Questions tagged [natural-resources]
For questions that deal with the natural resources found in the environment.
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How long would it take to create a Windows 1.0 capable machine from complete scratch?
I've been thinking about this concept for a while and have not been able to figure out what could be a plausible answer. It seemed appropriate for my first question on this website.
Imagine an ...
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How to not starve gigantic beasts
If I create dragons to be castle-sized animals, how am I supposed to let them eat? Won't they need too much for an earth-like planet?
I'm currently trying to build a world where a whole lot of ...
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Is there a way to "poison" oil fields permanently without releasing $CO_{2}$ from them?
I have a group of eco-terrorists who want to limit the amount of $CO_{2}$ the world puts out drastically: by poisoning oil fields so that the oil becomes unuseable, or at least forever uneconomical to ...
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Resources to justify long-distance space mining missions
Earth is setting up mining colonies on Tau Ceti e. But how can they justify the enormous cost of sending people there? ...Because during the initial exploratory missions, it was discovered that in ...
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Is it possible for a mine to contain both gemstones and precious metals?
I have been trying to find an answer to my question for a couple hours now but I haven't had any luck on Google though I might be searching using the wrong terms I'm not sure as I know next to nothing ...
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What would America lack if cut off from World trade for years?
North and South America totally cut off from world trade for years in modern times. No intercontinental except between the two. Would there be any current technology that couldn't be made due to lack ...
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Creating a realistic world map - Mineralogy
This Query is part of the Worldbuilding Resources Article.
I know how continents are formed and how they evolve over time but what does it look like under the surface? The crust of the planet is ...
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Precious Materials in a Galactic Empire
Picture the future, where man kind has spread out across the galaxy.
What would be the most precious and sought after materials?
Today it is metals like gold and platinum that are most sought after. ...
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How can a mortal woman successfully carry a demigod to term?
Demigods are special humans that are born partly divine. These individuals have been extremely rare throughout history, and always have various significant effects for the world around them, leading ...
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What sort of materials could be used to make clothing in a swamp?
We have some characters living in a wetland biome (freshwater swamp, specifically) without access to trade from other areas. What kinds of options do they have when it comes to using the natural ...
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Are there any non-organic resources that are rare in the grand-scheme of the Universe, but common on Earth?
I have been world-building a setting where a species of advanced aliens invades Earth, only to be forced off after the humans resort to guerilla tactics. In this setting, biological life is abundant ...
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How can magic and the economy reliably stand together?
This question assumes that in any kind of magical world, any form of magi can create nearly anything, but especially -- using only magic, can create gold, silver, gemstones, other currency, etc. as ...
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What's the ideal era for harvesting resources by an advanced society?
It's 2100-ish and we're experimenting on our new time travel device, or let's say time travel bunker. What we gathered of information so far are:
We can't really go back in time, literally. Every ...
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Robbing the past to pay the future: Where do the resources go? How to balance the books?
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 ...
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Living in a Giant Swamp - Construction
In my fantasy novel, I have people living in a giant swamp forest. The swamp stretches as far as the eye can see, so draining is not an option, as there is simply nowhere to drain the swamp to.
My ...
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How can I get enough food into my underground empire?
I'd like to have a large underground world. Imagine the "Underdark" which will be familiar with DnD folks. A huge network of large and small caverns connected by winding passageways. The occasional ...
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Why are there still resources in space?
In this universe humans aren't the first civilization to reach space in the local stellar neighborhood (a bubble of ~1000 light years across). In fact for the past several billions of years ...
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Could Inuits survive in Antarctica?
Imagine that a group of Inuits from Greenland settled in Antarctica; let's say on the Antarctic peninsula, if there is no better place in Antarctica.
Could they survive there with their traditional ...
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How can various tiers of worlds be beneficial for God's portfolio?
God is the ultimate world builder who designs various planes, which with their own worlds. He created human beings as living batteries in order to fuel him and give him power. Dea feeds off of the ...
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What kind of Alien artifacts or minerals could advance the human race?
Let me explain what I mean.
Let's say an Alien civilization left a lot of devices on a planet or moon (in our solar system or wherever). They had a colony, want/wanted to Terraform (or "Xenoform&...
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How to decide if a Planet is better off to be Terraformed or Stripmined?
In Science Fiction, when civilizations grow powerful enough to conquer the planet and are in need for room, they turn to the planets in outer space. Obviously, the other planets have very different ...
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What would be a source of iron to ward off faeries in todays world
In a story I'm writing, I'm going to need iron to ward off magical creatures, faeries to be exact.
This iron should not be used in an alloy with other metals or coated with something like paint, tin,...
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Closest Proximity of Oceans to Freshwater Springs
I am trying to wrap my head around the geography of a settlement in my world.
The settlement is situated along the coast, along a river roughly 500m wide with temperate mixed forests surrounding it, ...
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Is there a way to have coal but not oil?
Reading this answer I realized that for my purposes I don't really want a fully steampunk world. All I want is lack of cars and planes as we know them, and lack of oil, or inaccessible deposits of oil,...
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What would be the effect of magic ultraviolet rocks on developing societies?
One of my favorite bits of set dressing is magic glowing rocks. You see them in movies, video games, and every other manner of medium conveying fantasy settings. Personally, I'm perfectly okay with ...
