My new concept for a storyworld that has giant creatures with livable surfaces instead of planets.

[MagicMan]

''The universe is a big open space with no planet as we know them, only stars and giant sea creatures inhabit it. Whenever a star explodes (supernova) a sea creature emerges from the center. The size of the creature is decided by the size of the star that just exploded. The sea creatures vary from giant whales to Giant Sea turtles. These creatures roam the universe collecting and eating stardust, which is there is a lot of in the universe.

Over millions of years asteroids fall on the back of these creatures creating surfaces and environments livable for other, smaller, creatures like humans, insects and cows. Over the years civilizations have formed on the backs of these creatures all over the universe. The civilizations have varying intelligence, morals, rules and knowledge over the rest of the universe. Some of the more advanced civilizations have learned to tame smaller creatures and use them to travel between giant creatures.''

feedback would be very much appreciated

 

[MagicMan]

Apparently you can't see the images I tried to post with it, i also can't reply with links to the images.
Does anyone have an idea how to show these images here?

 

[CupofJoe]

The idea of a Living Ship has been around in Sci-Fi for a while but maybe not the Living World.
The best Living Ship I've read is from Julian May's Milieu stories [worth a read in themselves], where an injured Living Ship makes one last effort to get it's occupants to a habitable world rather than let it and them die in deep space. It's crash site [a real and huge ancient crater in Easter/central Europe] become a place of pilgrimage for the survivors for generations afterwards.
The nearest I can get to a Living World is Terry Pratchett's Discworld which is carried on the back of four Elephants, themselves standing on the Great A'Tuin a giant space swimming turtle.
I can't help with the images, sorry. I think they have to be on-line somewhere before you can included them.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I like the idea.
I'm slightly uncertain about the part of using smaller creatures as means of travel between larger ones, but I'm sure it can be made to work if it's set up right.

Also, I was reminded of this little movie:

 

[MagicMan]

I'll just post the images like this:
https : //ibb.co / gFFxx7
https : //ibb.co / n86Fjn

just remove the spaces to view the images.

 

[MagicMan]

I like the idea.
I'm slightly uncertain about the part of using smaller creatures as means of travel between larger ones, but I'm sure it can be made to work if it's set up right.

Also, I was reminded of this little movie:

If I'm going to include smaller creatures used for travel, I'm going to give them very detailed lore. Why can some creatures be domesticated, do they have their own personality, do they get emotionally attached to the humans. Would probably limit the creatures you can use for travel to certain specific species like turtles and maby things like clownfish.

Also thank you for sharing the video, great inspiration.

 

[Insolent Lad]

Do these great creatures put out any waste products after ingesting star dust? Would space be filling up with star-poop?

 

[MagicMan]

Do these great creatures put out any waste products after ingesting star dust? Would space be filling up with star-poop?

My idea was that when the animal eats stardust and uses it up for energie, it puts out empty/used stardust (something like invisible dark matter). This empty stardust is attracted to one another and over time, forms into a new star. This new star wil keep growing until a certain point until it has reached it's maximum size and explodes. Repeating the cycle all over again.

 

[Yora]

While many people really don't like this question, the first thing that I always wonder about is "How does this become relevant to the story?"
In this case, how does this make life for the people on these things different than if they were living on a planet? Do they even know their world is a giant creature and does it figure into their daily lives?

 

[MagicMan]

While many people really don't like this question, the first thing that I always wonder about is "How does this become relevant to the story?"
In this case, how does this make life for the people on these things different than if they were living on a planet? Do they even know their world is a giant creature and does it figure into their daily lives?

As their are passive creatures there are also predatory creatures like sharks and piranha's. Passive creatures interact with eachother, doing things like protecting territory, forming groups and fighting off predators. The species of the creature also has an impact on the way the environments on it's back work. A manta ray might flap it's side fins over a span of time shifting terrain and changing water hights.

