Sedivore: WIP

[EpicSpire]

I am working on a World for a series of short stories and an RPG setting. I have been using this world for a while now, but have used maps from other settings as a quick way to jump into the game. I've always been interested in creating the world from scratch, but have had trouble making it feel realistic. The world would be about the size of earth, maybe a little bigger. It has a ring, which revolves around it as well as a single moon and a single sun.

I am not sure of the realistic implications that would result from having a ring that moves around the planet as the planet rotates within, but the ring rises and sets during the day just as the moon and sun would, maybe weeks during the year when the ring is not as visible and other times when it is a bright and brilliant light source in the night sky; occasionally it would even eclipse the sun. I do have a monthly calendar where the names of the Months reflect the Ring's position, but since i am not familiar with how this would actually present itself on a world, i could be completely wrong. I know i could always just contribute it to magic, and Magic would be a nice way to explain away a few things; i would rather not liter my science with too much unrealistic fantasy.

I would like to hear from anyone on this subject and perhaps enlist some to aid me while i create my world. I will be using Fractal Terrains 3 and CC3 to generate the landscape and will be posting WIP maps occasionally.

[Kahli]

Well, first thing i'd say is who cares? I think it sounds like a cool idea, and this comes from a low-fantasy nut

Though, in reallife i'm not sure myself since i don't have a physics degree. However, it's not impossible at all for an Earth sized planet to have a ring. But it would have to "static" in that sense that it circles around the planet, with the planets center of mass and rotation pulling it around and inwards. So it would be in short, knit to the equator of the planet. If you would be able to see it in some seasons, the planet would be having a mindblowing change of pace and rotation. But, that's just some thoughts. In short, a ring around the planet would be doable but with the physics, it wouldn't happen. I'm pretty sure of, but it sounds like a interesting idea nontheless.

But the realistic impacts, would be the planet suddenly changing axis as it spins. Basicly what the earth would do without its moon
Mind, i don't have a degree in physics or anything, just watch alot of documentaries about the matter.

[Wingshaw]

A bit of invention should help you solve this problem, without needing a physics degree. For example, what if the ring is actually made of billions of bacteria, like the algae blooms that appear in the world's oceans. That way, they might 'migrate' during the year for some reason (eg solar flares, solar/lunar gravitational cycles etc.). Or, a more cliched option, the ring is ancient technology, and it is programmed to move at certain times of the year.

If neither of those take your fancy, you could get a bit more technical: perhaps your planet has an outer atmosphere that has a different chemical composition to Earth's. There might be a layer of gases that is more dense than other gases, but (peculiarly) is also very bouyant. The ring actually its on top of those gases, and so is within the atmosphere, but many kilometres up. For various reasons, the layer of gases moves around in cycles (eg. the same way that hot and cold pressure cells operate in Earth's weather system). It might be like the jet-stream, for example. Correspondingly, the ring, floating on top of the gases, is also carried around the planet when the gases move.

Of course, a chemist or physicist could look at this suggestion and see all the problems wrong with it, but how many of your readers are likely to be chemists or physicists? It just needs to be plausible, not scientifically perfect. It is definitely doable.

Feel free to use any of those ideas, if you want to, or invent some of your own. Good luck with your world.

THW

[EpicSpire]

thank you both for your responses, and i appreciate the feedback. In truth i agree with Kahli's statement "Who Cares", and during the course of the stroy (both in the pages i will write, and in the RPG setting) it may never come up. And due to Sedivore Being a low metal world, meaning that metal is rarely found close to the surface, then the second Atmosphere may make sense. the extra pressure it would cause may make up for the lack of gravity.

At first then ring was going to be just a bunch of small to large rocks and minerals, mostly crystalline debris (which would account for the lights and different color's the sun's light would cause it to radiate at different times of the year and throughout the day). This light weight debris could float on top of that layer in a sort of continuous storm that carries it around the planet. The tidal effects between the Moon and the Sun would actually maintain the storms constant rotation. and the ring being less dense than it appears to be would allow for the fact that the world isn't being crushed under a humongous weight of gravity.

I do like the idea of migrating bacteria, but it is already cannon for my world, that the ring collapse (at some time in the future) and rains down upon the world, scarring it and causing an Apocalyptic event, which i use this new world as the basis for my post-Apocalypse games. Also during the time the collapse is happening, and the time leading up to it, the inhabitants of Sedivore find a way to flee their doomed world and begin to "invade" Earth. (When i use to run Shadowrun, i used this story arch as the reason for Meta humans instead of the mutated genome. )

I also read somewhere that the earth's core is the reason the planet rotates, so maybe the fact that the Ring is orbiting the planet could be the reason that Sedivore rotates. I have always thought the center of Sedivore was a Hollow shell, where the UnderKind dwelt. albeit extremely far below the crust. and beneath a layer of super dense and heavy crystalline mineral deposits.

Again, i'd like to thank you both, and anyone else who wishes to add any thoughts to this, for your suggestions, feedback, opinions, and any other input. I'm working on a series of maps using Fractal Terrain 3 and if anyone is willing to touch up these maps let me know. I won't be able to offer much other than credit and Kudos... maybe some money,. but not much.. i'd rather share royalties if my books ever sell cause times are tough and budget is tight, but if cash is required we can work something out. I do believe that talent and time are worth something.

Here is my first attempt at a World Atlas, i want to add a huge desert to the area on the upper left continent (where it looks like a bowl/dip between the mountain ranges) This desert is known as Drax, also known as the Sea of Black Sands (the sand is actually Black. it has white and grey specks in it, but is mostly black in color.)

Sedivore (World Atlas)0001a.jpg

[jturner]

For the imaginitively-challenged, like myself, there's an interesting video on YouTube that shows what a ring around Earth's equator might look like from different points on the surface. Quite nice!

Regarding your story, does the ring have to collapse? If it does, I'd say make sure it happens near the beginning, not in the middle. I'm not keen when you're reading a story and you invest in the world and the characters, then suddenly everything changes so completely that it becomes a different world and a different story. Anyone who saw 'Knowing' at the cinema will understand what I'm talking about!

[Lingon]

Doesn't Saturn have three rings, two really faint ones? Some planets do at least. That would mean two are not directly above the equator, and would move across the sky as the planet rotates. Anyone who actually knows anything about this, feel free to correct me

Also, I don't think it'd be a problem if the ring collapses mid-story; some of the short stories would take place before the collapse, some during, and some after, or that's how I interpreted it anyway

[EpicSpire]

Saturn has over a dozen rings, but they are all side by side. They have gaps between them and are various colors, so they consider them different rings.

As Lingon mentioned, the ring would not collapse during the course of a series of short stories. Well, as of right now, i haven't planned on it happening like that. The collapse is just a means for me to use my setting in various genres of RPG storylines.

The youtube video jturner linked was nice, thanks for the post.

I still want the ring to orbit the planet, and the planet rotate within. I know rings form around what would be the equator, due to the planet's spin pulling the objects around, so I may go with the idea that the ring rides on a cushion of a secondary atmosphere, unless i get another suggestion that is possible.

Again i thank you all for your ideas and comments.

[Lingon]

Ah, I see. For some reason I always thought the rings were at an angle to each other. Thanks for informing me

[EpicSpire]

I haven't posted in a while, but i have redone the landscape of Sedivore. this is just an Altitude map. I made this with Fractal Terrains 3 and exported it as a Jpeg. i am complete rubbish when it comes to editing this, and i would like to have the names of the kingdoms, continents, oceans, etc.. on here. any help or suggestions would be appreciated. it should be mentioned that the circumference of Sedivore is 46563.4 miles (Earth is only 24,901 miles). so anyone wanting to aid me in this project may need to know that bit of information. the planet is much less dense than earth, but has the same mass so gravity isn't an issue.

i know people don't have a lot of time to devote to this, so i am willing to learn and help with as much as i can.

A000000.jpg

[EpicSpire]

I keep forgetting about window's screen capture/cropping tool. here is a clearer image of the map, though it is a PNG.

Sedivore, The World Atlas ( WIP, captured).PNG

also, i have checked out Roba's Gimp tutorial, but since i already have a map made, i'm not sure that would help me with making coasts. maybe it can help with making forests and mountains.. any suggestions on defining the coasts though?

I have the following programs:

GIMP v2.6.10
Adobe Flash Profressional CS5.5
Fractal Terrains 3 v 3.0.4
Campaign Cartographer 3 v 3.42