Non-spheroid conworlds (now talking about horizons)

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Non-spheroid conworlds (now talking about horizons)

Post by clockworkbanana »

I'm doing some quick conworlding before Nanowrimo, and I've decided that the world it will be set in will in some way or other be flat. Not so sure what else will be true about the universe, or if that's all there is ("Earth", "Sun", stars, "moon(s)"), or how these interact, or what else has to be screwy compared to our home universe for this to be true, but there it is.

Has anyone else made a flat conworld? How did it work out, or is it shelved?
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Pe King »

Will there be magic? Gods? Spirits?
One just isn't enough.

I am praying for you all, with sincerity and on occasion gritted teeth.

Mathew 5:43-44

I seldom think before I speak.
That requires patience, an art I have little practice in.

-Pe King, I hope.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by clockworkbanana »

Pe King wrote:Will there be magic? Gods? Spirits?
Yes. If not in the actual story, they will be important to the background.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Pe King »

I would suggest reading Greek mythology
One just isn't enough.

I am praying for you all, with sincerity and on occasion gritted teeth.

Mathew 5:43-44

I seldom think before I speak.
That requires patience, an art I have little practice in.

-Pe King, I hope.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Micamo »

clockworkbanana wrote:I'm doing some quick conworlding before Nanowrimo, and I've decided that the world it will be set in will in some way or other be flat. Not so sure what else will be true about the universe, or if that's all there is ("Earth", "Sun", stars, "moon(s)"), or how these interact, or what else has to be screwy compared to our home universe for this to be true, but there it is.

Has anyone else made a flat conworld? How did it work out, or is it shelved?
Flatness doesn't change anything major in your normal fantasy story; The people living there probably won't be attempting to circumnavigate anyway. It may have some more interesting implications in a more modern-like conworld placed there.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Xonen »

clockworkbanana wrote:Has anyone else made a flat conworld?
Terry Pratchett.
How did it work out
Quite reasonably.

Of course, a lot of what he's written is supposed to be funny, which is why he can get away with some pretty absurd con-physics. Then again, the shape of the world isn't really of any major concern in most of his novels; you could set pretty much the exact same storylines in a regular-shaped world just as well.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Raydred »

Con-physics is fun. :-P You could try to use Aristotle's theory of gravity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelian_physics
Ctrl+F->Natural Place.
If I ever build a con-world will surely try to develop some con-physics.

PS:The reason I mentioned this is because gravity pulls us as it does because the earth is pratically a sphere. You could also use normal physics and create some weird system with the "planet" "suspended" above a great amount of mass. The "planet" shouldn't be very big of course.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Avjunza »

Its just a conworld to be used as a setting in Nanowrimo? And you need to determine whether its spherical or flat? Unless it's supposed to be the setting for a sci-fi story where there will be interplanetary travel, I really cannot understand why this is even necessary.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Curlyjimsam »

A flat (or flat-topped, at least) world is the main setting of the book I'm writing at the moment. I'm aware of a few problems like how rivers and seas work, but ultimately it's another world heavily dominated by magic and my solution to any issues that may arise is literally "the wizards did it".
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Xonen »

I've occasionally toyed with the idea of having a gas giant with a very thick atmosphere with huge formations of some kind of lightweight rock floating in it. Creatures living on those rock formations would probably think they're living on a flat world floating in some kind of misty void. However, I'm not sure if I could think of a plausible way for such rock formations to get there in the first place.
Raydred wrote:You could also use normal physics and create some weird system with the "planet" "suspended" above a great amount of mass.
I'll admit I'm no astrophysicist, but I'm pretty sure that's not possible under normal physics. The planet would either (smash into and) merge with the bigger object, or simply disintegrate when it got inside the Roche limit (and then smash into the bigger object, most probably).
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Micamo »

Xonen wrote:I've occasionally toyed with the idea of having a gas giant with a very thick atmosphere with huge formations of some kind of lightweight rock floating in it. Creatures living on those rock formations would probably think they're living on a flat world floating in some kind of misty void. However, I'm not sure if I could think of a plausible way for such rock formations to get there in the first place.
You could make the "rock formation" just dirt piled on top of a giant whale that can float through the clouds.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by clockworkbanana »

Avjunza wrote:... you need to determine whether its spherical or flat? ... I really cannot understand why this is even necessary.
I know it's flat.

