World questions

[12rounds]

I have some questions about what the CWBP world is like. Some of these questions may already have an answer somewhere around here, but I'll ask them anyway - if only for the sake of getting some world view facts in the same thread.





QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PLANET

1.
Does the planet has a tilted axis?
Earth has a tilted axis. This creates us a summer, fall, winter and a spring.

A habitable planet (like Earth) without a tilted axis would not have seasons. It would also mean that polar regions would probably be totally covered in ice (unless the planet orbited it's central sun in some unusual way).

2.
How many suns?
The solar system most definately has to have at least one sun to maintain habitable planets. There could also be other alternatives - like twin-suns. A simple solution is to accept a presence of a singular sun which is like that of our Sun is.

3.
Moons?
A planet may have several moons or none. Both cases have an impact on cultural, scientific (moon is a key ingredient in the development of mathematical sciences on our planet) and religious level. Also moons, their number and size, have an impact on the planet on a climatological level.



QUESTIONS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE

4.
Does gunpowder exist?
On Earth, gunpowder was developed and used widely in China a whole millennia before the westerners adopted it's use. If gunpowder does exist, who invented it and - most importantly - who controls it?

5.
Are the any cultures who promote literacy?
Cultures that allow literacy only to it's elite have existed in Earth. Religious movements in Earth have both restricted literacy on purpose (catholicism) and also promoted literacy (protestantism). Same applies to secular rulers.

6.
Does medicine exist?
Medicine in this context means both the art of practicing medicine and also the knowledge of how to make medicinal drugs. Also the knowledge of anatomy and physiology might be available or not.

7.
Origins of self-conscious species?
Do all the species with self-consciousness share common ancestry? This is a really important question and also fundamentally affects the previous question (all self-conscious species having one heart and two lungs makes anatomy and physiology that much easier for doctors). Having non-biological origin (ie. a species could have been created by some god for some obscure purpose) is equally acceptable. I just want to know what everybody thinks. It might as easily be some sort of a mix as well.

8.
Calendars and time measuring
A full rotational cycle of a planet around it's axis equals one full day and a night. A full rotational cycle of planet around the system's gravitational centre equals one full year. How long are these periods and how are they measured? Do the cultures of CWBP have different means to measure time and has any culture developed mechanical devices to this end? I mean ancient Celts in Europe had a working lunar calendar hundreds of years before Rome come to be and it exceeded the Egyptian and Grecian variations in accuracy. The world later on has adopted a vastly inferior system that was "invented" by the Romans. This being said, CWBP could as well easily have several rivalling methods on how to track the passage of time and history.





Having a CWBP planet that mimics Earth is a "convenient" solution, but it is also a boring solution. Personally the "no-tilted axis" planet appeals to me. Having an almost uninhabitable equator (unbearably hot) would make an interesting twist and also I kind of like the concepts of "ice people" (ice elves et cetera) living in ice cities and ice caves on polar regions.

So ... get out your opinions! And apologies if there are already answers out there, but I just didn't find them.