New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Not sure what you mean by "still"; the moon is established as a remnant of the spin-stopping impact, and is tide-locked to the planet.

I should've quoted. From this post-

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

A very late impactor struck a 3:2 resonator against its rotation, creating a new moon, leaving a great mass asymmetry, and lubricating the interior.

I read that to mean that the impactor was in a 3:2 resonance with the planet, but now I see that you meant in resonance with something else (another planet? it's day and year cycle?)

Anyway, if there's a harmonic ratio between the moon's orbit around the planet, and the planet's orbit around the sun, there'd be a simple ratio of months to years that could be used for a calendar.

Originally Posted by Faolyn

For the first time in ages, I actually got an urge to start drawing. I drew this piece of concept art for ursoids at last night's game.
...
Let me know what you think.

Originally Posted by combatmedic

BOSS!

I like it.

Neato. I like the horns, but I'd make the head a bit bigger.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Historically, I’d say humans gained their independence between 600 and 800 years ago, giving enough time to build up a civilised society.

Actually, thinking upon this a bit more, it would feel more epic-fantasy if the time scales were on the order of thousands of years. Hundreds of years seems a little beholden to Earth-history norms.

Forex, how long was the war? 10 or 20 years? Or like, an awesome 900 years? How long did the dragons take to set up their constructed reptilian society? How long were they present before that? How long have humans been present?

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

BOSS!

I like it.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Neato. I like the horns, but I'd make the head a bit bigger.

Will do. I was using polar bears as a guide and they have pretty small heads (or more likely, really big bodies), and I didn't quite modify the head to be big enough for a sentient being.

Unless, as a quasi-mineral life-form, they somehow have their brains spread over a larger area. :)

Thanks both!

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

(The ursids may have developed some kind of metal screens that resist the mind-bending effects)

Hang on. I just reread this. The ursoids have tinfoil hats?

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

Hang on. I just reread this. The ursoids have tinfoil hats?

They might have metal rune hats.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

Let's tinker with the nightsiders a bit.

Their metabolisms systems emulate lichens, but are operate much more rapidly because they are powered by the frequent lightninglike discharges that are normal for the night side. (They have Resistant to electrical shock and several levels of TempTol (cold).)

If lightning is such a prominent feature of the nightside weather, it strikes me that the Ursines would make some use of it. One application is a TL 3+(something) magitech artillery piece.

Ursine Fulmic Plasma Cannon
Reminiscent of large siege guns such as the Dardanelles Gun, the Ursine Fulmic Plasma Cannon are powered by lightning strikes and shoot charged balls of plasma.

The cannon consist of the barrel, which can be 5 to 10 yards in length, and a lightning mast, which stands 20 to 30 yards tall. Altogether they can weigh between 15 and 30 tons, but can be broken down for transport. There is a rear combustion chamber, with a smaller charging chamber on top of this at the base of the mast. The cannon are also covered with Ursine runes which strengthen and assist its firing.

Fulmic cannon can only be used during the frequent electrical storms of the nightside, by raising the lightning mast to attract a lightning strike. A particular mixture of minerals is activated in the small charging chamber to give the lightning mast a positive charge to more readily attract a lightning strike. A different mixture of minerals is used to make the plasma pellet, which is loaded into the combustion chamber. When lightning strikes the mast, and is channelled into the combustion chamber, it vaporises the plasma pellet, releasing a high velocity glowing plasma ball.

Fulmic cannon are primarily used as siege weapons. They are best deployed in mountains overlooking the target. They can be quite effective in ideal conditions, when there is lightning at the head of a storm front before rain starts falling, but performance can drop off with just a low amount of rain or wind.

The cannon are attended by a crew of 12 to 15 Ursines, dressed in copper chainmail conductive shrouds. Loading and prepping the cannon between shots takes 10 minutes, as residual charges need to dissipate, but waiting for a triggering lightning strike takes a more random length of time. Activation of the charging chamber is associated with a distinctive bright orange glow, giving warning that a bombardment is about to commence, but which can also give away the artillery position.

[Rasputin]

I made over Proto-Indo-European through ideas from Greek (vowels) and Lithuanian (consonants) to make the Proto-Man tongue. I shall make common names and racial names in this, and will undergo later shifts to make the tongues that men speak. Right now, here is what I have for races, with the singular and plural (nominative case, for those who care about these things), then the genitive singular (the "man's," "child's," "Englebert Humperdink's" form):

Bear man: rēštanêr (raysh-tan-AIR), rēštanéres (raysh-tan-EH-rehs), rēštanrés (raysh-tan-REHS)
Lizard man: srapatanêr (s'ra-pa-ta-NAIR), srapatanéres (s'ra-pa-ta-NEH-res), srapatanrés (s'ra-pa-tan-REHS)
Mutant man: mítos (MIH-tos), mítēs (MIH-tays), mítōs (MIH-tows)
Dragon: sarkênos (sar-KAY-nos), sarkênēs (sar-KAY-nays), sarkênōs (sar-KAY-knows)
Master: ammaišónts (am-my-SHONTS), ammaišóntes (am-my-SHON-tehs), ammaišatés (am-my-sha-TES)
Bird man: avanêr (a-va-NAYR), avanéres (a-va-NEH-res), avanrés (a-van-REHS)

Some notes:

1) For races, the word for man "anêr" is handy and comes up often.
2) I took the suggestion for "dragon" upthread. Keeps it exotic.
3) Vowels are in Latin. For the barbarians who don't know Latin, they are as in Spanish, but with long and short vowels, the long vowels being held for about twice as long. I marked the long vowels with either a macron (ō) or a circumflex (ô).
4) The acute accent (ó) or the circumflex (ô) shows the accent. An acute accent marks a short vowel, a circumflex a long vowel (since putting the acute accent and the macron together is a bother).
5) The hacek (š) turns a sibilant (S, Z) into a fricative (SH, ZH).
6) When I write "S," I really mean "S." Like the ones in "missing" or "stupid." If I want the sound in "rose," I'll write with a "Z," which is how it really sounds.
7) When I write two consonants, you pronounce them both (again, like Latin or Italian). It's the difference in sound between "night train" and "night rain," to give you something in English, not like "bottom."
8) I have a list of about 150 words from a list, and a few others for the races. For the curious, my way of putting words together for names right now is putting the root noun last, like "bookshelf." (I see the tongue as putting its verbs last, after the object, which typically means you put the adjective before the noun, as in English or German.) You can come up with a few ideas for names if you like. We'd want to have a few dozen man and woman names to name characters. Places are ad hoc.
9) I can make many daughter tongues from this one, and likely will. Like I said, it will shift, and we can make daughter tongues according to personal tastes.
10) I'll try to find some other roots for the tongues of the bear men, the lizard men, the bird men, the dragons and the masters. I'm a dabbler at this, so I'd be working with tongues I haven't before, so I might be slower.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I should've quoted. From this post-

I read that to mean that the impactor was in a 3:2 resonance with the planet, but now I see that you meant in resonance with something else (another planet? it's day and year cycle?)

It means that the planet was originally 3:2 tidelocked to its sun, similar to Mercury. Another, smaller planet collided with it, stopping the rotation and ejecting material that gathered into a moon.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Anyway, if there's a harmonic ratio between the moon's orbit around the planet, and the planet's orbit around the sun, there'd be a simple ratio of months to years that could be used for a calendar.

The motionlessness of the sun from the planet requires there be no axial tilt, so there are no seasons and with no cycle of seasons there's no meaningful year. With no year, there's no need for a ratio or a yearly calendar. Some places will call 10 months a special name for purposes of trade and law, others will use 12 or 13 or 15.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Actually, thinking upon this a bit more, it would feel more epic-fantasy if the time scales were on the order of thousands of years. Hundreds of years seems a little beholden to Earth-history norms.

Earth history is plenty epic. In fact, they invented epics. Histories with kingdoms remaining recognizable and intact over thousands of years seem tame and static to me. "So, despite the ancient evil and continuous 'warfare', people still live on the lands their ancestors did 2000 years ago? No plagues or pogroms depopulating the land? In my world, that's a golden age of stability!"

[Daigoro]

I thought this thread must have gone the way of most New Year resolutions. Cool to see someone's been tinkering away.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Bird man: avanêr (a-va-NAYR), avanéres (a-va-NEH-res), avanrés (a-van-REHS)
...
2) I took the suggestion for "dragon" upthread. Keeps it exotic.

Unfortunately, this one's a cognate and is quite similiar to our current and prosaic term, 'Avian.' What would we get going with 'Crow-man' or 'Dark Feather-man'?

10) I'll try to find some other roots for the tongues of the bear men, the lizard men, the bird men, the dragons and the masters. I'm a dabbler at this, so I'd be working with tongues I haven't before, so I might be slower.

I imagine that the dragons would have a High Draconic, which they use among themselves; and a Low Draconic, which they use with the Reptilians, and is thus probably the Reptilian language as well, and with the early slave humans.

The slave humans would've generally used the Low Draconic in the distant past, and their own original native languages may or may not have been suppressed. Either way, modern human language may have evolved from a pidgin Low Draconic (if the proper pronunciation and complex grammar was beyond them) or a creole of Low Draconic and Human Native.

Some dragons might also have their own individual clan languages, developed by themselves if their hobby is linguistics, which can serve to cause some variation across the dragon clans and across the human nations.

The Avians, if they're psionic, may have no native language of their own. If necessary to speak, they might adapt the language of the race they need to deal with, such as the Ursids.

And the Ursid language, could it possibly have any adaptions to suit the dark, cold environment it evolved in? Perhaps lots of booming sounds to mimic thunder or enable long distance communication through bad weather, or bat-like sonar sounds for navigating in the dark. At a minimum, such considerations could change the types and mix of consonants and vowels in the language.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Unfortunately, this one's a cognate and is quite similiar to our current and prosaic term, 'Avian.' What would we get going with 'Crow-man' or 'Dark Feather-man'?

Well, they're all cognate, and again the daughter tongues in the final product, so to speak, will be different, after sound changes. I don't see the issue, really, since I want the Mannish tongues to sound vaguely familiar, but I'm guessing something like "šoranêr" for crow-man.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I imagine that the dragons would have a High Draconic, which they use among themselves; and a Low Draconic, which they use with the Reptilians, and is thus probably the Reptilian language as well, and with the early slave humans.

At this stage, I'd have one Proto-Lizard, and then modify from there as needed.