Questions tagged [modern-age]
For questions based in contemporary Earth, current technology and social norms.
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What modern things that are cheap can be good to sell in a fantasy medieval world at high price [closed]
I have my protagonist go to a fantasy world that is locked in their medieval era like late 1300 early 1400. My protagonist need money to travel, so what kind of modern invention, a material that is ...
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Multiple fireplaces in an apartment building?
I was working on a short story set in winter--a good time to contrast the cold, deprived life of the main character, reflecting his mental state, and the warmth and joy of other characters.
There is ...
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Is it possible to escape being trapped in an invincible humanoid 'shell'? [closed]
My world was created by beings who eschewed physical bodies in favor of enormous blocks of stone to show off their creative potential. There's 12 of them, and together they make Earth and everything ...
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Guns against regular people [closed]
In my story a group of people (around 18-20 years old) get superpowers but only slight ones and invulnerability is not one (e.g. perceiving time slower and breathing underwater) and only a couple so ...
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Spells that would be effective against a modern day army but would NOT destroy a fantasy one [closed]
I'm developing a story about a few hundred modern day US Marines who are transported to a fantasy world and must do battle with an army of Orcs and dragons. I know they will be extremely effective at ...
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How long would the military stay supplied with high powered defensive gear
In our world, when the world breaks down because of an influx of mythological creatures(Krakens, giants, etc...) sea travel becomes nigh but impossible because of people dying on their ships and ...
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How does modern military equip itself to deal with people using medieval weaponry? [closed]
Imagine something like a 'Stargate scenario'. The modern military has a means to send small squads to other worlds populated by people. The majority of these people will be at medieval or lower ...
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Let's plot a course between Earth and Gor
We know that Gor, or Counter-Earth, is not stable in a long-term sense. Let's handwave that away, or assume that we are dealing with a temporary span of time in which the instability is immaterial.
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How to explain US economic collapse? [closed]
I'm creating a world where US collapsed as the largest economy in the world, shrinking by more than half of its annual GDP. The new congress slashes all the foreign spending, defense spending goes to ...
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Designing a constrained spell-crafting system for the modern world [closed]
I am attempting to construct a magic system for a fictional modern world akin to ours. In this world, like ours, magic has largely been forgotten, so it is no longer part of the world and has had no ...
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A supermassive black hole is coming our way. When's the latest that we would notice?
I'm trying to build a story around a supermassive black hole, which is ejected from a merger of two galaxies, that is hurtling our own way. What is the smallest realistic distance at which the black ...
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Surviving stitches on the temple
My character has had to have a small ant-sized disk inserted into her temple. The disk is a tracker. It was installed in a clean setting with modern technology. The stitches are made with dissolvable ...
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Why would a war be the most traumatic for the winning side just before the enemy capitulates? [closed]
My world is in a time period analogous to the 21st century. Within it, one of the main powers goes to war against a much weaker and highly politically unstable adversary (insurgency groups, ...
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Is it plausible to make human gametes from different parent chromosomes?
I'm creating a near future world where laboratories could create human gametes (sperm & ova) using chromosomes from different people. So theoretically we could take 1st chromosome from a 1st ...
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How are humans better than supernaturals? [closed]
The world is ruled by three people each over their own group. A vampire rules the supernatural creatures. A sorceress rules over all magic users. And a man, granted a great man, rules over all ...
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Societal issues stemming from having two sentient species that can interbreed generating infertile offspring [closed]
Premise:
Both races are humanoid, covered with fur, similar in intelligence, dexterity etc... Evolved in parallel to fill very similar environments, and split off the other (genetically) relatively ...
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How much smarter would bred humans become?
I'm building a setting in a fictional Latin American country which is under military rule. The junta starts a breeding program in the late 40's with help from unscrupulous escaped Nazi scientists.
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That's it! I'm outta here! (Small group leaves the city behind) [closed]
Premise:
Jane and nine of her friends have decided to abandon their office life, buy an uninhabited section of land, and make a self sustaining colony.
The setting is modern day.
Starting Parameters:
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How could a modern company-state form? [closed]
In today's society, with most if not all of the surface land masses claimed by existing nations, and nations' authority being supported by virtue of recognition of other states, how would a company be ...
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How to manipulate a town to improve it? [closed]
So there's this town of 80.000-90.000 people which grew quickly with the industrialization boom, but nowadays there are no big companies here, nor good opportunities for young people. So the youth is ...
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Making airships\blimps\dirigibles the dominant form of air transport
While similar to other questions they mostly focused on what impacts required in the past to keep airships as a popular air transport method today, this question is about how to make airships the ...
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In modern day combat, what would warrant singing during battle?
Cicad the singer is having a downtime in his career.
Over the millennia, Cicad sang anywhere from royal courts to farmers' cottages and have been rewarded with many, many hand-claps.
But to keep ...
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Building an Anti-Supervillain task force
I'll admit this question may be a bit vague, but a deliberate lack of knowledge is kind of one of the boundary conditions here.
You, dear Worldbuilding Stack Exchange user, have recently been promoted ...
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Can a medieval castle be made today? [closed]
Not sure if it fit well this website, history.SE, or if it's off-topic, but I have a simple question:
Can we build a medieval castle, with the same methods as they used at that time, in 21 century? ...
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Which jobs could western geniuses, who lived between 1643-1900, have in the modern age related to their talents?
I'm trying to write a comedy where as a plot device I have:
Some of the greatest western minds of human history, who lived between 1643 and 1900, are transported into the modern age. I still haven't ...
