The Campaign Builder's Guild

Something worth mentioning, a lot of this world is based on what Venus might look like, were it to have a livable atmosphere, faster rotation speed and of course, life. I suggest reading the wikipedia article as it goes over the magnetic field, lack of tectonic plates, etc...

For protecting the planet from cosmic radiation, I think that the "mystic properties" of the rings will take care of that bit, to enhance the otherwise weak magnetic field that this planet will have.

Quote from: snakefingThe spinning of the core produces a dynamo effect that generates the magnetic field of the earth. The magnetic poles just show how the dynamo is oriented. The location of the magnetic poles is not fixed - they wander about quite a bit on geologic scales.

In fact, there have been occasions where the dynamo has reversed itself and the magnetic polarity of the earth has flipped 180 degrees. This can be seen, for example, in the alignment of magnetic crystals in the sea floor that crystallized from lava at different times.

Now, in a fantasy world, you may not have any magnetic fields, no cosmic radiation, etc. Or the fields could be the residue of demonic energy. Or whatever you want. These kind of things can fairly easily be hand-waved away. It just depends on what you want, what you want your players to pay attention to, and how much you want these things to be consistent with each other.

The drift isn't surprising, although I wasn't aware of it nor had I considered it. I haven't ever looked closely into the physical nature of the deposits - in geological time scales a lot of stuff varies radically that we haven't been around long enough to observe directly - and some stuff has only become apparent relatively recently such as recalibrating observed celestial phenomenon - identity of the pole star and precession of equinoxes. The polarity reversal I have been aware of - many in the "New Age community" are making a big deal of this and predicting a reversal approaching quite soon (among other phenomenon). When you say "the dynamo has reversed itself" are you only remarking on the polarity - or reversing the actual direction of spin (which would explain why the polarity reverses) within the core? I'm particularly curious about that - one of the more well known/published New Age prognosticators, who is a geologist, asserts that the earth itself is slowing in rotatation and will eventually stop momentarily and then actually start spinning in the opposite direction (and claims it has done so in the past). I find this a bit harder to swallow, but hesitate to say it's impossible - not sure of the physics involved to be absolutely certain - on the other hand, the motion of the core is something I know even less about, and what factors influence it. . .

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VenusVenus[/url] might look like, were it to have a livable atmosphere, faster rotation speed and of course, life. I suggest reading the wikipedia article as it goes over the magnetic field, lack of tectonic plates, etc...

For protecting the planet from cosmic radiation, I think that the "mystic properties" of the rings will take care of that bit, to enhance the otherwise weak magnetic field that this planet will have.

Ok well Venus has a liquid core. However, yes it has no tectonics. I didn't realize that lack of tectonics would disrupt a magnetic field (you learn something every day). Anyhow I might suggest giving your rings a highly magnetic property (or barring that perhaps there is something buried at the center of the world, perhaps an artifact). Whatever it is, it drives off the dangers of open space.

Anyhow we are moving into the realm of over-realism here. Players probably won't care that the rings above are a shield against the radiation of their star. At most they might passingly notice this when a worshiper of the rings (and trust me... something like that is going to have alot of worshipers) tells them so. Even then they will probably just go "oh that's interesting" and continue on. Just focus on the things that will have a usable impact (and that you don't want to just explain away with magic).

Nomadic - you made the suggestion I was about to put forward as well - the rings can be used to explain a number of things which are otherwise inconsistent with natural science. Venus illustrates a number of things I was saying about atmosphere - providing the rings with various counterbalancing properties then offers a neat and elegant solution to most if not all - some physical - magnetic field, and where it doesn't inherently, magic can make up the balance. At that point I think verisimilitude would be maintained nicely - the only thing that really *needs* to be done is provide a rational for the things which would strike players as immediately incongruous. If players look at some facet of the planet and immediately think "wait - that wouldn't work like that" and the creator can say, "you're right, but the rings do such-and-such instead" then the players respond "oh, cool, okay that makes sense," and role (sic) on with it. . .

