>>With an ice world, it's surface/ocean. With a lava world, it's crust/lava. And so on.<<
Not just a binary, tho. Oceans have coral reefs, deep sea trenches, vast emptiness traversed by currents, globefaring migrants, very life rich coastal areas, and more, _not_ just 'water and stuff in the water's
A fire world... different sections of crust and different sections of lava, but also atmosphere and sulfur pools and vent colonies.
Not one, or even two sections, total but fractal splitting if lifespace.
>>Metal here, ceramic there, ice IV over yonder.<<
I don't have the chemistry or engineering skills to work all that out myself, hence why I think it would be a better group worldbuild than a solo hobby.
>>To some extent, moons will "sweep" their own orbit, but in a cluttered gas giant system, it gets messed up pretty quick.<<
Imagine figuring out space territories and responsibilities like way Eathlings figure out fishing and waste dump stuff for the ocean. ("Stop leaving dead people here! I'm trying to harvest asteroids, and you're making the place a crash hazard, dammit!")
>>I'll have to watch for this as a worldbuilding scenario.<<
It could be fun to do as a Real Life project. There are certainly enough smart people around here to come up with plausible 'Sacred Hospitality despite our atmosphere trying to eat the guests,' and similar weirdness, and I'm sure I've heard you discuss group worldbuilding projects before (Torn World?).
>>But I'd have more fun cooking up a dozen or so aliens.<<
Well, I want the dozen-or-more aliens, too.
I just figure it's easier to explore the, with a readerlike Everyman character, at least until the readers are used to the worldbuilding.
Plus (if a teaching-tale) it is a good illustration of the 101-level integration skills folks might (hopefully) develop.
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dancing_serpent
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-12-22 02:02 pm (UTC)There are likely others I haven't thought of.
>>Usually what happens is the atmosphere is a soup of tiny organisms that get flung off into space, hence peppering the nearby moons.<<
Thread from Dragonriders of Pern.
>>Rarely you get a more complex ecosystem in midair.<<
I'd want to do this. I want my leviathan sky mega-mega fauna, and all the awesome weirdness of an aerobiosphere:
[See end section]
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vida_alien/xenology/11.0.htm
>>With an ice world, it's surface/ocean. With a lava world, it's crust/lava. And so on.<<
Not just a binary, tho. Oceans have coral reefs, deep sea trenches, vast emptiness traversed by currents, globefaring migrants, very life rich coastal areas, and more, _not_ just 'water and stuff in the water's
A fire world... different sections of crust and different sections of lava, but also atmosphere and sulfur pools and vent colonies.
Not one, or even two sections, total but fractal splitting if lifespace.
>>Metal here, ceramic there, ice IV over yonder.<<
I don't have the chemistry or engineering skills to work all that out myself, hence why I think it would be a better group worldbuild than a solo hobby.
>>To some extent, moons will "sweep" their own orbit, but in a cluttered gas giant system, it gets messed up pretty quick.<<
Imagine figuring out space territories and responsibilities like way Eathlings figure out fishing and waste dump stuff for the ocean. ("Stop leaving dead people here! I'm trying to harvest asteroids, and you're making the place a crash hazard, dammit!")
>>I'll have to watch for this as a worldbuilding scenario.<<
It could be fun to do as a Real Life project. There are certainly enough smart people around here to come up with plausible 'Sacred Hospitality despite our atmosphere trying to eat the guests,' and similar weirdness, and I'm sure I've heard you discuss group worldbuilding projects before (Torn World?).
>>But I'd have more fun cooking up a dozen or so aliens.<<
Well, I want the dozen-or-more aliens, too.
I just figure it's easier to explore the, with a readerlike Everyman character, at least until the readers are used to the worldbuilding.
Plus (if a teaching-tale) it is a good illustration of the 101-level integration skills folks might (hopefully) develop.