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4 answers
647 views

What would be evolutionary reasons for a humanoid species to develop multiple arms?

I have a species that is humanoid but has two sets of arms and I was wondering what reasons there could be for why they evolved that way?
serpentsun's user avatar
24 votes
12 answers
3k views

Other than tentacles and jointed digits, what methods of holding items are there that provide similar dexterity?

I'm trying to envision a creature that is highly dexterous, and adept at using tools, but every time I try to think of a possible grasping appendage, the only two I come up with are either tentacle ...
tox123's user avatar
  • 885
-4 votes
2 answers
150 views

How to hide autodidacts in college? [closed]

I'm writing about a US reality tv show, which takes famous autodidacts and sends them to study college in their own respective field. The comedy is to see how they will fair. What would their ...
Xing Pei's user avatar
8 votes
8 answers
560 views

How to balance my magic robots so they don't monopolize my story?

A setting I've been planning for a while involves a function of magic that can animate objects using the magical equivalent of programmable functions. A wizard/witch/magic-user uses a magic language ...
Pinion Minion's user avatar
23 votes
23 answers
1k views

How to make an alien game show be fair when hosting many different species?

Far, far away from Earth, near the center of the galaxy, is the planet Nebulous VII. It is the hosting planet of the universe's favorite gameshow, “Victory Nebula”. On the show, pre-type 1 species ...
Enigma's user avatar
  • 231
3 votes
5 answers
515 views

Reason why the dystopian government would dress its policemen in civilian clothing?

You grew up in the fascist government of the UFS, under the complete control and surveillance of the NAF party. It’s government it tyrannical and unfeeling, but you would never know that. The ...
DT Cooper's user avatar
  • 11.3k
-7 votes
2 answers
417 views

The Best Arsenal : The Best Assault Rifle [closed]

I am trying to learn from my past mistakes on asking for too much at a time, while asking for the wrong things, and often forgetting about crucial details. So here I am, in my quest of finding the ...
Pipi Caca's user avatar
  • 334
10 votes
8 answers
1k views

Which part of the universe would make celestial navigation most difficult for a planet?

Premise I envisage a world of would-be navigators with roughly Bronze Age technology, sailing on ships to explore their planet. In contrast to our history of navigation where we "cracked the code" ...
Arash Howaida's user avatar
1 vote
5 answers
546 views

Is the evolution of my aliens realistic?

So, I have thought about the evolution of my aliens and how they could evolve things like lactation but still retain their reptilian characteristics. Here is my best thought about it so far: ...
Caters's user avatar
  • 4,169
0 votes
2 answers
241 views

Mass Human Cloning - Could it be feasible?

Exactly what the title says : Could mass human cloning be feasible? I have a two criteria : Clones must come out as adult Cloning process must take a maximum of 3 months Optional : Clones must be ...
Pipi Caca's user avatar
  • 334
15 votes
27 answers
3k views

Creature-Design: Unkillable save by sacrifice

In my fantasy story, primitive humans are going up against a single powerful creature. They must kill the creature to gain their freedom, but they soon realize that the only way to slay the creature ...
Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron's user avatar
21 votes
8 answers
2k views

How could humanoids master forge fire without using vegetal materials?

I'm building a fantasy world with a humanoid species (basically, "elves") which refuses to use dead wood. Context They don't use dead wood because they don't want to. Consider that trees are sacred ...
Daneel's user avatar
  • 313
2 votes
2 answers
653 views

Can Mars work as a wildlife sanctuary for animals?

Suppose humanity manages to terraform Mars: we give it a magnetic field, an atmosphere, then Mars gains oceans, lakes and rivers and we plant forests there. So now Mars looks like another Earth and ...
John Michailidis's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
297 views

How far can civilization go without inventing the calendar?

While only counting seasons and years, but not weeks or months, how far can human civilization progress? Can they reach the middle ages? Or is the invention of the calendar such a cornerstone of ...
Mindwin Remember Monica's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
68 views

How would the centralization of world politics affect society? [closed]

How would the centralization of world’s power affect politics and society in general? The society should be set in a period where artificial intelligence is well advanced to supplement in areas such ...
raaaay's user avatar
  • 177
3 votes
4 answers
731 views

Using an Alcubierre Drive to travel through the fourth dimension

Say there is a fourth spatial dimension ( let's call it the q axis as in x,y,z axis ) and that humans are still 3D beings. Could we use an Alcubierre drive to travel through the fourth dimension? As ...
Pipi Caca's user avatar
  • 334
5 votes
3 answers
714 views

