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1500 questions
40
votes
8 answers
Mapping a fantasy/horror building where rooms overlap
A group of people have stumbled into one of those classic fantasy/horror houses where the usual rules of space don't seem to apply and is very confusing. Bits of the building appear to overlap with each over.
Eg. from the front room you walk…
Wil Selwood
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5 answers
Can a planet survive a supernova?
The Sun has nowhere near enough mass to enter the branch of stellar evolution that would lead to a supernova, fortunately for us. However, there are planets that orbit stars that are destined to go supernova. These planets might not be habitable,…
HDE 226868
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40
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17 answers
'CASH WHEN YOU NEED IT YESTERDAY' delivers cash yesterday via time travel, but how does the legal stuff work out?
My world has a large cash loan company(we'll call it quick cash) which has a time travel device at each of its branches. when somebody comes in saying they need a loan, the employee grabs the cash they prepared yesterday, and then hop into the time…
Ceramicmrno0b
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15 answers
Can a store that doesn't need to buy merchandise stay unnoticed?
Setting
A world like ours, plus the usual magical masquerade, in an european capital (not decided which one yet).
This is for a story following a few families, each with one type of powers. The members of one of them can create and alter objects.…
MoonMoon
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40
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18 answers
How many generations would it take until the noble and peasant classes become different species and cannot interbreed?
In this world:
Technology: medieval, it should fit with real world history, for example:
Low life life expectancy due to poor medical technology (vulnerable to disease), warfare,
High infant mortality, especially for the poor.
...
In this…
Haha TTpro
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40
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8 answers
How could pirates reasonably transport dinosaurs in captivity, some of them enormous, across oceans?
In my novel, there is money to made in the capturing and selling of 'exotic' animals from a distant, jungle-covered continent, though for various reasons (notably that it is illegal under Roman rule) buyers often like to keep their purchases and…
Mahab
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40
votes
8 answers
Would it be easier to colonise a living world or a dead world?
This question about eating on a alien world got me thinking.... Would it be easier for humans to colonise a world with existing life, or one which was biologically dead?
For the living world, let us assume a world with no technically proficient…
DrMcCleod
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40
votes
5 answers
What is the highest level of accuracy in motion control a Victorian society could achieve?
In my late-Victorian world high-precision clockwork is highly available, but I am having trouble finding out exactly how precise their work could be.
I have done some research on the subject, but cannot discover how people make more precise tools…
A Lambent Eye
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40
votes
5 answers
What could a reptilian race tell by candling their eggs?
I've got a D&D-inspired setting, and one of the races present are yuan-ti. They're sentient snake people with a variety of forms, ranging from mostly human-looking to basically just a giant talking snake, plus a bunch of weird forms like a person…
Ettina Kitten
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40
votes
10 answers
Anatomically Correct Carnivorous Tree
How might a carnivorous tree look or work?
The following conditions must be met:
Consumes members of the biological kingdom 'Animalia'
Possesses something resembling a trunk or stem of any kind
Possesses something resembling branches stemming from…
A Lambent Eye
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40
votes
3 answers
Is there any reason not to eat food that's been dropped on the surface of the moon?
Are there any kind of contaminants or other reasons that might be dangerous? I'd assume that as far as microbes/bacteria goes, eating off the ground on the moon is much safer than it would be on earth.
Viglé
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votes
19 answers
Why would space fleets be aligned?
Recently I noticed how space fleets are all constructed so the ships are all aligned.
With 'aligned' I mean the way how all ships seem to have a 'right way up' and that all the ships have the same sense of 'down', even opposing fleets, even when in…
A Lambent Eye
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40
votes
23 answers
Make slimes great again, but how?
Slimes are seen as merely base-level enemies which don't really challenge the heroic main character, the Chosen One.
My question is how to make slimes incredibly powerful without using magic. They must be able to defend themselves from knights as…
user56803
40
votes
13 answers
Scientific/biological basis of someone with unlimited willpower?
Meet Greg. Greg was born with pretty average genetics. It seems like he was destined to have average intelligence, average strength, and be average at everything. There was one particularly though: he has unlimited willpower.
Willpower is the…
Christopher King
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40
votes
8 answers
How many years could notebook computers and phones be stored in a closed bunker/vault and still operational when found?
The idea is for some people in a post-apocalyptic future to find these bunkers/vaults and be able to turn on the computers and charge the cellphones. How many years could the equipment last if they were stored in very good conditions (no sun light,…
Lupino
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