 

[CupofJoe]

As their are passive creatures there are also predatory creatures like sharks and piranha's. Passive creatures interact with eachother, doing things like protecting territory, forming groups and fighting off predators. The species of the creature also has an impact on the way the environments on it's back work. A manta ray might flap it's side fins over a span of time shifting terrain and changing water hights.

I know what you mean by passive, but I'd be careful in thinking about passive and predatory as opposites. Animals are rarely passive [if they wait for things to happen to them, it could be too late]. I've been near a group of herbivores [a herd of Highland cattle that are generally considered gentle, docile and pliable creatures, as well as "prey" animals for the likes of Wolves] that were anything but passive in defending their space, young, whatever the threat we actually posed. Those horns aren't just for show. At least not to a human, where they could be lethal.
I like the image I have of a herd of HUGE Space "Cows" huddled together to fend off a pack of Space "Wolves"...
Oh... If the Space Wolves can be tamed/utilised... and you have yourself Space Warships.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

How do they move? I mean you can't just flap your wings in space - there's no air to push against. I mean maybe if the wings were absolutely massive they could get some tiny amount of push by flapping against the interstellar dust - but even if they did, what would it matter? They'd be travelling at maybe a kilometer a year and never get anywhere - unless of course their lifespans were so vast that a million years seemed like a second. But if that was the case, they couldn't communicate with the fleas on their back.

But for some ideas you could try Futurama and Benders solo flight through space with civilizations of microbes evolving on his body!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Holman]

Hi,

How do they move? I mean you can't just flap your wings in space - there's no air to push against.

Cheers, Greg.

They must eat something, and have a gut to digest said food, perhaps that could also be their source of propulsion - they expel their waste with sufficient force to move them, storing it internally until required. Though I would imagine the noises could be quite off-putting for the residents of the beast.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Announcing the brand new propulsion system - the fart drive. Fortunately in space no one can hear you fart!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[valiant12]

I love the idea.

Hi,

Announcing the brand new propulsion system - the fart drive. Fortunately in space no one can hear you fart!

Cheers, Greg.

Please no fart drives!!!! Some techno bable/magic propolsion will be better.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

This reminds me a bit of Xenoblade Chronicles.

 

[Mythopoet]

Honestly I really love this concept. It reminds me a little of the Discworld, obviously. Maybe it's because of the tone and atmosphere of the Discworld books, but I've never once wondered about what the Great A'Tuin eats or what he (she? can't remember) is propelled by.

 

[Gurkhal]

Honestly I really love this concept. It reminds me a little of the Discworld, obviously. Maybe it's because of the tone and atmosphere of the Discworld books, but I've never once wondered about what the Great A'Tuin eats or what he (she? can't remember) is propelled by.

I think that this raise a good point. If its supposed to be mystical and unexplained have it that way, but if you want to write "realistic" fantasy then the author should probably be ready to have most major things in the setting have a plasusible and coherent explination for the major aspects of the world, both mundane and magical (this is where a magical system could come in).

 

[J Q Kaiser]

Just a reference. One of my favorite authors growing up, Jack L. Chalker, did a series of books about living planets. I think it was the Four Lords of the Diamond Series (Lilith, Cerberus, etc.). The theme is strongest in the final book Medusa: Tiger by the Tail.

My memory of them is a bit fuzzy because I was far more into the Dancing Gods series (I still reread it for the nostalgia). Checked Wikipedia, looks like my memory was correct:

"When the time runs out and the Confederacy attacks, a surprising thing happens. The planet, in the process of being destroyed, seems to shimmer, and a globe of an energy-like substance emerges and rushes at the fleet, destroying it. It turns out that there was a second alien race involved: the Coldah, who are planet-sized beings who enjoy merging with a planet and changing it into a human-habitable one for reasons known only to them. The Warden Organism is just a tool of theirs to do so. The Altavar were accidentally destroyed by the Coldah long ago, and after fighting it for centuries, gave up and became its assistants."

(It won't let me post link, but the plot summary quotes above is on Wikipedia)