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.

[Redrobes]

Tis a good point that we were gonna think about using one of last months star charts as a guide to finding the CWBP planet and maybe naming it based on that map. Anyone got any thoughts ? Perhaps that might tell us whether it had one or more moons and number of stars etc.

[Valarian]

I did my entry for last month with this in mind
http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3333

[Valarian]

Found the info on the axial tilt etc.

"Extra facts:
Circumference: 25,200 miles
Highest Peak/Lowest Ocean 30,000 FT
Axial Tilt 20 degrees (can change to whatever, this affects of course temperatures)
Temperature based on Earth Orbit (base appears to be around 59 Degree Farhenhiedt)
Average Rainfall is 51 inches per year." - NeonKnight

[Valarian]

QUESTIONS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE

4. Does gunpowder exist?
My preference is no gunpowder present. At least, not in the region of Ansium.

5. Are the any cultures who promote literacy?
I would imagine that various cultures would promote literacy in it's population. The City States of Akron certainly would, at least among the merchant classes. Their very existence and culture is based on trade. A degree of literacy would be required. Elven and Dwarven cultures would also promote literacy among their people. Other cultures may rely on an oral tradition, rather than written records.

6.Does medicine exist?
Medicine would exist to varying degrees, especially in the longer lived races who'd have the time to devote to study. Natural immunities would reduce the need for a culture to develop medicine. There's also the magical influence to consider. Secular medicine may not take off in a culture that has ready access to the healing services of a local priest. If magic is widely available, and therefore available at a price accessible to the commons, then secular medicine may not exist at all. The local priests would dispense herbal remedies to those who don't need magical intervention and magical remedies to those that do. Some herbalists outside the priesthood may exist for those settlements too small to support a temple. Or, there may be a movement of itinerant priests who wander the countryside on a regular round.

7.Origins of self-conscious species?
It's easier if there is a common physiological background for all species native to the world. It's also likely that the humanoid species will have similar biologies. They may even be close enough to allow interbreeding. However, there may be species that have certain differences. The centaurs, for example, may have a dual pulmonary system - one system taking oxygen from the lungs to a heart to serve the upper torso and brain, and another system to take oxygen to a heart for the circulatory system in the lower torso. The lungs would probably be larger than normal humanoid creatures, with the diaphragm sitting lower in the upper torso. The stomach, digestive system and reproductive system would be in the lower torso.

Centaurs and dragons, being hexapods, may have a distant common ancestor. There would be less commonality between centaurs and other (quadrupedal) species.

8. Calendars and time measuring

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.

I do like Celtic system - 13 months of 28 days, with a leap day every 19 years. The number of moons and suns is going to have a great influence on the calendar for the world. For example (taking Kalpana), two moons of differing sizes may mean that the larger one is used to calculate months, but the smaller one used to calculate special days. Conjunctions of the moons would be significant in that there would be especially high tides. Times when the moons are diametrically opposite would result in especially low tides.

[12rounds]

5. Are the any cultures who promote literacy?
I would imagine that various cultures would promote literacy in it's population. The City States of Akron certainly would, at least among the merchant classes.

That is the feeling I got from Akron as well.

[Midgardsormr]

Concerning literacy, the larger cities in Tawaren valued literacy and had a very strong middle class, but that culture was largely destroyed by the plague. The survivors living among the hillfolk in the mountains are largely well educated, but that may not last more than two or three generations, depending on the settlement.

The migratory groups of hillfolk in the Uzuid Mountains are mostly illiterate, although they do have a relatively primitive system of signs they use to pass information from one band to another by carving them in trees.

Concerning medicine: The Pathmages' Guild, which exists at least in Groam, and possibly in other places, has some minor magic for healing injuries and preventing disease.

And calendars: The hillfolk have their own way of marking time by astronomical observation, and they erect monuments in various places that aid them in their observations and help them determine when and where to move.

[industrygothica]

Time & Seasons

[NeonKnight]

I am still awaiting some other aspects of the project to be codified so as to do the conversion of the Calendars. In My world the Original Calendar was created by use of the first true human nations/Empire. As a result I would need to be aware of what to rename for our World. Also, in my world, the Calendar was created by long lost kingdoms that no longer exist (much like our Real World Calendar was created by the Romans and then later adjusted by the Catholic Gregorian Monks.)

[12rounds]

Excellent! A jump (or a leap) forward to have a proposed calendar appear in the wiki.