Outdated Scientific Theories as basis for Fantasy Worlds?

[Viorp]

So I've just started Chemistry in University.
Whenever they present us a heory they add what some old theories were.
Some are really crazy or fun.

Chemical ones:
1. All matter is based on proportionate amounts of the elements water,fire,air,earth (we all know that one)
2. Substances which burn have a special substance in them which disappears when burned "flogiston"
3. Atoms are comprised of a "masless" positive matrix and electrons give them weight

Biological ones:
1. Life is fundamentally different from other things and that's caused by a speciffic energy existing in living things
2. Living things appear. Example: Mice "spawn" from hay + cobwebs (yes people believed that untill like the 18th century and sceintists not stupid people)
3. Creationism

Geological ones:
1. Earth is flat

I don't know more, but this is a fun basis for a fantasy world. Suddenly if chemical theory 3 is used "thunder magicians" can also controll weight and if we use theory biology 2 suddenly alchemy let's you "summon" life.

I am personally working on a fantasy world with laws of nature like that.

I find it weird how most modern fantasy worlds are worlds which have the same laws of nature as our world + magic. Sometimes there are also some fancy magic metals, but all this stuff seems to be clustered on top of "our world" instead of being an integral part of the functioning of the world.

 

[skip.knox]

I use exactly that in Altearth. I agree with you that fallacies and "superstitions" provide rich ore for world building. I think it's been used by others as well, but not often.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I've always thought things like this are fascinating food for fantasy. (Wow, alliteration!) In many Steampunk novels the existence of Aether (a 'fifth element') is assumed.

Books that assume the existence of folkloric creatures just based on the time period they're set in and what people believed at the time are no different. I wish this was explored more in fantasy.

I myself have played with the idea of writing a story where the earth is flat and exploring what happens if you fall off the edge...or what is past the edge...

 

[skip.knox]

You've pretty much described Altearth. I make use of both aether and phlogiston -- the latter is the substance, the former is the medium. I also presume every fantastical creature invented over the course of European history is real. It makes for a great playground. It's also quite challenging to get everything to fit and play nice together.

 

[Viorp]

You've pretty much described Altearth. I make use of both aether and phlogiston -- the latter is the substance, the former is the medium. I also presume every fantastical creature invented over the course of European history is real. It makes for a great playground. It's also quite challenging to get everything to fit and play nice together.

Nice I'm curretly trying to create a fantasy world (without magic) based on these outdated theories.
RIght now I'm wondering how to make Christian mythology agree with the existance of a Spirit world like in "Avatar: The last Airbender"

 

[TinyHippo]

Aether: Untill 1887, many believed that aether was a thing. A thing/substance that connected all matter.
Fun fact attached to this is that Albert. B. Michelson and Edward W. Morley chased this theory and believed it within all of their hearts and in 1887 they proved the theory wrong in the Michelson-Morley experiment. A devastating blow to the two proud scientists and Morley tried to correct his "mistake" for the rest of his life. Together they discovered the exact speed of light and invented the interferometer which allow us today to use GPS/satellite technology or aim effortlessly on a target with the cannon on a tank going 80 km/h on a bumpy road.

 

[WooHooMan]

Nice I'm curretly trying to create a fantasy world (without magic) based on these outdated theories.
RIght now I'm wondering how to make Christian mythology agree with the existance of a Spirit world like in "Avatar: The last Airbender"

Christian mythology has numerous spirit worlds. Purgatory, Limbo, Sheol, Gehenna, the Abyss, Hell, Hades. It's just that Earth was far more preferable to those places.

 

[skip.knox]

Aether: Untill 1887, many believed that aether was a thing. A thing/substance that connected all matter.
Fun fact attached to this is that Albert. B. Michelson and Edward W. Morley chased this theory and believed it within all of their hearts and in 1887 they proved the theory wrong in the Michelson-Morley experiment. A devastating blow to the two proud scientists and Morley tried to correct his "mistake" for the rest of his life. Together they discovered the exact speed of light and invented the interferometer which allow us today to use GPS/satellite technology or aim effortlessly on a target with the cannon on a tank going 80 km/h on a bumpy road.

Ayup. In Altearth, their experiment proves Descartes was right.

 

[Viorp]

Christian mythology has numerous spirit worlds. Purgatory, Limbo, Sheol, Gehenna, the Abyss, Hell, Hades. It's just that Earth was far more preferable to those places.

Yea, I know. It's just not really what I had in mind.

I managed to figure it out, I'll post my progress tomorrow.

 

[Mythopoet]

My world started out with the idea "what about designing a world where all of those crazy geographic theories people used to believe in, like a hollow Earth, were true?" It sort of expanded drastically from there, but I'm still using the Hollow Earth part.

 

[skip.knox]

My world started out with the idea "what about designing a world where all of those crazy geographic theories people used to believe in, like a hollow Earth, were true?" It sort of expanded drastically from there, but I'm still using the Hollow Earth part.

Kewl. I may wind up doing the same. It's sort of back-back story, so I just let it simmer there for now. Can't use flat earth, but I'm thinking of trying to use some other ideas, like what causes earthquakes, or the source of wind, formation of mountains, etc.

 

[Insolent Lad]

In that pretty much all my fantasy ties into the idea of an infiniverse, where anything that can exist, does exist (at least in theory), I can throw any of these things in. If something doesn't work in one world, visit the one next door and maybe it does.

 

[Ban]

I had an idea for a tabletop RP game that would be based on outdated theories being real. The game would be set in a medieval/early renaissance world where space travel was developed within the ptolemaic/geocentric worldview. The spaceships would likely be flying DaVinci contraptions and space would not only be much smaller, but also breathable. I haven't thought about it much more than that, but I would like to include far more medieval theories within this world. Stuff like the 4 humors, spontaneous generation, aristotelian physics, all sorts of geographic misconceptions and perhaps Columbus' (even then disputed) small earth theory.