Newest Questions
39,296 questions
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What's a plausible way for a creature to be petrified into a statue-like form without being harmed? [closed]
Been working on a story concept where a protagonist character obtains what she THINKS is a simple statue of a creature, but during the night the statue "unfreezes" and she wakes in the ...
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6
votes
1
answer
2k
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How long does blood smell for?
I'm having a thin pool of human blood, and apparently blood has a smell, but I don't know how long the smell will last?
I want to leave the blood alone for 2 weeks and I don't know if it will somehow ...
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6
votes
2
answers
505
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Is an orbit that looks like the (∞) symbol possible for a planet orbiting two binary stars?
I am still super early on into the world I'm creating at the moment. I would like to know if this planet (preferably habitable) could do something like this:
^ illustration I quickly drew up of a ...
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2
votes
2
answers
133
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Can you make a Astrolabe using a Magnetic Compass and Kamal?
I am writing a myth for my alien society and am having some trouble. The myth's basic structure is that two gods of crafting and creation are trying to win the heart of a mortal with their inventions. ...
- 2,375
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5
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443
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How to create an imaginary family tree that is very long
Obviously the way to create a long imaginary genealogy is the same way as creating a short imaginary genealogy, only longer.
But of course a writer who wants to create a long imaginary genealogy would ...
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13
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How long must a jet plane be for a passenger in the back row to survive a nose-dive crash?
The prince of Nosuchplace has always preferred to fly first class, in the front of the plane, naturally. However, it occurred to him one day that, were the plane to run into a mountain, or nosedive ...
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1
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How many heirs will a colonial governor likely produce in a Droit Du Seigneur system? [closed]
I'm writing an alternate-history story where Droit Du Seigneur was actually a thing in Europe and they decided to bring it to the colonies. For those who don't know, Droit Du Seigneur or Primae Noctis ...
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1
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2
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237
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Could an accidental electrolysis battery be formed just above the earth's upper mantle?
An electrolyte may easily be formed through the dissolution of limestone. But, within that electrolyte solution, could a battery (like a nickel-iron battery, two metals common in the upper mantle) ...
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5
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1
answer
503
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How could a carbon cycle be achieved underground between complex fungi and animals
To set the scene, imagine a pocket underground where fungi have managed to break stone down to soil in which complex animals now live.
The only examples of complex (I'm talking multicellular, ...
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1
answer
178
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Why would people in my setting want a deserted elven city as a colony? [closed]
In my setting, humans are aliens from another world. They have invaded the world of the elves (a fictional Middle-earth with various fantasy creatures like bear-wolves, ents, etc.). The purpose of the ...
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1
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3
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236
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Tetrahedral worlds - post calamity, pre collapsing to a sphere [closed]
This is for a story idea. What's plausible?
Assuming:
All conditions for life remain (air/water/magnetosphere/IR mitigation)
Earthlike material composition
Earthlike mass
Stable rotation
Perfect ...
- 39
6
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9
answers
3k
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Justifying an 'analog horror' aesthetic in a 'future' setting
I am trying to write vaguely 'set in the future', but I am having trouble with one thing: keeping it with an analog era PSX aesthetic.
The more I read and write about this subject, the more I realize ...
- 2,905
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2
answers
2k
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Would weekly* seasonal changes still allow a habitable planet?
A long time ago, I synthesized the idea of my world going through all four seasons every day due to some sort of magic shenanigans; I've since retracted that admittedly kinda cool idea and stretched ...
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1
answer
193
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What is the best location for a tracking device in the human body? [closed]
In most worlds it’s in the forearm. Have you decided to put it anywhere else for any reason? Or do you see any other reason for it to go anywhere else? In my world it’s under the upper arm not far ...
- 95
11
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8
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How NOT to get hyper-inflation in a vassal-state that is printing/minting money at exorbitant speed?
Basically, we have a vassal-state (think of it as a urban settlement that is surrounded by forests and rivers) that owes a great deal of money to their nominal parent state. Let's say a technological ...
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9
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Pros and cons of introducing modified Hangul(Korean Alphabet) to people of another Time-Space(who don't have their own script) over English alphabet
For those who don't know Hangul was created by King Sejong(There is a Civ Game song) as an alternative and easy to use script for Korean to replace Chinese characters(Hanji) which are really difficult ...
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11
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3
answers
2k
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Can this civilization land their biplanes in the air?
My Napoleonic-era world has access to large propeller-powered airships and small biplanes (<2 tonnes) due to magical mass manufacturing of materials and magic engines that can somewhat replace ...
- 3,696
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1
answer
160
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Western based beings and creatures capable of granting wishes [closed]
I'm entertaining the idea of beings and/or creatures that grant wishes though the mechanics are very important for those who wish to dive deeper in to the story and world.
They must be of Western ...
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1
answer
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Kill your grandfather paradox(time travel) [closed]
Suppose you have a time travel device and by time traveling into the past you alter the events of the life of a ancestors of yours so you are never born.The paradox is since you are never born ,you ...
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4
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3
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315
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What are materials that can be used as clothing in an underground setting?
I'm looking for something similar to leather but non-animal. I guess plastic? But I'm not entirely sure. The world is set underground and most animals are rare so they can't kill them and plants to my ...
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9
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2
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Possibility Of Drool-less Creatures
I recently saw a tumblr post about how dragons would think its neat that humans can produce water from their mouths, i.e., saliva or drool. This obviously implies that, in a world where that post ...
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3
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0
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104
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How to achieve spaceflight with a pre-industrial civilization [duplicate]
Couldn't find a direct answer searching this stack, in part because some of the facts for my world differ from Earth. I fully understand this will be hard but that's not a problem, we have plenty of ...
- 8,871
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4
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364
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What would really be the economy if most peoples had infinite money as envisoned by Aristophanes?
I’m not talking about having large amounts of money which is partially solved by hyperinflation, but having really infinite money whatever all possible currency is based on as long as you can travel ...
- 478
16
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15
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What is the safest signal/way to get out of an immersive, Virtual Reality Simulation?
So my humans regularly use a Simulating Computer as entertainment within their long space voyages, where they are connected via a neural link implant that tricks the brain into seeing, hearing, doing, ...
- 24.3k
6
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2
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328
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How big would an ocean have to be to be uncrossable until modern tech? [duplicate]
I'm trying to write a setting that takes place on a massive megastructure, and I want to have an ocean at the edge of the "Known World" that is so large and difficult to cross that, apart ...
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4
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1
answer
268
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Underground city of 25,000 - minimum size?
In my world, 25000 people live in an underground city on Europa embedded within the ice.
The city's primary industries are exploiting resources unique to Europa (which in my universe is crude oil &...
- 283
5
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4
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512
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How could a hole in the ozone layer be formed by natural processes or iron/bronze age human actions?
I am working on a story where I have a hypothetical wasteland climate at one of the poles of my world.
Background:
The main distinguishing idea that my book centers around is the idea of atmospheric ...
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3
answers
263
views
How and where to place consecutive intercalary days in a lunisolar calendar with strictly lunar months, but an Earthlike solar year?
I really love alternate calendars in fictional settings that aren't just a reskin of the Gregorian one, and had a cool idea for one in a culture I'm developing: The idea is basically a start of the ...
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5
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How could Earth or the Moon be cooled within a few decades of the Theia impact?
Current scientific consensus is that the Moon was formed when a body called Theia impacted the body that would eventually become Earth. The Moon’s surface and mantle were then molten and took several ...
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14
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Is it physically possible for a noise to sound like it's coming from somewhere else?
My protagonist of my urban fantasy story has the ability to make almost any noise he wants. He can replicate any noise he's ever heard, speak using the voice of any person he's heard talk, and with ...
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2
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460
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Would graphene armor implants be weak to electric/heat attack?
Graphene shows promise with futuristic body armor and all of that, with how strong and thin it is.
This world is a sci fi setting where cybernetics are pretty common. One cybernetic is graphene plates ...
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9
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What kind of drinks would a strictly carnivorous alien consume?
I'm working on something where some sapient species aren't capable of digesting plant or vegetable matter. It has occurred to me that for these beings, plant-based drink like beer or wine probably ...
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2
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5
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779
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Impact on societal cohesiveness in a world where the souls of the dead are currency
Imagine a setting roughly like what we might call “Dark Souls with guns”; vaguely fantasy vaguely low-sci fi etc. There are 'gods'. I'm not getting into a debate on what constitutes a god. But long ...
