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1500 questions
44
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18 answers
How to convey the scale of my humanoid without science or units?
I am writing a short story set in a world inhabited by modern humans (Homo sapiens), bulky humans (inspired by Homo Neanderthalensis) and tiny humans (inspired by Homo Floresiensis). In response to comments, the height of H.F. was roughly 1m. I…
Ludi
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Superheros and capes
So I've seen this question as to how a cape could work as a shield, but why else would 'classic' superheroes (Batman, Superman) wear a cape? Is there something about a cape that makes a person more heroic or does it have a practical purpose?
Kevin Rock
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14 answers
Anatomically correct Arachne
In the fantasy culture it's not uncommon to find Giant spiders with the upper body of a human.
There are many variants as the spider body having only 4 legs and the upper human body have 2 additional arms or scorpion-like giant stings attached on…
Charon
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Migrating Dungeon Monsters / Why do monsters not leave the dungeons?
Background : Consider a typical dungeon, which has weak monsters at the top and the lower you go, the stronger the enemies become.
Some questions about dungeons have already been answered - why are they filled with puzzles, and how long it takes to…
King of Snakes
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44
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Could humanity survive if all except a few males died in a plague?
Tomorrow, a sudden airborne plague comes around that kills nearly all human males - women are unaffected. The UN and different nations try their hardest but fail to find a cure. There are riots and some breakdowns, but on the whole global society…
Grollo
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44
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10 answers
What happens to an empty, modern city?
Suppose you have a modern city in a temperate climate zone that empties. No people, or hardly anyone left, certainly not enough to keep all the infrastructure going.
Our city is not below sea level (like e.g. Rotterdam), and there are no large…
mart
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44
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Could the law be implemented as a computer program?
The laws would be defined in code written in a programming language. Maybe it would be in two parts, the actual rules and then a library that could run them (like how a form validation library is separate to the actual rules that a developer can…
Gnuffo1
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8 answers
How extensive could a habitable twilight zone be on a tidally locked planet?
If a planet always faces the same side to the sun, so that it has a permanent night side and a permanent day side, it will have a twilight zone in between the two sides. This will be a band around the planet which permanently has conditions similar…
trichoplax is on Codidact now
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Multiple DNA, one creature
Suppose a species possessed different sets of DNA for different parts of its anatomy. I'm not suggesting one set for every function in the body; that would result in hundreds of thousands of unique sets of DNA.
Instead, suppose there was one set…
Frostfyre
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19 answers
How to fulfill a wish without causing a lot of troubles
A week ago, I was walking through an old district of Prague and found an old lamp. I tried to clean it by rubbing it... And you guessed that correctly: A genie appeared saying: "I will fulfill you one wish."
Being a long time Worldbuilding member,…
Pavel Janicek
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10 answers
Santa exists. How do we react?
TL;DR: Santa delivers physical objects to 95% of people (including adults) who ask for it in the form of a letter. He will start this Christmas and will continue until decided otherwise. And yes, he will deliver atomic bombs and AK-47's. How do we…
Pavel Janicek
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44
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23 answers
What were the machines really doing with humans in the Matrix?
This isn't a film trivia question - I know the canonical answer is 'use them for power'. But it's a plot point that always bothered me, because Thermodynamics Says No. Humans aren't an energy source, they're at best a pretty inefficient way of…
Sobrique
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44
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7 answers
What would World War I outcomes be if the Tunguska event had occurred over London in 1908?
I am exploring an alternative history of a timeline if the centre of the British Empire is wiped off the map in the early 20th century.
The Tunguska event was believed to be an air burst comet or asteroid that occurred over Siberia, Russia in 1908. …
user1987
44
votes
14 answers
How can I make the rules of my Faerie Portal free from contradiction?
On the hilltop in the field near my house, there lives a coven of witches. Or, more accurately, there is a coven of witches living in a pocket of the Faerie Realm which has recently become attached to the hilltop by my house.
By the rules of the…
Daron
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6 answers
How Could A Time Traveller Communicate With Neanderthals?
Context: Your spaceship encountered a Grade III Anomaly (now you really wish you'd have read the darn safety manual to figure out what that would be -- too late now). Structural integrity of the singularity containment apparently was compromised,…
Serban Tanasa
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