The biggest thing to address at the fundamental realism level is the tectonics - Venus doesn't display them because of the physical structure of it's surface - an Earhtlike crust with oceans, etc. would have Earthlike plate tectonics - this one would pretty much have to be subsumed in some sort of semi-magical "stabilizing" effect/field produced by the rings. It doesn't really need more than a simple statement that the rings prevent plate movement - the only real reason to take them into effect at all is when you're creating the initial planetary geography - normally they present the reason mountains and volcanic activity etc. appear where they do (as we discussed regarding those elements in UR). After that it really becomes irrelevant since they're effectively "set in stone" - any changes occur over such a long geological time scale that they effectively don't even exist from the perspective of the inhabitants. Hence, even when present they don't need to be significantly detailed - "here's the mountain, here's the volcanoes: there are plates in this region pushing against each other or pulling apart," and the matter can be left at that.

Without them, I would personally try to provide some rational for why those geological features exist, but that's really a matter of my own comfort level - I like things to have at least a rudimentary explanation (as a lot of my setting writing displays,) not everyone (gm or player) feels this needs to be nearly so in depth/detailed and I realize that I tend to provide more in Panisadore than is strictly necessary for good gaming in the setting and most players would never really even be aware of a lot of it. . . I just feel that I'm more consistent in creating what the players *do* see if I have that underlying stuff worked out in my own mind and writing it out is a necessary part of the process for me in getting it worked out - and remembering it later. I don't really recommend others take things so far unless they're trying to accomplish the same thing (as part of a similar creative process) for themselves. Their players won't need it.  

Quote from: Snargash Moonclaw...When you say "the dynamo has reversed itself" are you only remarking on the polarity - or reversing the actual direction of spin (which would explain why the polarity reverses) within the core? I'm particularly curious about that - one of the more well known/published New Age prognosticators, who is a geologist, asserts that the earth itself is slowing in rotatation and will eventually stop momentarily and then actually start spinning in the opposite direction (and claims it has done so in the past). I find this a bit harder to swallow, but hesitate to say it's impossible - not sure of the physics involved to be absolutely certain - on the other hand, the motion of the core is something I know even less about, and what factors influence it. . .

Well, magnetodynamics is tremendously complicated, and not really my strong point. But this page on magnetic reversals is pretty decent. In short: We are seeing a diminution of the magnetic field over the last century that could indicate the beginning of a reversal. Computer simulations show that this is possible, but also that it is common for the magnetic dipole to weaken, almost to zero even, without an actual reversal.

The process has to do with liquid motion near the core/mantle boundary which is not related to the overall rotation of the earth. Conservation of angular momentum would forbid the reversal of the Earth's spin without some strong interaction with some external object, so that's right out.

Fascinating article there snakefing. It also makes me realize that we can probably get away without a magnetic field. As the planet in question has a much thicker atmosphere than earth's it stands to reason that it is capable of blocking more stellar radiation. Certainly not all of it but I could see it (combined with the shielding rings) as being enough to allow life to thrive safely on the planet.

@Snargash Moonclaw
I think you hit the nail on the head with that last post.

I've got lots of ideas now, and will need to spend some more time putting them all together. If anybody has any other suggestions though, I'm all ears.


*edit*
Okay, I just had an interesting idea. Would it be possible to have a form of algae that floats in the air? Photosynthesis requires Light, C02 and H20. There will be an abundance of C02 in the air, and there should be a lot of water moisture, especially later in the afternoon when the water has been evaporating a lot. I can picture there being large clouds of floating algae being pushed around the globe just ahead of the dusk storms.

It would be interesting if I could move a lot of the life that exists in the oceans of earth up into the sky. Like the aeria that stargate mentioned in my Dragon thread (basically sky whales).

You could do that yes. In reality it would require a bit of a redesign of algae structure but it could happen. This is made more true by the thicker atmosphere.

Speaking of algae, the page on coral you linked to re: coral bleaching due to temp. fluctuation contains a link going into this particular phenomenon in greater depth and detail. While this can actually result from a number of different factors besides temperature elevation, they are all very easily and elegantly adjusted for.

[blockquote[wikipedia page linked above]The corals that form the structure of the great reef ecosystems of tropical seas depend on a symbiotic relationship with photosynthesizing unicellular algae called zooxanthellae that live within their tissues. Zooxanthellae give coral its particular coloration, depending on the clade living within the coral. Under stress, corals may expel their zooxantheallae, which leads to a lighter or completely white appearance, hence the term "bleached". [/blockquote]

The two most prominent causes are the combination of temperature and solar radiation increases during summer. Seasonal changes are already eliminated and solar radiation mediated as causes. Beyond this all you need to do is simply provide your world with algae that has evolved to be more helpful (or at least not contribute additional strain) to the coral organism when it experiences the stressors. This even supports verisimilitude since different environmental conditions from Earth's will of course produce different evolutionary adaptations - and since you are reducing the instance and importance of photosynthesis in planetary ecology, it's already a given that the algea have evolved differently. Also of course, the coral itself may have evolved to be less vulnerable to these stressors. . .

