144
votes
How can a race of eldritch abominations help humanity?
"You know", Sog-Yogthot (no relations) said to I'g-m'ell over by the Shoggothnut table at the committee meeting for the betterment of the human realm.
"The humans world is really dry, how can they ...
- 2,714
131
votes
How do I keep my slaves happy?
Make them think they're not slaves.
A human that is a slave, and knows they're a slave, generally won't be happy, and there's not much that can be done about it. But if you can convince them they're ...
- 11.6k
128
votes
Accepted
How can I provide reasons for racism?
The uncanny valley would suffice:
The uncanny valley is theorized to detach us from the corpses of our dead friends. We strongly dislike things which have a similar level of human likeness as a ...
- 133k
91
votes
How can I provide reasons for racism?
As presented, you show that you don't actually understand tribalism, racism, sexism, or pretty much any other -ism. Let me explain, but don't look for politically correct terms or comfortable lies.
...
- 6,766
90
votes
What's a possible justification for orcs not taking over the world?
You say to avoid political factors but realistically it is ALL about politics.
Specifically Orcs cannot sustain political authority or more precisely loyalty. Orcs are loyal to the most charismatic (...
- 43.3k
85
votes
How long would it take to “domesticate” humans?
One doesn't need to selectively breed humans for selecting character features. Education can go a long way, as it was proven by the Romans: take the children of the aristocracy of a conquered people ...
- 301k
81
votes
Accepted
How can an unimaginably huge life form reliably communicate with mortals?
Middle management
If you are driving a car, you don't go straight from first gear to seventh. You have to shift up gradually, picking up speed.
Let's take an individual Starmaker, the size of a nebula....
- 8,384
73
votes
How long would it take to “domesticate” humans?
Williams syndrome
If they only want a few hundred thousand they might have all they need right away.
There's a rare human disorder, Williams syndrome.
Williams Syndrome is a rare condition (1/10,...
- 26.4k
67
votes
Accepted
Two or more advanced civilizations aren't even aware of each other
Easy
Space is big.
Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just ...
- 5,837
61
votes
How can a race of eldritch abominations help humanity?
As has been explained in another answer, the eldrich horrors do seem to realize that they have a negative effect on humans, and they want to benefit humans. The logical thing to do then, is identify ...
- 9,649
60
votes
Accepted
How long would it take to “domesticate” humans?
As previously stated humans could be very easily trained if taken from a very young age. On top of that any genetic influences could also probably be bred out within 10-20 generations.
Experiments ...
- 38.4k
57
votes
Accepted
How to Keep Winged People Where They Belong?
Hire Caer guards. If they are cheap, hire plenty of them. If they are expensive, hire one or two squads of them and use cheap lookouts. (riff raff, children, low grade guards,...).
Once the lookouts ...
- 2,067
55
votes
Two or more advanced civilizations aren't even aware of each other
Haste makes waste!
You have your brand new shiny FTL drive, and the bureaucrats are demanding progress. You have to catalogue 50 new planets this week. Never mind that you can barely check the ...
- 133k
48
votes
How can I provide reasons for racism?
Odor would probably be the easiest way to justify an enduring race hatred. Just as there are pheromones, which induce attraction within those who smell them, there are probably also anti-pheromones ...
- 69.3k
46
votes
Why don't demons possess children until after puberty?
It's hard enough to fit yourself into the limited psyche of an adult human, now you want us to squeeze into children? A demon's gotta breathe, I tell ya!
You will note that demons also decline to ...
- 26.3k
45
votes
Universal Language
Teletubbies
I suspect that this is the true function of teletubbies. Not only do they have antennae for receiving and transmitting electromagnetic and electrochemical (see note) communication, but ...
- 49.5k
44
votes
What would be a good explanation for why Trolls eat Elves?
Because it's the right thing to do:
Your trolls may think that the rationale for their behavior is perfectly justified.
It's not cannibalism - right? Your trolls are doing it because they really DON'...
- 64.4k
41
votes
How can an unimaginably huge life form reliably communicate with mortals?
Softly
In the case you mention, the differences in timescale make it pointless to try to engage in communication directly. From the sound of it, we are no more than mayflies to them. Most of us, if ...
- 133k
40
votes
Why would mankind hate mythological creatures after living thousands years side by side?
Everything. Literary.
Different language, different look, different custom, different gods (this would make for some nice, whattayacallit "crusades"), racism,and the need to strengthen the rule of ...
- 21.9k
40
votes
Why would prey creatures not hate predator creatures?
The most obvious thing is to have your society structured in a way that predation is cooperative. Some ideas:
Being eaten is voluntary
Allowing yourself to be eaten is a form of suicide. Some ...
- 14.5k
40
votes
What would be a good explanation for why Trolls eat Elves?
You don't need a reason, you need a frame challenge!
If trolls are about smart as humans, then why would so many practice this inhumane tradition?
This assumption is - not to be rude - somewhat ...
- 4,415
37
votes
How can I provide reasons for racism?
Controlled release of a Hate gland
Greetings, Visitor Human. You wish to know why Alien Orange and Alien Green hate each other? Very well.
Come, sit here on the Orange side, with me.
Ours is a ...
- 948
37
votes
How can a race of eldritch abominations help humanity?
It really depends a lot on what they are helping us to do.
When they look down upon humanity, in its struggling, what do they think we need?
As these sorts of stories go, they will probably horribly,...
- 25k
37
votes
Trial: If an animal has human or near-human intellect, how might a western legal system determine its personhood?
The main issue here is not if this new animal should be considered a person, but if it is capable of knowing what they did was a crime.
If they are able to understand what crime is, then they should ...
- 17.3k
37
votes
How can an inn's dining room furniture be designed for different sized species?
Convertible furniture
Here are the seats that are spread around the table:
That's sized for the large animal to sit on comfortably. The base of the seat is low enough that the big animals thighs can ...
- 44.4k
36
votes
How do I keep my slaves happy?
Train them from birth to become pets and entertainments. Gather them in camps to train for about 6 years. Then put them out to sell to owners. Never give them the idea that things like 'society', '...
- 2,341
35
votes
Accepted
How can a race of eldritch abominations help humanity?
So, these friendly neighborhood Eldritch Abominations (EA) would like to help the neighbors out? It really depends on what they are capable of, what sort of stuff the are inclined to do. There are a ...
- 2,837
34
votes
How long would it take to “domesticate” humans?
Biologically, humans are already domesticated. The theory is that we actually domesticated ourselves when we developed agriculture. The concept still has some controversy, but most of the arguments ...
- 551
33
votes
What's a possible justification for orcs not taking over the world?
Humans/dwarfs/elves have large cities, farms and other aspects of a civilisation. Orcs have no such things. The orc-lands to the North are vast but there is no unified nation or supreme leader. The ...
- 66.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible