Big Bang Setting

[Xeviat]

[note=SciFi]All of the talk about Mass Effect, and listening to Neil DeGrasse Tyson TALK, has resurrected within me the inspiration to write my Science Fiction setting. I don't know where I'll go with it; I may use it for the Star Trek/Star Gate game I've been wanting to run. I don't know where in the spectrum between Science Fiction and Science Fantasy I want it to reside, nor do I know how unique I want it to be. I just know I want to to be.[/note]In the beginning, God was all. There was no motion, for there was no where to travel. There was nothing, because there were no dimensions in which to exist. No one knows why what happened next came to be. Some say God was lonely, and in God's infinite sadness God took God's own life in a spectacular explosion. Others say it is merely the cycle of the Universe, to collapse into Singularity only to be born anew. What ever the reason, God expanded so fast, God could not remain one.

First, Energy was born, as the forces of nature came to be; electromagnetic, nuclear (both strong and weak), and yes, gravity. Matter came next, a sea of endless particles. As the universe grew, hydrogen formed as islands in this sea. Soon, greed, gravity, seeded the cosmos. Clouds formed, separated by empty space. Clouds condensed, and the the first stars formed with spectacular fanfair.

These were the old ones; great hulking behemoths that one can still see light years away. But greed was too strong in them; they breathed in all the air they could, and they became weighted down with metals. As their bellies filled with iron, they collapsed and exploded like their father before. Some were so succumbed by their greed that they never let go, even in death; they became the Devourers. The Devourers pulled other gods to them, and only the fastest and most cunning were able to escape, circling endlessly so as not to be consumed. What they couldn't eat, they collected into grand galaxies.

Great novas burst throughout the heavens, scattering metals throughout the Universe. New clouds formed, these more diverse, and many new gods were born. These gods were smaller, less greedy, and they shared their birthplaces with planets. Some gods were content to be alone with their worlds. Others resided in pairs, or trios, co-ruling worlds or splitting custody amongst them. Still, some fell to greed, burning fast and hot. Their nova deaths ring tolls of warning to the rest. Some knew temperance, living long, and even living on after their deaths as Memories. Even still, some great beasts are destined to become lesser Devourers themselves.

Upon their worlds, some felt the pangs of loneliness, like the Great One before. They filled their worlds with life in all manner and forms. Some fostered their life, Guardians and Teachers leading their children to greatness. Some watched on with objective silence, Scholars amongst the gods. Others see all the universe as family, and guide their movements to send messages through time.

We are all children of the stars, no matter the form we take. We are born of the Old Ones, who in turn were born of the Great One. We may all be rejoined in the grand collapse, if we are not consumed by the Devourers. And as we venture through space, we must show respect to the stars, but always look back to our home.

[Tangential]

Holy awesome.
The nature of this speaks to me greatly. I was also particularly intrigued by the idea of a binary solar system as ex-lovers who split the kids/planets.

[Humabout]

I'm still hoping to see more out of this setting.  I hope it's not too neglected!

[Xeviat]

I had been waiting to hear some thoughts from members before moving forward. My plate has a lot on it (from theorizing a setting for a novel, to running a new game in my main setting, to general life), so this was more of a testing the waters type post.

I think it has a lot of potential, and it will definitely be the basis for the next scifi setting I run.

[Humabout]

It looks interesting.  I guess I really don't have enough meat there to comment on aside from my interest in what is to come.  So please don't forget about this gem!

[Tangential]

Why does modern culture associate God with sorrowful motifs?
What kind of relationship do myths suggest exist(s/ed) between Matter and Energy? Have you thought about how dark matter/energy theories would impact this thought experiment.

[Xeviat]

I haven't put dark matter and dark energy into the mythical cosmology yet, but they are definitely going to be something. It might be the source of "magic" if I go for some "the force"-like supernatural system. But, going off of typical physics, the myths would see matter and energy as interchangeable. The creation of matter from energy, though, is the domain of the gods, or god-like beings at the very least, as I don't believe it happens in ordinary nature (even fusion doesn't create matter from energy, correct?).

I'm going to be thinking about this setting as I look over my Star Wars rpg books and I play through Mass Effect. Maybe go back to watching more Star Trek and hoping for another Star Gate.

[Humabout]

Not trying to be a put a damper on the creative juices, especialy since so much about dark matter and dark energy are completely unknown, but it's worth noting that they could potentially be dropped completely.  And moreover, dark matter is only "dark" in that they do not seem to interact with EM radiation, which is theoretically why we cannot detect it.  For that matter, one proposed explaination for dark matter are WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles).  As for dark energy, it might not even be actual energy.  It is just a hypothesized force-ish thing that seems to work opposite to gravity, causing matter to accelerate away from each other once distances between objects become great enough.  And that is just one theory as to why galaxies seem to be accelerating away from each other when we think they shouldn't be.  Again, the name's flavor could be quite misleading, and seeing as there are plenty of theories that don't include either concept, it's quite possible to justt drop them both as archaic fallacies of the 20th adn 21st century.

I'm not trying to squash creative juices here, just open up other options.  You might look at some of the theories out there competing with Einstein (and I don't mean QM).  Perhaps one of them actually turns out to be correct.  It might yield a strange and wondrous religion and universe otherwise not possible.

[Tangential]

Humabout hit a lot of good points, there.

Basically matter creation is the opposite of particle annhilation. In terms Masses things like bosons (like photons) into fermionsm with mass (electrons, etc.)

This happens through the seemingly random (or possibly govered by the expansion system of dark energy) collision of particles spontaneously. No cosmic beings neededf or energy to become matter, esp if following the tradition Big Band theoyr you say matter/energy freely interconverted i nthe early phases of the universe. Otoh, cosmic beings like the god-like stars mentioned above could be the product of matter-creation, perhaps?

[Humabout]

More info on Dark Matter that WIMPs look less likely today than yesterday.

[Tangential]

I swear we read the same news.