Worldbuilding Post...
Aug. 16th, 2005 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesI love worldbuilding where I know just enough about the world to paint it in broad strokes, and discover new things every day.
The Darynese are very scent-dependent. I'm wondering what would happen if I make it so that they can't imagine not having someone else within scent range, that that feeling of aloneness would slowly drive them mad. I'd have to account for things like upper respiratory illnesses (perhaps being unable to smell at all is okay, but being able to smell, but not smelling anything familair is what's panicking) and allow for other cultures. I already say Darynese spacers like to simulate the smell of a city in their ships, so they don't feel like only a few people are on board. They might also have to introduce alien scents to any young if they want them to be able to live among aliens. Could also explain why I have two Darynese on the ship's crew in the book/comic thing -- the idea of having one would be unthinkable to the Darynese, and I think their position on the ship was due to political manuvering by the liberals in the government of their homeworld.
They already are not a claustrophobic species, and I have a feeling that the closest thing to being alone they want is to know someone's there if they need them, but won't present themselves unless asked.
I managed to winnow down the species I want for the two planets the crew visits to one for each, plus the sprites/spirits -- a sort of elf-ish species, and a vaguly-animal-spirit-pseudo-shapeshifter-ish species. They'll need names, and I probably should rename the characters to not have Earth names.
Basically, the elves dealt with the enviroment by modifying it, and the other guys did it by modifing themselves. Both had magic/psi stuff -- the elves were telepaths and able to do a sort of limited-telekinesis-ESP thing that let them breed pretty much everything living in their enviroments into something that benefited them (magical-based biotechnology). The other guys had much more of a sensory telepathy, and an illusion-camoflage ability. Then, the spirits came along, and pretty much drained the elves' special abilities to create a nursery for their offspring -- basically the magic flows form one planet to the other. In addition to making the elves turn to more traditional technology, the other guys' abilities are getting stronger -- they are now physically mutating to adapt to their enviroment, creating almost different species. Most of the elves want their magic back, some just want these meddling magical whatits away from them, and the other guys (who need a name) are getting perturbed by the strange offspring they are having -- it's also binding them to certain enviroments when they pride themselves on adaptability.
Now, to work out what this would mean for social structures. And a timeline.
The Darynese are very scent-dependent. I'm wondering what would happen if I make it so that they can't imagine not having someone else within scent range, that that feeling of aloneness would slowly drive them mad. I'd have to account for things like upper respiratory illnesses (perhaps being unable to smell at all is okay, but being able to smell, but not smelling anything familair is what's panicking) and allow for other cultures. I already say Darynese spacers like to simulate the smell of a city in their ships, so they don't feel like only a few people are on board. They might also have to introduce alien scents to any young if they want them to be able to live among aliens. Could also explain why I have two Darynese on the ship's crew in the book/comic thing -- the idea of having one would be unthinkable to the Darynese, and I think their position on the ship was due to political manuvering by the liberals in the government of their homeworld.
They already are not a claustrophobic species, and I have a feeling that the closest thing to being alone they want is to know someone's there if they need them, but won't present themselves unless asked.
I managed to winnow down the species I want for the two planets the crew visits to one for each, plus the sprites/spirits -- a sort of elf-ish species, and a vaguly-animal-spirit-pseudo-shapeshifter-ish species. They'll need names, and I probably should rename the characters to not have Earth names.
Basically, the elves dealt with the enviroment by modifying it, and the other guys did it by modifing themselves. Both had magic/psi stuff -- the elves were telepaths and able to do a sort of limited-telekinesis-ESP thing that let them breed pretty much everything living in their enviroments into something that benefited them (magical-based biotechnology). The other guys had much more of a sensory telepathy, and an illusion-camoflage ability. Then, the spirits came along, and pretty much drained the elves' special abilities to create a nursery for their offspring -- basically the magic flows form one planet to the other. In addition to making the elves turn to more traditional technology, the other guys' abilities are getting stronger -- they are now physically mutating to adapt to their enviroment, creating almost different species. Most of the elves want their magic back, some just want these meddling magical whatits away from them, and the other guys (who need a name) are getting perturbed by the strange offspring they are having -- it's also binding them to certain enviroments when they pride themselves on adaptability.
Now, to work out what this would mean for social structures. And a timeline.
