General World Questions and Suggestions

[Sarah]

yeah speaking of that, should we have a planet's rotation still be the same on every planet (aka same day length?). Since the concept is that these planets/this system were sought out or created by the ancient gods to mirror proper conditions for each race, maybe the rotations are still earth-like on all of them... it's just the orbits that would be longer as you move out, changing year lengths.

Since even if we were counting things by Terra time, it would get confusing if day lengths are different on other planets.

am I making any sense in this? lol

[Blank]

That makes sense to me! Since they were created to all be earth-like, it makes sense that they'd all have similar day/night cycles.

[wanderer]

I'd make the days shorter on Heimdall and longer on Antheia. Shorter days, if even by a few hours less, make it seem that much harsher to the human psyche because we feel like we are falling behind. Wouldn't matter much to the subterranean dwarves.

Longer days just seems more paradisical, with the absence of clocks or outside influences the human mind tends to adopt around a thirty hour cycle. Also would give a longer growing time for plants and greater precipitation. That would make plant growth that much faster and more rampant. Frequent rains and lots of sun would be bamboo heaven.

What kind of plants are there on Glacies and how long til someone builds a ski resort?

[Sarah]

bamboo might be a good thing to have growing on Corus, actually. Somewhere... maybe there are some small areas of flatter land with that kind of stuff...

Good for the Winged to use to build their bridges and select structures and what not, with other gathered stuff from the sea with help from the Merpeople.

Haha ski resort... I can see that. Though the tales of nearby planet Nox might not be great PR for such a place...

[Blank]

Glacies probably has some heartier mosses and lichens on the surface, and probably some various bioluminescents under ground (I'm thinking mushrooms and other fungus, moss, etc). I don't see them having much of a seasonal cycle, due to how they're basically a ball of ice, but probably the Dwarves have learned to cultivate large crops underground, while the surface would have lichens and mosses growing inside of caves.

[Sarah]

Okay thinking back on the naming system, the two-parter trait-like naming trend might be an excellent thing to apply to the centaurs!

For example, Narnian centaurs (some book based, others from the movies) are named things like: Glenstorm, Lightning Bolt, Cloudbirth, Roonwit, Ironhoof, Suncloud, Rainstorm, and Windmane.

[moth]

I have a handful of general questions about general aspects of the 'verse.

1. What type of government controls Terra? Is it an elected democracy, a monarchy, or a dictatorship? Given the sheer number of people that it would take to urbanize an entire planet, I doubt it would be a democracy, and if it was, it would likely be democratic only in name. For some reason, I see the Terran government as somewhat imperialistic, but that could just be my impression.

2. How do were-creatures change between their human and animal forms? Is the change instantaneous, or does it take a minute as their body visibly morphs? How do their senses and other heightened characteristics transfer to their human form?

3. Do Fauns wear clothes? [Seriously, >.>]

4. What level of technology existed on other planets prior to the human expansion?

I think that's it for now. Just some random questions that have come to mind.

[Sarah]

1. Besides the quick summary in the Terra post:

Ruling such a huge planet-wide city cannot be left to one person, and so the government on Terra is a 12 member board of diverse Humans from across the planet called The Council. The major decisions for the city and planet are made by these councilmen and women, and these said decisions may only come to pass with a majority vote. Smaller decisions pertaining to specific parts of the planet are left to an elected set of 5 officials for each district. These officials will then bring the concerns and suggestions of their district to The Council for final word.

I'd say it runs the lines of democracy, but a severely flawed version of it. They're elected, but a lot of dirty stuff happens behind the scenes in that regard. Blank has kind of touched on some political meanderings in her posts with Titus and Digeo, so maybe she can sort of lay out what she's had running around her head in that area.


2. Probably a minute or two to transform, yeah, rather than "Poof!". In human form they'd have heightened senses in relationship to their select species, but not to the extent they would have in animal form. So, a were-wolf would definitely have higher sense of smell/hearing as a human, but not completely wolf level. Or a... I dunno... were-monkey (lol) would probably be a pretty good tree climber even in human form (but having a tail in their monkey form would be even further beneficial to them). So on and so forth.


3. A little. Females yes, they would wear tops, dresses, etc (I have Olive owning a small base wardrobe mostly of very simple sundress style dresses, with custom little tail holes ;D). Probably not really major pants wearers naturally though. Enough fur would cover most of the problem there, though maybe the males who spend more time around humans would sport some specially made pants or... loincloths or something, mostly for the sake of realizing that it makes the humans uncomfortable more than anything. Ones who travel with humans would probably pick up humany traits anyway, simply to fit in more, so it's probably not uncommon to see faun crew members in some sorta clothing. Mostly depends on the character, I suppose, but as a general rule I would say: Fauns still living on Antheia would sport much less clothing than those who have left the planet with Humans.


