[IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

[Flyndaran]

Warmer temperatures could mean similar richness of cultivation location for tropical species like the ever important cacao, cinnamon, and coffee.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I just realized how these are examples of ordinary worlds with valuables, and not worlds with ordinary valuables. Both styles could make serious bank.

Most seem to focus on the big bang for your buck unique or at least ultra rare items.

Imagine if only our world had chocolate. The cacao is a "mo-fo" to grow, cultivate, and process into the ambrosia it is.
Now imagine world X has something just a delicious that's just as hard to use by stealing seeds.

Or picture a world that has a plant that produces something that makes Chocolate better. Or simply the world where a better tastier cultiver of chocolate was the norm.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by robkelk

"They used that version of the Hiking rules for the hobbits? This book is worthless!"

But do they like the stats for Galadriel?

[PTTG]

Venus was destroyed by a protoplanet only a half-billion years after the solar system really settled down. As a result, the inner system is choked in debris, and the earth (and the moon) are pelted with asteroids. The first thing you'll see upon visiting is a larger, visibly volcanically active moon. If you forgot your breathing gear, the second thing you'll see is spots before your eyes as the toxic atmosphere kicks in. The name of record is Luna-9, although the odd moon is only a consequence of this unique universe, rather than a major cause.

The current date is approximately 200 AD, but multicellular life hasn't evolved yet. Instead, Earth's thin atmosphere, shattered coastlines, and scattered tide pools are home to incredibly hardy single-celled organisms. The constant bombardment has slackened over the past hundred million years or so, and life on earth is undergoing a diversity explosion unlike that seen on practically any other timeline...albeit on an invisibly small scale.

Biologists are ecstatic, because this is practically an alien ecosystem just about to evolve from earthlike beginnings; multicellular life is likely just around the corner! Others see a different treasure trove here: the varied domains of life on this earth are based on DNA and use the same chemical library, meaning they are potentially compatable sources for gene splicing... and the huge variety and harsh environment have developed hugely advanced chemical processes. There's a species of bacteria here that coats itself in silver nanoparticles, and a different one that metabolizes dissolved oceanic uranium and refines it into a polonium toxin; nobody knows how it withstands the radiation itself. A proto-sponge- one of the most complex multicellular colonies on the planet- is electrically conductive and generates electricity from sunlight (with efficiencies far above solar panels)... a large colony could output voltages on par with a lightning strike.

It's deadly, looks like barren rock and storm-tossed ocean as far as the eye can see, and the red, baleful moon is somewhat unsettling... but it's also hugely exciting for anyone who's first thought, when one mentions the beauty of nature, involves a microscope.

----

Slowdown (Murray-2)

I've mentioned this one elsewhere. It's a world where time is about 67 million times slower than real time. Inexplicably, it's "stuck" on March 12, 2009. Thursday. As you stay in this world, you gradually slow down to match the local time rate. It is a perfect prison; put someone in there, and they're not your problem (So long as you can keep them there for an hour). You can bring them back any time you want. It's very useful, in its own way. Naturally, there are one or two crazy biologists considering living there for a year to see what happens on Luna-9.

----

B'ak'tun

A massive planetoid struck earth in 2012, obliterating them both. Current date is only a year or two behind Homeline. The debris cloud is still settling in; it may be millennia before anything changes. The only lingering remnants of life consist of what bacteria are clinging to the martian rovers. It appears that, since the planetoid was extremely cold and extremely fast, it went completely undetected.

Besides as a marketing gimick for Homeline spaceflight agencies and the few lingering Mayan apologists, this reality also has a huge practical utility for spaceflight.

Jumping to B'ak'tun is much cheaper than launching something to orbit, and there's no gravity well. Use cheap, efficient, deep-space propulsion, fly to where earth orbit would be, then jump back.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by PTTG

The first thing you'll see upon visiting is a larger, visibly volcanically active moon. If you forgot your breathing gear, the second thing you'll see is spots before your eyes as the toxic atmosphere kicks in.

Has the Great Oxygenation Event happened?

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Has the Great Oxygenation Event happened?

I'm thinking yes, but something else happened too. Possibly the Great Chlorinization or something to do with spores. Or maybe there's less oxygen, or too much.

The point is, it's not safe to breath the air, but if properly contained, it's fairly easy to splice genes from these things into homeline industrial bacteria.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

I'm thinking yes, but something else happened too. Possibly the Great Chlorinization or something to do with spores. Or maybe there's less oxygen, or too much.

The point is, it's not safe to breath the air, but if properly contained, it's fairly easy to splice genes from these things into homeline industrial bacteria.

By the way, cool out of the box thinking on valuables!

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by PTTG

I'm thinking yes, but something else happened too. Possibly the Great Chlorinization or something to do with spores. Or maybe there's less oxygen, or too much.

The point is, it's not safe to breath the air, but if properly contained, it's fairly easy to splice genes from these things into homeline industrial bacteria.

Great research into abiogenesis theories and overall tree of life research. All the anaerobic life forms killed off by the oxygen cataclysm in our world would still be around. All that delicious genetic history.

Archea, archea everywhere.

But good gravy, the completely rational need for extreme decontamination procedures without any involvement of alternate physics or biological laws.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

By the way, cool out of the box thinking on valuables!

Everyone wants alternates where dinosaurs still exist. I want the Cambrian and carboniferous weirdoes.
The 2 foot wingspan dragonfly relatives lived past the oxygen drop off so they could even survive in modern environments.
Transport them to neighboring low tech worlds for fun and profit, and mad giggles.

Imagine nature "history" documentaries that have no need for barely accurate CGI recreations. Protecting a film crew could make for a whole campaign let alone one off adventure.

Animal smuggling gets much more entertaining too.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Animal smuggling gets much more entertaining too.

Especially with seving platter sized giant spiders that die without added oxygen in the atmosphere and then kill you with it.