1. Member 36723

    Member 36723 Guest

    Several Setbacks

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by Member 36723, Feb 9, 2013.

    The story I'm currently writing is about a medieval fantasy/steam punk solar system. The solar system has equally sized planets that some share the same orbit. Each of the 3 faction rules 3 planets out of the 9 planets. The sun is much smaller and hospitable, with powerful beings living there.

    I have 2 loopholes I cam with and have given them a solution:
    1. Interstellar travel is found several decades before the series begins, also there are entry and exit portals at certain places on the planets that work like a one way stargates.
    2. Each faction is kind of a constitutional monarchy. The monarch/chieftain picks 6 captains to uphold the law using troops and finance given and command raids and wars when necessary as the monarch may do himself/herself. The people choose an assembly (a parliament) and governmental ministers of each office separately by merit. Each planet has its own separate assembly and governor.

    The story focuses on the chieftains and the captains of all 3 factions. It is mainly about he characters personal journey and the ongoing conflict.

    Does it sound reasonable?
     
  2. popsprocket

    popsprocket Member

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    A habitable sun sounds unreasonable.

    The rest is just like anything else - it's workable.

    I don't see why three different factions would all use identical methods of government, though. Surely the reason they are separate factions is because they have differing views on politics.
     
  3. tionA

    tionA Active Member

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    it sure does, mister.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 13, 2020
  4. Member 36723

    Member 36723 Guest

    Thanks tionA and propocket.
    The idea is the 3 factions are rooted to the same civilization, but due to a schism, influenced by these on the sun, split.
    I don't want to call the astronomical bodies sun and planets, so I think then people we'll accept it then. In essence, it's just a bigger planet all other planets rotate around containing much powerful beings. It doesn't even emit light, weather is supposedly controlled by each planet itself, but the sun can affect the other planet's ecosystem and atmosphere. How about now?
     
  5. tionA

    tionA Active Member

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    you mean visible light, or across the EM spectrum?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 13, 2020
  6. Member 36723

    Member 36723 Guest

    Wow, I haven't really thought of that, good point. Maybe its EM field does. I do mean visible light, but could be the EM field will send things like radio waves and radiation. What do you think?
     
  7. tionA

    tionA Active Member

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    Radio waves are radiation.
     
  8. Member 36723

    Member 36723 Guest

    Thanks to pointing that out, I'll research it and work on it.
     
  9. popsprocket

    popsprocket Member

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    So then they're basically just moons orbiting around another planet...
     
  10. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Not really, the way the OP described it. A planet would be orbiting a star. This one is not; it is the "star," even if it's small and cool.
     
  11. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    If the star has a small enough mass to be "hospitable", I can't see it being a star. For a stellar mass to have a high enough radius to not have a crushing surface gravity is just not possible. It would have to collapse inward, which would initiate fusion. If it doesn't have sufficient mass for it to initiate fusion, it's not a star, but a planet.

    You could have a group of planets without a star orbiting the center of mass of the group, but they would be frozen and totally inimical to life as we know it.

    No radiant star, no Goldilocks Zone. No life as we know it.

    So as a premise, it would be extremely difficult to rationalize, other than pure fantasy. It just doesn't fit in this universe.

    If his "powerful beings" could thrive in a cosmic fusion reactor, they are not even remotely life as we know it - carbon-carbon bonds cannot persist long enough to be observed in those conditions. It's hard to see ow thy could have any interest in the affairs of planet-bound creatures - they would have nothing in common with them, nor would they compete for the same resources.
     
  12. tionA

    tionA Active Member

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    lol you just got steamrolled by Cogito!
     
  13. Member 36723

    Member 36723 Guest

    The weather pattern in ASoFaI doesn't make any sense. The cool suns are the least of my worries.
     
  14. tionA

    tionA Active Member

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    ''ASoFaI?''

    what's that?
     
  15. Pyraeus

    Pyraeus New Member

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    It means: A Song of Ice and Fire. It's a series by George RR Martin. HBO has their adaptation called Game of Thrones.

    EDIT: You got the end part the wrong way around. It's ASoIaF

    Also, the idea seems like a good one, although unless these beings were something along the lines of those Ethereal folks
    from Star Trek (Saw an episode where one appeared. They're all called Que, I think, as far as I know from what my
    dad told me. I might have spelled that wrong) where they can basically stop Humans from ever coming into existence.

    If they have that level of power then the idea of them living on a sun would be somewhat plausible, although I don't see
    why it is so relevant for them to live there.
     
  16. Kaidonni

    Kaidonni Member

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    Indeed, you misspelled it. It's simply 'Q'. Yet another piece of evidence proving to the guy why Humans don't deserve to exist. I know it's simply a misspelling, but Q is very fussy. :eek:
     
  17. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

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    Star - A self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity in which the energy generated by nuclear reactions in the interior is balanced by the outflow of energy to the surface, and the inward-directed gravitational forces are balanced by the outward-directed gas and radiation pressures.A star begins as a collapsing cloud of material composed primarily of hydrogen, along with helium and trace amounts of heavier elements. Once the stellar core is sufficiently dense, hydrogen becomes steadily converted into helium through nuclear fusion, releasing energy in the process.

    After that stage a star would develop into a red giant rendering life forms surviving on it completely ludacris, if it wasn't already so. You could easily make it a planet with nine moons and avoid a storm of complaints by realism nazis or even simple sci-fi fans.

    The only possibilities of a cold star are black holes, white dwarves and neutron stars. Since a neutron star is the remnant of a supernova, a black hole can't possibly have nine small planetary bodies orbiting it for a length of time with them sustaining life effectively(not to mention a black hole itself sustaining life) and white dwarves are just a mass of carbon and oxygen, i don't see how it would be effectively described without alienating your readers.
     

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