Questions tagged [modern-age]
For questions based in contemporary Earth, current technology and social norms.
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What would be some changes in regards to courtship to a society where men are conscripted for three years into the military? [closed]
Let's say there's a major or constant level of warfare with an external enemy is a modern developed society. Think like modern day Korea or Israel. As a result of this level of warfare men are ...
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How to disguise a ghost with the Masquerade in full effect?
Okay, so I have a world just like ours, except all the myths are real. Maybe.
The Masquerade is in full effect - there is no such thing as monsters and you'd be crazy to say otherwise. This is vastly ...
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Could a natural disaster completely isolate a large city in the modern world without destroying it?
I'm trying to construct a society which has had a narrow miss with a natural disaster that has isolated them, scared them considerably, changed the culture, made many of them preppers, but didn't kill ...
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How can a 15-year-old vampire get human blood?
Since they can't really work a job that would allow easy access to blood, I thought of having them volunteer at a blood bank then maybe steal a bag. Alternatively, is it plausible that they would come ...
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How could my secret societies of immortals take over rival-clan-controlled towns without breaking the masquerade?
In a previous question, I brought up the concept of sanctuary towns, towns populated entirely by people who know about the population of immortal (as in they can't get old or sick; they can still be ...
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would it be reasonable for antfolk to integrate into human culture in the 21st century? [closed]
for context, antfolk are an intelligent species native to an area of africa, and are technically a species of ant. their description is "abnormally large (4 to 6 inch long) winged ants with three ...
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How can my town be public knowledge while still keeping outsiders out?
My story is set in the early 1990s, and it's about various races of immortal humanoid mythical creatures living amongst humanity in secret. The main setting is a town in America that's been around for ...
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How to keep secret societies with super technology from taking over the world?
There are a lot of fictional settings that have some sort of elite peacekeeping organization that is tasked with keeping people safe or keeping things "normal" and are frequently depicted as ...
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What would an immortal-run American bank have to do to secretly maintain bank accounts for immortal customers?
A common concern with immortal fictional characters like vampires and the like is the frequency with which they'd have to change their identities and move around in order to avoid people noticing how ...
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The History of Werewolf Fashion, Part 1: the 2000s
What follows is the first in what will be a series of questions I'll be asking in the hopes of solving a problem I'm running into with one of the species in my story: the werewolf, and the particular ...
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How could the sword be a viable weapon against modern technology, with the advantage of science-based superpowers?
The atmosphere in the Judging Hall was stretched so thin that it seemed like it would snap at the slightest blink of an eye. On one side of the hall sat the Master Judge and his guards, his hand ...
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How would a completely bulletproof clothing affect modern warfare?
Let's say in a few years a brand new material is discovered, a kevlar like fiber that is strong enough to stop any kind of bullet from a regular firearm (pistols, rifles, machine guns etc.). Anything ...
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Earth has just received a message from intelligent extraterrestrial life. What could this message say to cause the most panic? [closed]
The year is 2020, and scientists have just received a distinct signal coming from deep space. The frequency of the signal is far from the natural frequencies of stars and pulsars, and it is clear that ...
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What are the consequences of limitless energy but extremely low power?
Take a modern setting and a character with a good working knowledge of physics and no fear on telling people about whatever supernatural stuff they've found. As the only piece of magic in the setting, ...
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How to hide this underground city from seismologists, oil prospectors, and ground surveying projects?
In my previous question Would this underground city be noticed by seismologists?, it was established that a Goblin city in one of my settings would probably not go unnoticed do to the meddling of ...
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Would this underground city be noticed by seismologists?
The setting is current day Los Angeles... except for the goblin city that exists beneath it. Its chambers range from about 500-2000ft underground and has a population of several thousand. A lot of ...
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What could dragons do in modern-day combat?
As I mentioned before, dragons are really hard to adapt to modern-day settings, when warfare is concerned. For every other race, even centaurs, it's fairly easy to find some kind of strength and the ...
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How to shape society's values such that paleontology becomes the largest / most profitable industry?
In our iteration of "Earth," there are several studies suggesting that the study of paleontology is itself going extinct. In an attempt to envision a brighter future for the field, I want to build a ...
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What is the viability of this airship using modern technology?
I want to design an airship using modern-day technology. I have read around the stack exchange and while there are many questions on airships they do not completely answer my questions.
My main idea ...
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Placebo-worthy drug?
Are there any medicine out there specifically used to treat serious illnesses (it could be something as simple as painkillers to something for a very rare chronic illness) that could be swapped out ...
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Defending against poison bullets [closed]
The United States Army has recently adopted poison bullets. These poison bullets basically kill anyone that they touch. The poison acts in 10 seconds which is longer than it takes to cure the person. ...
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My characters have been killing the same demons over and over again. How come the demons never adapt to them?
There are three "worlds" in this setting: Heaven, Hell and Midgard, Midgard being Earth and the entire Milkyway galaxy.
When a demon or an angel enters Midgard, they can't just walk there, as they ...
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What modern materials would be useful for a steel plate armor?
I'm not talking about better steel or adding cameras or bullets, but modern materials to improve some of the armor's weak points. In my world alchemists have improved their magic to the point they can ...
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What do fairies wear and how can they evade detection by our cameras?
Set in the modern day; fairies are tennis ball sized humanoids with wings residing within the dense rainforest throughout the world. Local human populations consider them to be guardians protecting ...
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How could hackers cause mass destruction to major cities using existing satellites?
