New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[Astromancer]

While on the subject of Generation Ships because of the novel I finished on August 6th, I'd like to point up the idea of a City in a Bottle.

Assume that after a centuries long trip a generation starship has not just arrived at the worlds they seek to colonize but the ship's crew has terraformed the planets (a double planet one 93% of Earth's diameter the other 74%) to the point of breathable atmospheres on both worlds.

Now, the next problem is to go down the long neglected corridors of the ship and contact the populations waiting in the habitat domes. Problem, these societies were all memetically conditioned to see their habitats as their entire worlds. They might not be able to comprehend or understand the concept of "Outside." Further, these habitat domes have been left uncontacted since soon after the start of the voyage. After more than a thousand years, what will their cultures be like?

The Ship is about as long as the Starlost, that is to say 13,000 km. And each habitat dome is part of a two domes sphere. Each Dome is 100 km in radius, and there are eight spheres in each ring of domes. Which means there are 2,080 domes to contact. None of which will, if things went to plan, remember the outside universe exists.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Which means there are 2,080 domes to contact. None of which will, if things went to plan, remember the outside universe exists.

And given that the planners here were obviously seriously insane, there's no telling what other memetic craziness they thought was a good idea to introduce here. Even the ones where the bottle dwellers react fairly rationally are likely to have problems with "Hi, we're the people who have been hiding from you while holding you and your ancestors prisoner in a lie for the past few millennia."

I don't suppose there is any way we could land these bottles, open some doors, and come back in a generation? That would presumably let natural curiosity and internal revolution do the heavy lifting in most of them.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by malloyd

And given that the planners here were obviously seriously insane, there's no telling what other memetic craziness they thought was a good idea to introduce here. Even the ones where the bottle dwellers react fairly rationally are likely to have problems with "Hi, we're the people who have been hiding from you while holding you and your ancestors prisoner in a lie for the past few millennia."

I don't suppose there is any way we could land these bottles, open some doors, and come back in a generation? That would presumably let natural curiosity and internal revolution do the heavy lifting in most of them.

They lack the tech to gently lower the habitat domes to their new homes. People will have to leave their domes and go on down toward their destinations. Which will clearly tick off a lot of power hierarchies.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

While on the subject of Generation Ships because of the novel I finished on August 6th, I'd like to point up the idea of a City in a Bottle.

Assume that after a centuries long trip a generation starship has not just arrived at the worlds they seek to colonize but the ship's crew has terraformed the planets (a double planet one 93% of Earth's diameter the other 74%) to the point of breathable atmospheres on both worlds.

Now, the next problem is to go down the long neglected corridors of the ship and contact the populations waiting in the habitat domes. Problem, these societies were all memetically conditioned to see their habitats as their entire worlds. They might not be able to comprehend or understand the concept of "Outside." Further, these habitat domes have been left uncontacted since soon after the start of the voyage. After more than a thousand years, what will their cultures be like?

The Ship is about as long as the Starlost, that is to say 13,000 km. And each habitat dome is part of a two domes sphere. Each Dome is 100 km in radius, and there are eight spheres in each ring of domes. Which means there are 2,080 domes to contact. None of which will, if things went to plan, remember the outside universe exists.

For a genre flip of this one. Have the generation starship in orbit around a Planetary Romance planet or planets. For extra fun, steal from pulp Sci Fi and have a solar system a lot like the classic Sci Fi solar system of 1930's Space Opera. And let Earth be Connan the Barbarian or more primitive.

The PCs would be exploring, making contact, and seeking land for humanity to settle on.

[PTTG]

Turn it around a little bit.

A staff of technicians and monitors believe themselves to be the in-the-know crew of a generation ship. They walk the corridors between the biodomes to ensure that everything is going smoothly.

Then, one day, a breach occurs when the inhabitants of a troublesome dome blow a hole in the side wall... and instead of getting depressurized, WATER starts flooding in!

This whole time, the vessel was underwater! How long has it really been, and for what purpose? If even the command crew was deluded, then who knows? And what planet are they even on?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Turn it around a little bit.

A staff of technicians and monitors believe themselves to be the in-the-know crew of a generation ship. They walk the corridors between the biodomes to ensure that everything is going smoothly.

Then, one day, a breach occurs when the inhabitants of a troublesome dome blow a hole in the side wall... and instead of getting depressurized, WATER starts flooding in!

This whole time, the vessel was underwater! How long has it really been, and for what purpose? If even the command crew was deluded, then who knows? And what planet are they even on?

Good one. But scale the ship's size down to fit.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

Climate change and plagues caused by ecological disruptions cause a vast die off in the early 22nd century. Add to that those wars hinted at in GURPS: Bio-Tech and civilization on Earth is toast.

It is now the year 2200. The Solar system is at peace and a stable egalitarian democratic order has been achieved. Now it's time to discover what became of the Earth and its surviving people.

Basically, it's the Federation with a bit of the Union, exploring a strange new Earth!

The ruins of this Earth should make Gamma World seem plausible.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Now, the next problem is to go down the long neglected corridors of the ship and contact the populations waiting in the habitat domes. Problem, these societies were all memetically conditioned to see their habitats as their entire worlds. They might not be able to comprehend or understand the concept of "Outside." Further, these habitat domes have been left uncontacted since soon after the start of the voyage. After more than a thousand years, what will their cultures be like?

You know, this actually has a lot in common with a "cross-worlds" game where the PCs are supposed to be establishing contact with alternate worlds and bringing them into interworld civilization. It might actually be useful to frame everything like that for the dome natives. Your dome is a universe, but here step into our conveyer and we'll transpose to the "astral plane" where you can see the spheres of other worlds. Ours here are connected by the "world tree" but look over there at those that aren't - they're clearly much bigger universes and we've worked out a way to build conveyers not only to move along the world tree framework connecting your world to ours and these other 2000, but over to the closer of those separate ones....

[thorr-kan]

Slow Train to Arcturus (Eric Flint and David Freer), https://www.amazon.com/Slow-Train-Ar.../dp/B00APA4A2O, gives an alien's eye view of a different kind of generation ship.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by thorr-kan

Slow Train to Arcturus (Eric Flint and David Freer), https://www.amazon.com/Slow-Train-Ar.../dp/B00APA4A2O, gives an alien's eye view of a different kind of generation ship.

Nabbed! Sounds like a very fun book.