• Welcome to The Campaign Builder's Guild.
 

Physics for my setting.

Started by SilvercatMoonpaw, January 13, 2009, 05:32:31 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

SilvercatMoonpaw

As Crippled Crow has shown posting individual setting pieces here gets more response than on a main thread.  This is the first post from my Pawprints setting, and it's first because it defines words that I use in other posts.  Also I do consider the things I say here to be pretty important to the setting even if they wouldn't really come up any other time.

Travel in the Pawprints
[/size]

Fluctuations in gravity fields creates holes in the fabric of space'"known as 'rifts''"that cross the universe.......or dimensions (no one knows which).  The rifts aren't always open and must be coaxed to do so (though occasionally they manage it on their own), though it's a bit dangerous to keep them open.  Rifts will only open near significant sources of gravity (i.e. at least a medium-sized moon), and only in certain spots, but there are methods for determining which exit the hole opens to.  Important fact: it's easier for holes to open nearer to the center of the gravity, but the further from the center the larger the hole can be.

The natural way for the rifts to work is to only open to one place at each end.  You cross through and you're there.  Then to get even further you have to find a new hole that goes to another place'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦etc. until you end up where you want to be.

Opening the rifts depends on how sensitive they are to interaction with their warped spacetime.  Most rifts will respond to being "fed" the right kinds of energy, possibly opening because the energy allows them to fuel whatever force keeps them in that state.  However some rifts seem to be so sensitive that any reasonably solid matter either brushing up against the hole or in some cases just moving near the hole triggers this response'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦and often triggers an additional "suction" force drawing the matter in.  Scientists speculate that these extra-sensitive rifts may be responding to the increased distortion of gravity cause by the denser nature of solid matter.  Unfortunately/fortunately these sorts of rifts are rare and in hard-to-find places.

As to changing where a rift leads: It's been known to happen naturally in a few rifts where one end of the pair is not fastened, and that one end jumps around destinations.  It is possible to duplicate this phenomenon a few different ways, most reliably with application of the rare phenomena known as spacetime waves.  However many people believe that this is a dangerous idea, worried that once an end is moved from its natural spot it will become permanently unattached and too erratic for travel in either direction.  In fact fringe theories hold that this is what happened to the Ancient Ones when they tried to create a quick method for traversing the cosmos (and consequently made their planet the epicenter of every Lost Land myth).

Important Terminology:
Nexus: A group of nearby worlds.

Magic without Magic

There are no "magics" or "psychics/psionics" or any sort of "divine/spirit/life" powers.  However "special powers" do exist in this universe, and are scientific at their core, but are not well understood.  There are a variety of terms used to refer to these powers, though often people simply call them 'magic' or some other similar name out of convenience.  Formal science obviously tries to use less confusing words which unfortunately do not hold public attention well.  The best non-magical name in popular use is 'ah'rem'.

One example is "programs" (sometimes unofficially referred to as 'spirits'): living energy patterns existing coiled up in the extra dimensions proposed by string theory, sometimes responding to material beings' requests to alter reality.
Another is the ability to cause fluctuations in the spacetime continuum, spacetime waves.  This appears to be a rather unsubtle ability, mostly useful for transportation.
I'm a muck-levelist, I like to see things from the bottom.

"No matter where you go, you will find stupid people."

Superfluous Crow

Sounds pretty good so far. Can't really find anything inherently bad to criticise and i guess that's a good thing. It does seem pretty standard so far though.
Currently...
Writing: Broken Verge v. 207
Reading: the Black Sea: a History by Charles King
Watching: Farscape and Arrested Development

Higgs Boson

With the powers, I have a suggestion for the mechanics behind it. You could add another part to the E = mc^2 equation. This would allow the people who could acces it to convert matter and/or energy into something they could manipulate.
[spoiler=CLICK MEEEEE] My setting(s):
[spoiler=Quotes]Why are my epic characters more powerful than the archfiends from the Book of Vile Darkness, the archangels from the Book of Exalted Deeds, and the Elder Evils from Champions of Ruin?

If you're playing epic, pause for a moment to laugh at WotC's farcical cosmic entity stats and move on. They aren't there to be taken seriously. Trust me. They aren't even suitable for use as avatars. -WotC Epic Boards, Epic FAQ

Nobody can tell... hell we can't even tell if he actually exists -Nomadic, talking about me.
[/spoiler]

My Site

[spoiler=Oh Noes!] [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Various Awards][/spoiler]
[spoiler=For those who don't know...]...my name is the current name physicists have for the "god" particle that created mass by creating a field that forces other matter to move through (from what I understand). [/spoiler]
From the Office:
Interviewer: "Describe yourself in three words."
Dwight: "Fearless, Alphamale, Jackhammer...... MERCILESS!"
[/spoiler]

SilvercatMoonpaw

Quote from: Higgs BosonYou could add another part to the E = mc^2 equation. This would allow the people who could acces it to convert matter and/or energy into something they could manipulate.
Access what?  The natural conversion of matter <=> energy?  While that's a good way to explain how to get matter from seemingly nothing or how matter can be destroyed it doesn't explain everything such as how the matter gets arranged into a form.  Also I'd have to come up with a way that creatures both living and non-living somehow tap into this process.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, and I'm definitely going to incorporate it into how the system works, but I think creating "magic" out of physics can't be reduced to one simple fix.
I'm a muck-levelist, I like to see things from the bottom.