But as for why I need some basic conphysics, one of my ideas was that occasionally the world increases it's reach (for reasons unknown to the inhabitants). So I suppose the world at the beginning of the story should be small enough that someone could travel from one edge to the farthest from it in a reasonable amount of time on foot (months? A few years?). So when it does expand, people will know, either directly ("Hey, that land wasn't there before!") or indirectly ("Wow, the weather has gotten weird...").

I will have to tweak why there are seasons, since a flat world like Ptolemy and Aristotle imagined doesn't seem to explain those, from every version I've heard explained.

But if I don't include that, I guess it would just be background trivia.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Micamo »

clockworkbanana wrote:
Avjunza wrote:... you need to determine whether its spherical or flat? ... I really cannot understand why this is even necessary.
I know it's flat.

But as for why I need some basic conphysics, one of my ideas was that occasionally the world increases it's reach (for reasons unknown to the inhabitants). So I suppose the world at the beginning of the story should be small enough that someone could travel from one edge to the farthest from it in a reasonable amount of time on foot (months? A few years?). So when it does expand, people will know, either directly ("Hey, that land wasn't there before!") or indirectly ("Wow, the weather has gotten weird...").

I will have to tweak why there are seasons, since a flat world like Ptolemy and Aristotle imagined doesn't seem to explain those, from every version I've heard explained.

But if I don't include that, I guess it would just be background trivia.
Well, what's the source of heat in this conworld? You could have its energy output oscillate and have "seasons" this way.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Pe King »

Unless it doesn't have seasons. Earth only has seasons because of it's tilt and plants need seasons on earth only because they had seasons for "millions" of years.
One just isn't enough.

I am praying for you all, with sincerity and on occasion gritted teeth.

Mathew 5:43-44

I seldom think before I speak.
That requires patience, an art I have little practice in.

-Pe King, I hope.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by MrKrov »

Why is millions in quotation marks?
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clockworkbanana
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by clockworkbanana »

Micamo wrote: Well, what's the source of heat in this conworld? You could have its energy output oscillate and have "seasons" this way.
Mostly the sun. I'm not having a four element set up for this world, but I will probably have elements (thinking 6), so the sun could be fire elemented. If constellations in that world have elements as well, then this could account for some variation.
Pe King wrote:Unless it doesn't have seasons. Earth only has seasons because of it's tilt and plants need seasons on earth only because they had seasons for "millions" of years.
I live in a place with two seasons, it gets boring. :-P then again, if no one had seasons, no one would know that not having them is boring.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by clockworkbanana »

Someone mentioned this on another site, but I don't know how correct it is: Would a flat world still have a horizon? I think it would, unless someone was right near the edge or the world was so small that the "humans" would be able to see off the edge no matter where they were.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds

Post by Micamo »

clockworkbanana wrote:Someone mentioned this on another site, but I don't know how correct it is: Would a flat world still have a horizon? I think it would, unless someone was right near the edge or the world was so small that the "humans" would be able to see off the edge no matter where they were.
Unless you're close enough to the edge I don't see why not.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds (now talking about horizons)

Post by Pe King »

Why is millions in quotation marks?
I'm a Christian (go figure) and believe that the world is at tops 150,000 years old. I have a logical explanation for the flood, dinosaurs and the argument for the existence of god.
One just isn't enough.

I am praying for you all, with sincerity and on occasion gritted teeth.

Mathew 5:43-44

I seldom think before I speak.
That requires patience, an art I have little practice in.

-Pe King, I hope.
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Re: Non-spheroid conworlds (now talking about horizons)

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