On other notes - if the planet is under constant, heavy, universal cloud cover like Venus, then that will produce your albedo (coloration from unusual elements suspended in the clouds can vary how much light is reflected and how much absorbed by the clouds). Without such cloud cover, albedo will be similar to Earth's since the primary reflective surface is water roughly 2/3 in both cases. As with clouds, coloration from "non-Earth-standard" chemical constituents can produce further variation as desired.

Cloud forests would be quite common - I suspect prevalent even, since heavier atmospheric elements will produce low-level atmospheric condensation as dew point is approached. The hydro-atmospheric exchange system/cycle will be close to Earth's given similar proportion of water coverage as discussed above.

Mycorrhiza make some sense, however the carbs they get from the host plant are the product of photosynthesis - you will need an alternative. Grassy savannas are likewise sensible - open canopy woodland still fits that description so your broadleaves can coexist. Consider especially the baobab tree. Floral/fungal symbiosis would probably be a nearly universal day/night adaptation - each species of one being pretty specific to a single species of the other.

Cold blooded animals (like dinosaurs) would actually simply hibernate rather than die, hibernation being a much more prevalent adaption among them than warm-blooded animals (few of which truly hibernate, all of them relatively small). Many cold-blooded animals go into hibernation (or some similar metabolic suspension) due to other climate extremes than temperature -like  desert reptiles and amphibians burrowing between rains. Day and night environments would ultimately be very different with (as you said) few organisms (animal or plant) active during both, although twilight could be extremely interesting, with day and night hunters in a near feeding frenzy either to prepare for dormancy or to recover from it. Really, any sort of animal could be introduced as active during either period - simply being adapted to be active in that temperature range and dormant in temps above or below their comfort zone. (Some in fact might only be active at twilight - when the most food is running/flying around. . .) And, oh yeah, I definately see dragons as lovin' this place! Most likely the dominant life form and hunting primarily at twilight (though capable of activity at any point - just lazy. . .)

Symbiosis - cool - there's good reason as outlined above for this to be a prevalent evolutionary survival mechanism manifesting in a broad spectrum of adaptations - including sentience/intelligence. It could even be what produces sentience and intelligence - such as all sentient life being developments of non-sentient host forms (related to or even being other common flora and fauna) linked to intelligent but physically frail symbiotic organisms. Coral and trees could even display such sentience (the former probably displaying a sort of hive/colonial unified mind). If you were to look at it in this fashion then you really only need to develop a single genus of sentient life forms - manifesting in different species adapted to different familia of hosts - dragons being produced by the species adapted to certain dinosaurs. . . THis could get extremely interesting to play! Character creation then becomes a process of choosing first the intelligent symbiote followed by selecting the host species from the family the symbiote is adapted to. This would give a whole new meaning to concepts common in other setting such as "Dragonfly Clan," "Wolf Clan," "Mantis, Dragon, Serpent, Eagle. . . Clans" Clans, Tribes and Nations (in the manner of Native American usage of such terms) could develop either segregated or integrated - tribes preferring the presence of many different clans which are elements of a larger "nation" defined by biological order or family, e.g., Raptor Nation demonstrates a strong unifying commonality, however, Hawk, Eagle and Owl Clans still manifest distinctly different medicines which individuals of these clans bring/offer to their tribes. Forms/lines of segregation and integration could occur as well - certain predators for instance would not be found in tribes which contain clan members linked to their preferred prey - e.g., many clans of the Raptor Nation would not be found in tribes incorporating members of Rabbit Clan, however, Kestrel and some other clans of that nation may be. Clans which normally compete for specific food sources might likewise segregate, although they could also cooperate when given sentience. Other dominance/hierarchy patterns would likely manifest - Dragon Clan being the obvious starting point of reference from which to consider that. Of course, all of the above refer to terrestrial fauna, analogues of which might exist alongside of uniquely alien creatures native to the planet - you've really got free rein in this regard. Marsupial-like analogues could occur even among cold-blooded chordata (some snakes do birth live young rather than laying eggs after all) which might give rise to such a symbiosis.