Set in the modern day, I was wondering about a possible scenario in which some hackers gain control of many satellites, probably including those specifically for defense purposes, in order to wreak ...
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To what extent would a 21st Century Industrial power collapse under an airborne HIV-like virus? [closed]
In an alternate 21st Century Earth, an airborne strain of HIV, or a brand new airborne virus that causes the same symptoms of HIV evolves. The new Super-HIV virus retains the ability to transmit by ...
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How can a nation today become a super power without any nuclear programme?
I suspect being economically strong and independent aren't enough to become a super power in today world, I realised that US is slowly losing it's grip as a super power after it starts shifting focus ...
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Can a human colony survive on a 'hot' world?
A colony ship headed for its new home countless light-years from Earth suffers an unfortunate malfunction on the final part of its descent phase and crashes onto the planet. Thankfully, the ship ...
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Fire Deparment Response to a Wizard Duel [closed]
In Modern Suburban America, two wizards have a duel using only a beginner fireball spell at 3 am. They both have really bad aim.
The local authorities are alerted and arrive in less than 5 minutes. ...
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Hiding spots in a big city? [closed]
Basically, one of my protagonists is a science experiment on the run who ends up in a modern day big city (like LA or Chicago). She's teamed up with a hustler who's lived on the streets for most of ...
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What transportation for snow city?
Set on an icy world where weather forecast is alway blizzard everywhere, I am wondering how do modern day people commute if everywhere are buried under several miles of snow? What kind of ...
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If Dragons existed in the real/modern world how would they be treated? [closed]
What if dragons were like any other species of animal in todays age and had many different variations spread across the world? Ranging from the size of small chihuahuas to the size of a large jumbo ...
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How can medieval knights protect themselves against modern guns?
How do a you make a knight with armour and a sword formidable against a modern-day soldier with gear and a gun?
And how can you make a medieval army formidable enough to face a modern day army?
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Why is super hero technology never used by civilians?
In comic books all kinds of super hero technology comes up. Villains will use shrink rays, heroes will have super suits and an AI in their bat computer, and the government has flying helicarriers and ...
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Famous conjecture or unsolved problem that could be plausibly proven/solved by freshman mathematician?
Is there any conjecture or famous unsolved problem, that doesn't require much prerequisite knowledge and could be plausibly proven / solved by freshman?
My hero is average freshman in mathematics, ...
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Are there any mathematics that could only be learned by very few people?
I'm worldbuilding a situation where new drug increases IQ when given to preschool children. Unfortunately only 1% of the recipients get the benefits, the rest risk their development being stunted. As ...
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Strategies against a water bender in modern day for an average citizen?
Assuming a water bender can only manipulate water that they are either touching or is within their relative touching distance (say, a few cm to a meter away), and assume that blood, saliva, and sweat ...
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Could a small private island protect its sovereignty?
Imagine the modern day world where an eccentric billionaire (plus a small group of others) has decided to declare their private island as their own country. (lets say the island is about 1 square ...
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Can one guy with a duplicator initiate a nuclear apocalypse?
The setting:
Present day. The country is up to you. Whatever would be easiest.
The guy:
Highly skilled. Maybe ex-Marine? Special forces? You can have him be "top of his class" at just about ...
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Most silent way to kill someone [closed]
What is the most silent way for my antagonist to kill people? The assasin aproaches people in their private spaces in order to terminate them but he doesn't want other people to hear anything.
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Where on Earth is it easiest to survive in the wilderness?
In which wilderness area on modern-day Earth would it be easiest for a lone human to survive year-round? What resources are available there and what tools and skills would be necessary? What is the ...
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How to prevent criminal gangs from making/buying guns?
TLDR: What can modern governments do to force criminal gangs to use melee weapons instead of guns.
So I am writing a novel where the main character is pushed out of society, and is forced to join a ...
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Best gun to modify into a monsterhunter weapon?
In my post-apocalyptical-urban-fantasy setting, the main character is a mercenary mage who uses a gun with a big bayonet as his main weapon. The blade is supposed to be some kind of a glaive.
The ...
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How much is it possible to fake age? [closed]
There's a society with a privileged class of people. Privileged - because the period of time when they can be part of that class is limited. Only people between 20 and 30 years old can be admitted and ...
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Why would guns not work in the dungeon?
In my setting I need to have a dungeon where people cannot use guns or other gunpowder weapons.
The reason can be anything: it's impossible to bring guns in, guns don't work inside the dungeon, ...
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What could be electable positions in the senate of organized crime? [closed]
So I am constructing a decisional body for the world of organized crime in my near future setting. I am basing this on many things, among them the ancient roman senate.
Only the most senior members ...
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How would modern naval warfare have to have developed differently for battleships to still be relevant in the 21st century?
So basically, battleships are awesome. I am interested in creating a setting where they were never superseded in their role of long-range command vessels and fire support by aircraft carriers, ...
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Is it possible to have battery technology that can't be duplicated?
I'm creating a near future world where one faction is using high energy density batteries that enable their vehicles to outperform gasoline based technology. Like cold and silent aircraft and ...
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Is it possible to have a wealthy country without a middle class?
I'm trying to create well-off country, which judging solely by GDP per capita would be considered wealthy with something like 60,000 USD per capita. However the country middle class is very small.
Is ...
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What's the crew composition of any modern small attack submarine sub?
I'm trying to create a realistic composition of a mildly futuristic diesel attack submarine with API based on a Stirling radioisotope generator. The idea is that thanks to automation it's possible to ...
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