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Is it possible to run embassy single-handedly? [closed]
I'm writing a story about an elderly US ambassador who wants to retire but its stuck in a fictional hostile country, size about 30 millions .
All his staff has been PNG-ed due to helping democratic ...
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How to peacefully convert your dictatorship to a democracy?
Yesterday you were leading a pleasant easy going life as a 20 year old lazy, intelligent but good natured, young adult who's father just happens to be the a notorious totalitarian dictator of a very ...
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How low could global hegemon be in economic power ranking?
Currently USA is both world largest economy and a global superpower.
If China growth continues that will change in near future.
I'm building an imaginary world where global hegemon is NOT an economic ...
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Economy in a society where 99% of the world adult population is owned by the other 1% [closed]
We are in a world similar to our current world (with the same technology level notably), but there is a huge catch: everything is considered as property, including human beings. Every human child is ...
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How different human society and behaviour would be if the talion law was imposed by a benevolent goddess since the creation of mankind? [closed]
In another universe and another dimension, humanity is created by an omnipotent and benevolent goddess.
The planet in which these humans inhabit is a perfect clone of the earth and the goddess is ...
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Where in Australasia can a 4.3 million strong armed force be discreetly stationed?
I have a paramilitary organisation with a 4,320,000-strong standing army stationed in Australasia supported by a sophisticated air force and a bigarse fleet. This force is commanded by two Major ...
user48508
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How fast can I flood the Netherlands entirely and permanently?
I want the Netherlands to be flooded entirely, and I want the event to be of such a scale that it goes faster than hydroengineering can keep up with. This will mean that I need a sea level rise of ...
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How long would it take to discover a large Island appearing in the ocean?
(This is part of a game I'm making, with a bit of backstory here.)
Details:
Size/Shape: Roughly oblong and quite large. Length of 15 miles, and a greatest width of 8 miles.
Placement: 500 miles ...
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How to punish small strategic country?
Say there's a small country of strategic importance, for example it has some resource that great powers need, or it controls strategic position so great powers do not want them to improve their ...
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How could regime prevent future democracy to grant citizenship to hated ethnic group?
Imagine a country under a rule of a regime that is under pressure to democratize. The regime could hold for a decade or so, but the population is growing, while economy is not. And without needed ...
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How long would it take a primitive civilization to fill the shoes of an advanced one?
The basic premise of this question is, "how long would it take a primitive civilization to catch up with another advanced civilization, given enormous resources?"
Similar questions are generally like ...
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Destruction of modern suburbia by railgun
Jormungandr, the Snakebot of Doom, was intended by its designers to destroy human infrastructure by rolling over it, however it was also provided with the means to accelerate around 30 metric tons of ...
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Ballistically sensitive weak points in the modern military and civilian supply and manufacturing chain
This question is part of my series of questions about Jormungandr, the alien Snakebot of Doom.
So far, the SoD has eliminated the majority of the world's land-based nuclear missile forces and the US ...
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Great Old Ones Limited, or Why does Cthulhu need a Company?
A world much like our own. A city like the one in which you live. A corporation whose doors you pass every day. Maybe you notice the subtle sans-serif fonted words adorning the entrance, maybe you ...
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medieval technology vs today's technology [closed]
In my writing there are people in a high fantasy setting with medieval technology, although there are times when they are involved with our world.
My question is, they are aware of our technology and ...
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How Could An Antarctic Society Import Everything They Need For An Average Lifestyle?
My question is such: in a modern town or city in antartica, what would people produce/sell in order to import the other things they do not have yet?
In this hypothetical city, people can get water ...
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What skills would an early-1500s era ship captain need to learn to become a modern-day sailor (and eventually a captain again)?
Let us take a reasonably skilled (i.e. someone who knew their way around the boat as well as how to navigate) ship's captain from around the beginning of the Age of Sail (late 1400s to early 1500s), ...
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How to keep an Island civilization secret from the rest of the world? (Modern Age)
If there was an island civilization, somewhere deep in the Atlantic, how would this society prevent the outside world from discovering it?
This society has been around since the Roman Empire, and is ...
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How Would We Reverse the Spin of the Earth?
I've seen multiple posts on destroying the Earth, but is it possible for humans to reverse the spin of Earth?
In order words, considering modern technology at our disposal, is it possible for human ...
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How would a city police department handle a super-hero joining as an officer?
Inspired by some of the comments on 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 and joining ...
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Why might modern demigods be unable to use guns? [closed]
In Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse, Annabeth’s dad, Dr. Chase comes in at the end of his book and uses a machine gun on his Sopwith Camel, along with some celestial bronze bullets he created in ...
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Winter Is Coming...To Earth [closed]
Imagine a world that looks suspiciously like Earth. Summer turns to autumn, autumn turns to winter, and winter turns to more winter. The winter endures for several years before summer finally comes ...
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Why would people let a super tree grow?
In my city, a very high skyscraper stands at the center. Somehow, a tree, in a span of [x] years integrates itself into the building. Its branches reach out from the top of the building and its shadow ...
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Where can I easily/cheaply get a hundred square miles of land for a new country?
I'm looking to found a new country on a real-to-life Earth, and I need somewhere to put it. The country is going to be anywhere from 100 to 1000 square miles (250 to 2500 square km) in size. Assume a ...
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Would modern body armor be much more useful for creatures that only cared to protect their heart
Let's imagine a supernatural creature that can walk off all damage unless their heart is hit. (think Mr Sinister. The damage is done, it's just not lethal) These creatures exist in modern times, have ...
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