"No matter where you go, you will find stupid people."

Scholar

Quote from: SilvercatMoonpaw
Magic without Magic
Formal science obviously tries to use less confusing words which unfortunately do not hold public attention well.  The best non-magical name in popular use is 'ah'rem'.

well, what does "ah'rem" mean, being less confusing?

Quote from: SilvercatMoonpaw
Magic without Magic
One example is "programs" (sometimes unofficially referred to as 'spirits'): living energy patterns existing coiled up in the extra dimensions proposed by string theory, sometimes responding to material beings' requests to alter reality.
Another is the ability to cause fluctuations in the spacetime continuum, spacetime waves.  This appears to be a rather unsubtle ability, mostly useful for transportation.

i hated physics at school, so what exactly does all of this mean? there's stuff we don't see that does stuff or maybe not? and what is a "living energy pattern"? is it sentient? does it decide "you're nice, i'll help you" or "no wai!", because that *would* make it a spirit, right?

one general advice i can give you: creating names with lots of "'" and sciency technobabble is fun and entertaining for you as a writer, but unless you're really lucky, your players will call the mighty B'aab'regaront'el "Bob" and will refer to hexadimensional space mutations as "goofy woo-woo sh*t" or "magic". :) believe me, that's what my players do.
Quote from: Elemental_ElfJust because Jimmy's world draws on the standard tropes of fantasy literature doesn't make it any less of a legitimate world than your dystopian pineapple-shaped world populated by god-less broccoli valkyries.   :mad:

SilvercatMoonpaw

Quote from: Scholarwell, what does "ah'rem" mean, being less confusing?
1) That sentence should read "less meaning-laden", because if you call the stuff something like "magic" people have preconceived notions about it that are going to be wrong.
2) I have absolutely no idea what "ah'rem" means.
Quote from: Scholari hated physics at school, so what exactly does all of this mean? there's stuff we don't see that does stuff or maybe not? and what is a "living energy pattern"? is it sentient? does it decide "you're nice, i'll help you" or "no wai!", because that *would* make it a spirit, right?
The first thing is that you're not supposed to understand it much.  It's some of the most complex stuff this universe has to offer, so like any other really complex idea it's going to sound like complete gibberish.

Also this is the sort of comment I need: very frequently I write something which sounds completely sensible to me, but later I find out that I knew something I forgot to mention to everyone else and thus they have no idea what I'm saying.
Quote from: Scholarone general advice i can give you: creating names with lots of "'" and sciency technobabble is fun and entertaining for you as a writer, but unless you're really lucky, your players will call the mighty B'aab'regaront'el "Bob" and will refer to hexadimensional space mutations as "goofy woo-woo sh*t" or "magic". :) believe me, that's what my players do.
I don't mind: how often in-world do you have characters who haven't had a lot of training in the area spouting off technobabble or remembering really weird names?  If the players feel like making up their own way to refer to something that's fine with me, and if they need for some reason to have the correct word I'm glad to supply it to them.

Also made-up words are about not using something from English that means something other than what I need the word to mean.

As for the " ' ": it's supposed to denote a kind of pause in the middle of the word, "ah rem".  I should probably put up pronunciations.
I'm a muck-levelist, I like to see things from the bottom.

"No matter where you go, you will find stupid people."

Higgs Boson

A book you may want to look at for some ideas on how to work technology/special powers in with physics is Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku
[spoiler=CLICK MEEEEE] My setting(s):
[spoiler=Quotes]Why are my epic characters more powerful than the archfiends from the Book of Vile Darkness, the archangels from the Book of Exalted Deeds, and the Elder Evils from Champions of Ruin?

If you're playing epic, pause for a moment to laugh at WotC's farcical cosmic entity stats and move on. They aren't there to be taken seriously. Trust me. They aren't even suitable for use as avatars. -WotC Epic Boards, Epic FAQ

Nobody can tell... hell we can't even tell if he actually exists -Nomadic, talking about me.
[/spoiler]

My Site

[spoiler=Oh Noes!] [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Various Awards][/spoiler]
[spoiler=For those who don't know...]...my name is the current name physicists have for the "god" particle that created mass by creating a field that forces other matter to move through (from what I understand). [/spoiler]
From the Office:
Interviewer: "Describe yourself in three words."
Dwight: "Fearless, Alphamale, Jackhammer...... MERCILESS!"
[/spoiler]