Implications of flat world

In all honesty, I don't think a novel needs that much detail.

 

I do like that idea. Another idea I thought about was basically "world as a ship", where it would float in an ocean.

Basically, issues which would affect people in a practical manner. I mean, when it comes to gravity and so on, you can just handwave it away as "MAGIC!". Or assume that universe is actual spherical world or ocean (basically a gas giant, except water instead of gas) and worlds are islands which float on its surface. Which may still result in a spherical world, but not at the level where it would be relevant to any society with pre-modern level of technology. But what about navigation, cartography, and so on?

If you want to be really technical, the sun that is the size of one most fantasy worlds have - about the size of a mountain, maybe - would not be able to undergo the process of fusion required to shine. It would be a brown dwarf at best.

Meaning you can assume it to be a mountain of coal, oil lamp, lampion, whatever.

 

A gaseous planet the size of a mountain? That would be smaller than the earth, and not unheard of. Or maybe it's a type of hitherto unknown neutron star.

Maybe it's a god driving across the sky in his fire-chariot.

I don't know any fantasy worlds that talk about the size of the sun.

 

Now wait a minute! Are you guys trying to tell me the world ain't flat?

 

Yep, but there are some holdouts on the flat earth front.
Though science is not on their side.

 

One difference, which might matter if you have fast communication, is that it would be day or night everywhere at once. Similarly, we all see the moon or nobody does. And since the moon isn't pulling the seas from one part of the Earth to another, there would be no tides.

Also, the seasons come from the Earth's wobble, so that the northern then southern hemisphere points towards the Sun. But you won't have hemispheres on a flat Earth, or seasons. That would have a big impact on flora and fauna.

 

You could still have tides and seasons. If the moon travels over and under the flat world, it could pull up when it's in the sky and down when it's underneath. And if it travels at a different speed to the Sun, the tides would be at different times depending on the moon's cycle.

And you could have the Sun moving further away from the flat world during winter and closer during summer. The difference would be that it would be the same season everywhere at the same time.

Of course, your seasons could equally be caused by the goddess of the harvest hiding in a cave during winter.

 

Seasons would be possible if sun is not always on the same trajectory, but yes, a world without seasons does sound interesting.

Tides would likewise still be possible, but would be more akin to water shifting in a bowl. Which may have rather interesting implications of its own.

 

I'm not sure that would work, because water really doesn't compress much. On a spherical Earth we get tides because the water is pulled away from some places and towards others. With a flat Earth, it's all being pulled down or up, effectively altering g a little everywhere on Earth. Even if you ignored that, you'd only have one high tide per day, which would be a change from the real world.

Of course, the water would also be pulled sideways as the moon goes up or down, but the effect there would be to pull water off the Earth, not create tides. If you have mountains or something to keep it in, then I doubt you'll notice much of a tide, because Earth's stronger downward gravity would be pulling the water away far more than the moon was pulling it to the side.

You can do that with a heliocentric model and a spinning world. I guess I was assuming that the flat Earth went with a geocentric model, but I guess the flat Earth could be floating in space, with the gravity continually changing direction to match "down". With a geocentric world, the Sun has to orbit the Earth daily (to give us days), so once it starts moving further away to give you a winter, there's no force to bring it back again (unless you throw more magic into the mix).

 

If gravity works the same way as it does in the real world, then a flat world would feel round