Gravity being weaponized for its time altering properties

Physics isn't my strong suit, but I'm trying to understand if something could be theoretically possible in some highly advanced future: Would it be possible for an advanced civilization to invent a ...
Ryan James's user avatar
13 votes
9 answers
3k views

Preventing the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire

In this alternative reality Constantine the Great never embraces the Christianity and the Roman Empire remains polytheistic. So I would like to know what realistic change(s) could have prevented the ...
user53220's user avatar
  • 2,137
2 votes
3 answers
770 views

New Sources of Superhuman Ability [closed]

I am working to build a parallel Earth that is home to individuals with superhuman abilities (in addition to ordinary humans). This Earth has all of today's knowledge and technology (and perhaps ...
Axiom Sage's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
255 views

Would a nictitating membrane, eyelid AND eyelashes get in each other's way in the same eye?

Or would that eye be the most well-defended from external debris and whatnot in the entire world? Cats seem to get by just fine without eyelids and a membrane but no eyelashes...likewise humans with ...
Lunar A. P.'s user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
1k views

Hiding a handful of immortals on a Generation Ship?

I have a handful of immortals that have spent the last 6000 years stuck on planet Earth. They really, want to get out of here. They missed their chance back in Egypt before The Fall of the Pharaohs**. ...
EveryBitHelps's user avatar
0 votes
4 answers
362 views

Make money by bringing an invention back in time

I found a time travel machine. It can travel back in time very precisely. I don't have any specific skills, except for my very good knowledge with programming languages and programming patterns. I ...
Fez Vrasta's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
182 views

Creating an earth-like planet without a tropical rainforest?

What I have I plan to create an 'alternative timeline' for the earth, which means most of the earth's features are identical, the only major difference is, that humans appeared at another time, so ...
Azzarrel's user avatar
  • 161
3 votes
2 answers
751 views

What would a recession look like in medieval times?

I'm working on a fantasy setting for a game, the gameplay of which includes trading and government in a fantasy world that is experiencing a negative trend in trade. The setting is outwardly ...
Krons's user avatar
  • 41
2 votes
2 answers
204 views

How would giant penguins affect the arctic/Antarctic ecosystem?

So, I was reading about the Colossus Penguin and was wondering how adding them to my world might affect the arctic ecosystem in my world? Obviously, they would need to eat a lot of fish, squid, and ...
yukimoda's user avatar
  • 542
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

Ammonia planet- atmosphere

On my previously asked question about the biochemistry of life on my ammonia. it leads me to my next question to ask. First things first, the life on this planet is boron based. They breathe methane ...
Wither Fang136's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
490 views

Help designing which metals are associated with specific magical powers in my magic system [closed]

In my world, one of the magic systems involves people crushing special objects in their gauntlets to gain the dormant energy that exists within them. Essentially, imagine there are certain energy in ...
doplin's user avatar
  • 1,015
6 votes
5 answers
420 views

How might a medieval fantasy/magic-using society state the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

If a medieval-level society with access to things like magic (which itself follows the laws of thermodynamics) were to have some understanding of the laws of thermodynamics, how would the 2n law be ...
Joe Lee-Doktor's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
497 views

How high could a Lego tower be?

I just won the national lottery! I am a billionaire, and can do whatever I want with my money! Tv interviewer asks me what would I do with this money. Then, come the Idea. I remember this guy when I ...
Kepotx's user avatar
  • 6,748
32 votes
10 answers
5k views

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 ...
saxaje's user avatar
  • 321
3 votes
4 answers
695 views

What purposes could a technological ruin with a half-mile sphere full of water have served? [closed]

There is a soft sci-fi RPG called Numenera, set on the Earth a billion years in the future, where multiple technologically-advanced civilizations have risen and fallen, and a new human civilization is ...
nick012000's user avatar
  • 5,286
7 votes
2 answers
519 views

Is a medieval spoon satellite realistic?

I misread an answer to My carrier pigeons have been replaced by spoons: how can I send messages?, thinking it was referring to a network of parabolic reflector dishes made of spoons orbiting the ...
wizzwizz4's user avatar
  • 971
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Could a habitable planet with lower gravity have a thick atmosphere?

I'm designing a habitable earth-like planet that has oceans, forests and life. Now this planet is a bit larger in diameter than earth but its mass and therefore its gravity is a bit lower. This lower ...
John Michailidis's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
787 views

How long would it take oceans to evaporate if they stopped gaining water?