- 2,905
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5
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How to prevent incest in a pre-industrial free love society with unknown paternity?
I'm creating an island nation called Mercuria where they practice a quasi-anarchic society. This is a pre-industrial human society with late medieval metallurgy and French climate.
One key thing about ...
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1
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1
answer
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Ocean Currents - I can't seem to figure it out
I have watched several tutorials on ocean currents, but either my map is kindof tricky, or I am just too stupid to figure it out.
As you can see, I got to some point by just strictly following ...
10
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3
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2k
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What does my 3D Printing Life-Seeder Probe need to print to populate the Universe for humans?
A visionary multi-billionaire wants to colonise the Universe with his Von Neumann probe printer to create a stunning variety of life and culture within our awe-inspiringly huge yet silent universe.
In ...
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14
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5
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Would there be any notable physiological effects of 24/7 artificial light exposure on children?
I have a group of children 0–10 years old. Darkness, shadows, and general lack of light have supernaturally dangerous effects for them, ranging from insanity to death, necessitating extreme efforts to ...
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vote
3
answers
330
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Naturally formed portals between different (similar to Earth but no Earth) planets (no magic)
I started thinking about a fictional universe (different from ours) with different worlds linked by naturally appearing portals. There is no magic in this universe.
I imagine those portals surrounded ...
9
votes
3
answers
874
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How to calculate how bright a rocket's exhaust would be?
Basically, I'm trying to calculate how bright the drive plume for a plasma-core antimatter rocket would be viewed from Earth, at a distance (although it would be useful for other kinds of drives, such ...
- 283
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7
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Harvesting Helium-3 from the atmosphere of Uranus
I need a way to obtain Helium-3 in my world, as lunar mining won't be efficient for large-scale Helium-3 harvests due to only traces being available. So I decided to harvest from Uranus' atmosphere ...
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10
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What applications does a vacuum-generating substance have other than making near-vacuum airships?
So I think airships are cool and my world already has a source for crazy physics-breaking materials, and I thought, why not add another one to make airships slightly better? (Which based off other ...
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8
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What mass does my space vehicle need to be, to leave a city in ruins by dropping it from orbit?
In my world, there is a civil war between two factions of a large country.
One faction has managed to take control of an interstellar space vessel in orbit, and is threatening to destroy the capital ...
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6
votes
2
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Creating a realistic map for my novel (understanding climate related science)
I'm trying to create an accurate map for my fantasy novel that aligns with Earth's science (climate, axis, tilt, etc). I've made a rough draft and I'm trying to gauge if it's accurate or not.
I've ...
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4
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3
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423
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How would forcefields affect warfare (Sci fi) [closed]
In a sci fi world where energy shields can be created to deflect ranged projectiles or even outright dissolve them, would force fields end up affecting warfare well enough to shake things up ...
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0
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4
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299
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Designing and Constructing a Artificial planet [closed]
Can we design & construct a artificial planet similar to our planet earth where we breathe?
The artificial planet will be in between planet earth and red planet Mars in the orbit.This planet ...
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5
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Antimatter representative currency economy, because inflation is self-cannabalism
I recently figured out that the economy is a death spiral, because inflation is like eating yourself alive to avoid starving, and deflation is like trying to get bigger while starving.
I don't like ...
- 423
11
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2
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697
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What would the world climate, ecosystems, and oceanic currents look like if the Americas were flipped?
In the attached image, the Americas have been flipped. How does this affect ocean currents and world climate? I know that Europe will be much cooler without the Gulf Stream, the South Pacific Gyre ...
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13
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How to translate alien language when the aliens are dead?
I'm writing a hard-ish science-fiction novel, and a problem came up with the background.
In the novel, humans figured out p-p fusion through magnetic monopole catalysis by way of Roswell. In 1947. Cue ...
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2
votes
2
answers
252
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Creating a false sense of up and down in a topopolis
I am creating a fictional society where the sovereign owner has complete control over all fully automated means of production, and treats the remaining population of this society essentially as pets (...
10
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3
answers
765
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Location of a fictional star system in our night sky
I created a top-down map of inhabited star systems for my fictional world, including a fictional star system called the Fadel System, which is located 5 light-years away. While making a top-down map ...
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