survivors about three dozen in number find themselves trapped in a military base. They have no way out except by air. The military base has a dozen helicopters but none of them knows how to fly the damn contraption. Assume they have endless food, fuel, a...
[Question] [ The fluff: As part of the world I'm building there is modern technology of firearms. However there is a problem: there are some categories of creatures (from some of my previous questions) that just keep comming until the ammo is depleted, and then swarm the fireteams with what is left. The biggest probl...
[Question] [ Lately, I've again pondered how mermaids could move on land. I know certain fish, like frogfish, devilfish, and even batfish, as well as mudskippers, have developed fins that work as feet. However, I'm pretty sure that would be ineffective, as seals do something similar and they are painfully slow and la...
[Question] [ I have the idea of a fantasy civilization based around shifting dunes. The idea is that the land is largely uninhabitable except for the coasts, but there are large dunes that function as habitable "islands" in this wasteland. Blown by the wind, these dunes slowly drift across the land at the speed of se...
[Question] [ I am writing a story with a world of sentient animals (equal rights to humans), and some of my main dog characters are part of a police department. Now, in a world like this, I'm kinda thinking that if your K-9 partner is just as smart as you are, you might want to arm them too so they can back you up wi...
[Question] [ The high fantasy world I'm building is loosely based on 10th-century Scotland, under threat by Viking-type raiders. There's a small group of not-Scots with supernatural gifts that an ambitious chief of not-Iceland would particularly like to get his hands on for his own power-hungry purposes, so the gifte...
[Question] [ In various science fiction works, we see our plucky heroes beaming down to, or flying down to planets other than their own. They meet with the inhabitants there, be they human or otherwise and then they just go back on their way without incident. Given the situation the world finds itself at the moment, ...
[Question] [ I'm designing a world where people and dinosaurs exist at the same time. I'm making it realistic (in the sense that it is more like *Jurassic Park* and not like *The Flintstones*). Supposing you could tame an adult male triceratops, is there a way to estimate how much load it could pull/carry? I'm envisi...
[Question] [ In my narrative I have these aliens that don't experience time, they don't remember and don't predict events, which makes them completely reactionary. This is supposed to make them alien and difficult to understand. They are in a sense a physical metaphor that not everyone experiences the world in the sa...
[Question] [ In the world my friend and I are making, the dark lord makes one of the planets uninhabitable by causing a moon, about the size of our own, to fall on it. About 7000 years later, it is unnaturally cooled down via deus-ex-machina. What would be the impacts of this event on the planet itself? The planet is...
[Question] [ A scientist is resetting the clock on his microwave one day as he considers the hopelessness of keeping the time exactly right. Not for the reasons we worry about like power outages and daylight savings times, but because in the back of his head, he knows that Earth's movements through space are not prop...
[Question] [ I have an Earth analog that is nearly completely covered in ice and glaciers. I want to have oases of warmth scattered across the planet. These oases aren't tropical by any means, having just enough heat to support soil temperatures warm enough to allow tree growth. However, geothermal heat often seems d...
[Question] [ So I was surfing this [website](https://www.writeups.org/) which gives rpg stats for various fictional characters in various media, when I came across this character called ["The Frenchman"](https://www.writeups.org/frenchman-global-frequency-comics-ellis/) who apparently uses biofeedback to boost his pe...
[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/143020/edit). Closed 4 years ago. [Improve this question](/po...
[Question] [ Heyo. Well this is my very first question here so it might be a bit, I guess crude/blunt or unpolished. Anyways! This is for a world I've been building set in the nearish future (around 200-300 years) in the Solar System, called Warlords. So the belt in this universe is populated by three main groups of ...
[Question] [ I am working on a sort of alien contact story in a fantasy world, where a society would be completely isolated from the rest of the world and thus develop the idea that there is no outside world as a way of coping with the isolation. And soon this myth gets carried down and is eventually considered to be...
[Question] [ Halite, or rock salt, is a rock formed by salt deposited in past and then undergone geological processes. My question is: provided that enough (how to get that much sugar is not in scope of this question) white sugar is deposited in a suitable location in a earth like environment (enclosed between clay l...
[Question] [ I am writing a rule system for a homebrew space sci-fi tabletop RPG. As part of this process I also need to come up with gear to give my players. My setting, with two major exceptions that don't affect melee weaponry, my setting is set in very hard science. I like things like carbon nano-tubes, and megas...
[Question] [ **Closed.** This question is [off-topic](/help/closed-questions). It is not currently accepting answers. --- You are asking questions about a story set in a world instead of about building a world. For more information, see [Why is my question "Too Story Based" and how do I get it opened?](https://w...
[Question] [ In an Alternate Earth timeline, round about 1200 AD, we have the Great Alchemist and Philosopher Bob. Bob, being from a wealthy family has a handful of older brothers, so he's not likely to be an heir. He was raised with a rather eclectic variety of tutors and he did have an indulgent father, so when he ...
[Question] [ Various sources consider heat emission and heat management a major issue when it comes to setting up "realistic" space battle scenarios. I have a few questions in regards to this: * Heat is a byproduct of creating power via various means. Say my starship is powered by a central reactor, the reactor will ...
[Question] [ **This question already has answers here**: [Order of Solar System Colonization](/questions/56243/order-of-solar-system-colonization) (2 answers) Closed 6 years ago. To live on another planet, we have deal with its environment. Let us assume that terraforming is not a near-time, realistic option, ...
[Question] [ **Proposal:** a world where people have a form of telepathy that enables them to see what is seen by anyone else. In this world, people would have difficulty hiding any complex task from other persons. For example, Person A can see what Person B uses for the combination of a lock unless Person B closes t...
[Question] [ Or would any alien megastructures humanity discovers have had to enter our solar system from interstellar space? Basically, what is the likelihood that an alien megastructure like a space station, spaceship, or some remnant of planetary engineering (a space elevator or a moon-sized supercomputer perhaps)...
[Question] [ I am trying to make an original character who is blind and hunts with bow and arrow from a flying mount.  (Obviously, no existing animal can fly while bearing the weight of a human, so let’s assume that the mount is a mythical/fantastical species; for instance, a dragon or a gryphon.) What physical quali...
[Question] [ My NASA-like scientists in a system far, far away, but otherwise similar to us today, understand that their nearest sister planet, *Sunev*, is habitable for mankind. With one exception: it is almost pure oxygen. My space program really wants to get a scientist out there, but the likelihood of entry and l...
[Question] [ If Mars was vaporized by aliens, how would it affect us? Assume that the core of Mars exploded, sending the debris flying in all directions, and that some would pass close by, but not hit, Earth. How would it affect Earth's orbit? Would it cause another planet to diverge from its orbit which would then a...