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Getting fresh water in the middle of hypersaline lake in the Bronze Age
An ancient kingdom covers a several rivers in a desert basin all converging on a central, hypersaline, lake. Because of its central location, and the importance of the salt, the lake has important ...
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Could Spore's Spice Geysers Exist?
Many people here have likely played Spore, a game where you design a species and expand its empire into space and beyond. It was one of those games that worldbuilders absolutely adored and after ...
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What would be the next technological step for a civilization after it has depleted all resources that allow for conventional technologies?
Imagine a world that reaches the end of its resources in silicon, petrol, coal, metals... everything that allows for conventional technology — even before it has found a way over it (renewable energy ...
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What determines distribution of natural resources?
I am currently creating a world from scratch, and while I have a map, I still need to figure out distribution of natural resources.
For resources like fossil fuels, while many do appear in deserts, I ...
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What qualities are necessary for an effective herd creature?
What qualities about a land-dwelling creature are absolutely necessary to maintain an effective herd of that creature for food and/or resources?
Assume this is an earth-like environment.
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Alternative source of fuel instead of wood
In my world, humans live on an island. The island is not real big, there is a volcano, a river around which is a marsh.The forest on the island is sacred for them so they cannot enter it and cannot ...
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How Do You Get Wood in a World Where Monsters Defend The Forests?
PROJEKT ' IRON SONG '
In the Empire of Tyvertsia, there are many strange and often hostile beasts—bears, mountain lions, sirin, bauk and the like—living among the wildlife of the thick Western forests,...
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Imagining a Solar-Powered Economy
For a writing challenge, I'm trying to create a near-future world (2030 or so) where the major Western nations have transitioned to a fully solar economy.
Hence the rub. The realist in me is aware of ...
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Would it be possible to smelt and craft things from salt
During a brainstorm session the idea of the ruler of a maritime empire sitting upon a throne made from worked salt came to me. Before I break out the handwavium there is something that I would like ...
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What resources (especially mineral) can you find on terrestrial planets but not asteroids?
I'm writing about people living in space who can mine asteroids and I'm wondering what minerals or other resources, if any, they might need access to larger planets for. Since planets and asteroids ...
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Why are Orcs always at war for seemingly no reason? [closed]
Orcs are just as smart as humans. They have access to all the resources they need to survive in abundance. Why are they constantly at war?
INFO
Orcs are a society of roughly 0.8 Million people. Each ...
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Which Natural Resources Go Where? (Medieval Fantasy Setting)
I am creating a fictional fantasy (Medieval-ish era) world. The area covered by my map is fairly large, and contains an ocean, mountains, plains, lakes, forests, swamps, etc. It's pretty much all ...
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Where do I put diamond mines on my map?
I've got a home-brewed D&D setting. Diamonds, in D&D, are needed for resurrection magic, so access to diamonds is literally life and death for any country with clerics capable of casting such ...
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What aspect of planet Earth must be changed to prevent the industrial revolution?
I am thinking of a planet (I suppose one would call it a parallel earth) where the industrial revolution never happens, and people live with 1700s technology forever. What differences in resources/...
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Using a quarry as a water reservoir
Our country, which is located in thousands of km2 of plains, needs a way to store water. Dams are not an option due to the fact that there are no mountains. We have retired mining quarries that are ...
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Why would space nations find more value in empty space rather than star systems?
In most 4x games, almost every space nation fights for star systems, planets, black holes, etc. The benefits are obvious: planets to colonize or mine from, solar energy, strategic positions and so on.
...
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How can I explain a sudden abundance of naturally-occurring beer?
Researchers are scratching their heads, and Portland Water Bureau is furious.
In Portland, Oregon, a reservoir in one of the City parks has begun spilling out a river of naturally occurring beer/ale. ...
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What sort of water sources could occur in a world tree?
I'm working on a fantasy setting that's literally a giant tree on a planetary scale. Magic is in effect, so concerns of how a tree that large could survive are irrelevant, but I need to figure out ...
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Creating a realistic world map - Fuel
This Query is part of the Worldbuilding Resources Article.
Following the question Creating a realistic world map - Mineralogy , I realized that it was a very large topic to cover all the possible ...
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Would human intelligence evolve if humans had access to infinite food?
In a world with infinite food (each organism had access to an infinite amount of food/energy from another universe), would human intelligence develop through some evolutionary mechanism?
If resources ...
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What natural ocean resources can be used to make into clothing?
I have a civilization that lives not exactly underwater, but completely surrounded by water in which their cities are both submerged underwater or built floating right on top of it. Almost all of ...
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Most Energy Efficient Barricade
My story requires humans very quickly creating a ~5km barricade to protect them from the monsters that live in the forest. These monsters are between animals and humans in power/intellect.
Currently, ...
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Important resources for Dark Age civilizations?
In a time period with medieval technology, what would be the most important local resources? I've put together a small list and broken it down into categories, but I'd like to know if there's anything ...
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Where in the galaxy would one find the most heavier elements?
I'm trying to flesh out the history of a fictional galactic society, specifically the initial settlements and inhabited worlds. Something that I thought would be important to settlers would be an ...
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What natural material shatters when thrown like a grenade?
Our intrepid wizard protagonist realizes there is only one of him and an army of baddies. He has a band of some 50 people with him, but only a dozen have combat training and he is the only spellcaster....
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