4. Basically imagine how the culture would be out of whatever myth they come from. Which means, mostly very basic, ancient tech. More fantasy-medivalish for the Elves and Dwarves (again, think LotR), and maybe more tribal level tech in the cases of Fauns, Centaurs, Goblins, Winged and Mermaids. The most advanced would be the Weres and Vampires, due to their direct connection with a once human origin themselves. I sort of imagine the main influx of the creatures finally took over the last of the human population on Nox in their own version of a Victorian period (thus lining up well with original Vamp/Were hysteria myths), so most of the human development would have stopped at that. Most of the human settlements are in ruins now, but the Vampires have been living in the old Victorian mansions that remain, whereas the Weres have been in the forests, more than likely in smaller houses they've built themselves, log cabins, etc. Much more simple living than the Vampires who are still in the sort of rich, Victorian mindset, despite the status really meaning nothing for a good number of centuries since the humans who put it in place are all gone.

[moth]

1. I do remember reading that, now that you throw it out in front of me. Would the council consist of people who are elected for life, or would it be based on short-term elections by the people? Also, would the five local representatives be appointed by the people or by the council?

2. Pretty much in line with what I had been thinking. Were-monkey? Lawl.

3. Also what I would have expected. Was just looking for some clarification given the Deviant images you have up and lingering memories of Mr. Tumnus in nothin' but a scarf.

4. Cool?

[Blank]

OH BOY POLITICS!

Okay, so this is what I've imagined in my head. Terra calls itself a democracy, but it's really a democracy in name only. There are the Council members (who make the big planetary wide decisions), and there are the District leaders in the Middle and Top who look after everything in their district. The District leaders are elected by the people living in that district and they're pretty similar to our current system (one vote, one person). They serve four year terms and can be elected to the same post as many times as they'd like. Of the five elected, they have their own vote to decide who reports to the Council on concerns in their area.

The Below doesn't have elections simply because their population is illiterate and nobody believes in any changes. The posts are mostly abandoned, and if someone does take power, they have very little impact on the area. The only real reason for taking seat is hoping that someone will bribe you.

It's widely assumed and believed that no one person can rule a planet, so you have the Ruling Council. Anyone who serves on the Council can stay as long as they like, and the average term ranges from 30 to 50 years depending on how young you take your seat and how well you can stand up to stress. When someone dies or retires, the seat becomes open and elections are held. Candidates present themselves and are vetted, until there are three or four people left. Then voting begins. Rather than open it up to a public vote (which would be a nightmare with over one trillion people on Terra), they limit votes to organizations, guilds and government, and to the Council. The idea behind this is that an organization (like the University of Terra, or the Assassin's Guild, or the Military) each has a single vote, and they can put their support behind the candidate of their choosing, but because the Guilds and organizations and Government all have different agendas, they'll be forced to support the best candidate for the job. As well, it prevents council members from simply electing their friends.

Of course, that's in theory. In reality, you still get a lot of nepotism anyway, and a lot of organizations going out of their way to deliberately sabotage a candidate they don't like, either by getting together to vote against them, running a smear campaign to take them out of the running, or by spending money at the Assassin's Guild and getting them permanently removed from the running.

As for Imperialism, I think that's a constant issue among the Council. About half of them feel that they should focus more on addressing issues within Terra (like the Below, and overpopulation, and the over-dependence on manufactured and shipped-in goods), where the other half feel that they should simply expand to other planets and use them as they will. At the moment, caution is winning out, but it isn't a very popular strategy among certain people.

[sunnie]

Okay so, I hope I'm not bothering anyone to much, but I was just wondering a couple of things.

1. Can vampires eat? Human food I mean. Obviously it doesn't give them any nutritional value, but can they digest it, or does it make them sick?

2. Do the weres transform involuntarily on the full moon like classic werewolves, or is it always voluntary? There was something about Castel's step-dad getting bitten and attacking his family on the full moon, but I haven't seen anything about it in the races section, so I was just wondering about that.

3. If the weres do transform on the full moon, what happens in space? No planet, no moon, so does it end there or do they still transform?

4. In a lot of stories, weres and/or vampires can tell someone's race by smell, can they do that here?

[Blank]

1. Vampires cannot eat! They could try, but the food will just rot inside of them instead of being digested, and they'll end up feeling pretty queasy about it. I imagine their taste buds don't work too well on anything that's not blood.

2. Not exactly! The older/more experienced a were is, the more control they have over their changes. So children would always change on the full moon, and nearly-bitten humans would turn involuntarily since they would have no choice, but teenagers and older weres would have control. That being said, it's probably uncomfortable to be a were and not change on the full moon, so most of them don't bother fighting it.

3. Again, it depends on the amount of control the were has. Without a steady moon cycle, most weres end up disoriented in space and feel off. I'd assume most of them make up a schedule on their own and try to stick to it, since they won't have the usual triggers around to tell them when they need to turn and when they don't. Others, like Klove, probably try to go as long as they can without changing and only bother to transform when they feel safe, or when they feel sick/ill from not transforming. Those without any control will probably trigger a transformation whenever their body feels like it, which may be when they're near moons, or just at random.

4. Yes and no. Vampires and weres have keen senses, but when meeting another race for the first time, they won't always know what they are, though they can always tell that something is off. (eg. Dwarves tend to smell 'earthy', so even if a were or vampire has never met a Dwarf, they'll know that they're not really human, since they don't smell human, but wouldn't be able to instantly know that they're a Dwarf). Weres can obviously tell exactly what species each other are, and most vampires can as well, but only because they've learned to identify that certain were smells = certain were animals (eg: Eli was correctly able to identify Szar as a bear).