How long would it take for the oceans to evaporate if the following were true? They suddenly stopped gaining water through rain/rivers/etc., and External patterns (e.g. atmospheric humidity) were ...
user541686's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
116 views

Controlling Physical States By Changing Molecule Density

I'm developing a world where certain people have affinity to modify/control certain aspects of the material plane. In the early stages I'd included the good old "element control" premise, but as I ...
Vmf's user avatar
  • 56
8 votes
4 answers
789 views

How many years should survivors wait before exiting a nuclear bomb shelter?

I'm writing a tale about a post apocalyptic world. I'm studying the timeline about the world history, I've planned that, using "clean" thermonuclear bombs, radioactivity should be quite lower after ...
Dany Raven's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
92 views

Use of magically Bound Bowls Pair [closed]

After years of research, MagicBowls create a new product: The nearly indestructible Bound Bowls Pair. Whatever happens to one is applied to the other as it was one object! We just don't know how to ...
Drag and Drop's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
861 views

Could a planet, tidally locked with the sun, have molten rock on the side that faces the sun?

I am designing a solar system, with the first planet located very close to the parent star. This planet has become tidally locked to the star. Is it possible to have a molten lava ocean on the side ...
VenusUberAlles's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
133 views

Batteries and resource restrictions

I've prefigured a specific setting as being middling in technological progress when compared with its neighbors. This setting does not have access to hydrocarbons, has severe cultural and political ...
user49466's user avatar
  • 1,863
1 vote
1 answer
355 views

Building a Medieval/Victorian world. How should the architecture and culture be seen or visualized? [closed]

I'm thinking this new world should have Medieval tech, but with Victorian/Gothic architecture. I want to know a little about how a kingdom's capital might look and how the culture may be affected. ...
Wolfgang Yharnum's user avatar
14 votes
10 answers
1k views

'Magic' regeneration without breaking the 2nd law of thermodynamics

In designing a hard magic system, I would like to keep things consistent with the laws of thermodynamics (as many do) since, if I don't, I fear I may accidentally create a way for mages to create ...
Joe Lee-Doktor's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
220 views

How big does a moon have to be to have the earth locked to it?

I would like a earth-moon system like Pluto-Charon (but with earth instead of Pluto) where both will be tidally locked to each other within something like 3 billion years (before complex life appears)....
Jean-Abdel's user avatar
13 votes
13 answers
2k views

What's a plausible-sounding technobabble explanation for Mars to be a forest world supplying Earth with timber?

In the story I want to tell, it's a thousand years in the future and Mars has been terraformed into a forest world (something like the forest-moon of Endor). It's settled in a few small towns and ...
workerjoe's user avatar
  • 6,629
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

What was the weather like in the Eocene?

I was reading this question earlier today. It asks about the characteristics of global winds in a modern-day earth with Eocene-like temperatures. I'm here to ask about other kinds of weather in the ...
Zenon's user avatar
  • 607
14 votes
22 answers
5k views

Plausible hypothesis on why gravity might fail on earth

I've been grappling with a story for a while, involving a scenario where gravity starts to fail. The goal of the story is mostly how people react to the knowledge that the world will end. But, I also ...
SEK1977's user avatar
  • 377
1 vote
4 answers
277 views

What would happen if the quantities of silver and gold mined by humans were switched in a fantasy world?

Basically the title. What would happen if, in the world I'm writing, people have thus far found considerably more gold deposits than silver? Specifically, I'm wondering how this might affect their ...
doplin's user avatar
  • 1,015
1 vote
3 answers
263 views

In a universe created by and controlled by malevolent or passive non-humanoid beings, what would cause the creation of humanoid gods? [closed]

Forgive me if a question like this is too general and isn't accepted here. I'm currently working on creating a new universe to possibly be used in a D&D or RPG setting. I've been working on the ...
onewho's user avatar
  • 111
2 votes
2 answers
181 views

How can an android produce blood-like substance via food?

I just discovered one of my friend is an android! That's a big shock, as she looks, acts, reacts, eats and drinks like a human. She didn't even know herself she wasn't human. While I partly ...
Thyerus's user avatar
  • 121
0 votes
1 answer
190 views

Could a planet's ecosystem function to serve the balance of all, rather than survival of each one?

I'm currently designing an alien world that has a rich biosphere. Now, one thing about the lifeforms of this planet is that they have a completely different genetic code than us. Apart from being ...
John Michailidis's user avatar
26 votes
23 answers
8k views

Why would surrounding countries not claim accessible, habitable, and unclaimed land?

I am designing a world for high-magic, epic campaign for D&D 5e. I really am feeling this map, and am trying to figure out how the different countries would interact. Right now I have nothing ...
Michael Ziluck's user avatar

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