The "Daily" Worldbuilding Prompt

[Ban]

Question 3: I dive to the bottom of the sea. What wonders, treasures and curiosities will I find on the seabed?

 

[Orc Knight]

Question 3: I dive to the bottom of the sea. What wonders, treasures and curiosities will I find on the seabed?

Madness? Absolute madness? Maybe. The sea's of Eld are full of everything from cities to godzilla size monsters and gamera style turtle monsters and a lot of life forms. Merpeoples that are also Sirens, giant sea food, sea serpents and giant squid and octopi. Treasures would be a large variety of whatever thousands of wrecks lay below, from dwarven steel ships and drow subs and parts of entire sunken navies. Sea elves and trolls up towards the topmost layers and the scarier stuff as you get lower and lower.

There's the usual bunches of whales and sharks down there. Kelp forests that can hide the other giant things below, a few gods and goddess hang out there. Giant coral cities where the mer and sea elves and trolls live. Much like most of Eld, it's like Earth a bit, on more drugs and everything is bigger. Thing is, you have to make it to the bottom of the sea first. Though there are underwater shipping lanes and a great many ships can float on the water or sink beneath the waves with little trouble to arrive at wherever they are going.

 

[Ban]

The most impressive prize to be found on the seabed, for those daring and clever enough to claim it, is the EUS Cadmeus. This airplane carrier was released onto the mediterranean by the European Union (now EUCPL) in 2031 to form the pièce de résistance of the fabled 40 battleship strong Blue Fleet (precursor to the modern European navy). Despite this ship serving in the various wars of North Africa and the Middle East throughout the 30s 40s and 50s, it was only brought down in 2071 off the coast of Peru by a coalition of Peruvian pirates. The circumstances behind the destruction of this airplane carrier by a bunch of pirates has remained a central point of conspiracy theories ever since, with many in Europe believing that the ship was actually brought down by a set of Argentinian Submarine-robots.

Madness? Absolute madness? Maybe. The sea's of Eld are full of everything from cities to godzilla size monsters and gamera style turtle monsters and a lot of life forms. Merpeoples that are also Sirens, giant sea food, sea serpents and giant squid and octopi. Treasures would be a large variety of whatever thousands of wrecks lay below, from dwarven steel ships and drow subs and parts of entire sunken navies. Sea elves and trolls up towards the topmost layers and the scarier stuff as you get lower and lower.

There's the usual bunches of whales and sharks down there. Kelp forests that can hide the other giant things below, a few gods and goddess hang out there. Giant coral cities where the mer and sea elves and trolls live. Much like most of Eld, it's like Earth a bit, on more drugs and everything is bigger. Thing is, you have to make it to the bottom of the sea first. Though there are underwater shipping lanes and a great many ships can float on the water or sink beneath the waves with little trouble to arrive at wherever they are going.

Eld's seafloor is a veritable treasure trove, I see. How is the scavenging business down below? Is it a smart idea to go rummaging around in the various wrecks, or is the wildlife just a tad too dangerous?

 

[Orc Knight]

Eld's seafloor is a veritable treasure trove, I see. How is the scavenging business down below? Is it a smart idea to go rummaging around in the various wrecks, or is the wildlife just a tad too dangerous?

The local wildlife can usually be handled in some way, shape or form. It's the sapients and sentients you've got to watch out for. If a clan of mers has decided that wreck with all the shiny's in it and gave them a veritable feast when it went under, they will go to war for it. Or lunch. Really the same thing with a lot of them. They have to be handled a bit delicately, usually with a trade of shiny's for the other shiny's.

 

[skip.knox]

>Question 3: I dive to the bottom of the sea. What wonders, treasures and curiosities will I find on the seabed?

Atlantis. This is the homeland of the elves, who so far excelled in scientific magic, they created their own home--a continent that floats. Something happened--all records are lost--and Atlantis broke up into pieces, most of which sank. The sinking took time, so fragments can be discovered all across the North and South Atlantic. Almost two thousand years of salt water, disruption of ley lines, and deep-sea storms have wrought extensive changes. Is that object an object or just a piece of one? Undersea technology is very new, and so far scientists have been able to do little more than send down cameras and retrieve small bits with a robot arm.

Discovering Atlantis' past will be like trying to reassemble Humpty Dumpty scattered across half the globe, ground into dust, and without knowing whether Humpty was one egg or a dozen.

 

[ScaryMJDiamcreep]

Yet another thing for me to come up with on the spot. I think that's gonna be a common trend on here.

I think most races would have an aversion to the ocean, with humans being about the only ones who are brave/stupid enough to cross the ocean, something they've only recently discovered a non-magical solution for, allowing for longer travels and/or better protection for the same cost, so there's little in the way of ship wrecks and shinies down there, but in the bays of the more deadly cities, you'd probably find around one or two dead bodies. Sometimes the more carnivorous sea creatures take a while to realise that there's snack, so at times, you might find upwards of ten. Generally unsafe to enter the water at those times. The Duongels might fly over the ocean sometimes, so there could be the occasional feather or carelessly dropped item, including priceless jewellery, small weapons, and that one cake delivery box that the fish still haven't figured out how to open. Not sure about creatures yet.

Might have a deity or two's palace.

 

[Ban]

Discovering Atlantis' past will be like trying to reassemble Humpty Dumpty scattered across half the globe, ground into dust, and without knowing whether Humpty was one egg or a dozen.

And given the setting, I'd imagine another Atlantis' worth of forgeries to soon be found on the relic markets. I don't envy the eccentric who tries his hand at puzzling it together.

Yet another thing for me to come up with on the spot. I think that's gonna be a common trend on here.

Probably will remain so yes I like to keep these questions general enough so (almost) everyone can respond to them, but specific enough that people have to give it some thought. Hopefully that will help folks iron out the nitty gritty details.

 

[Ban]

Question 4: Now stuck in your world, I would like to continue my studies. What university, academy or similar institution would I want to apply for? (Bonus question: Where would I actually end up studying?)

 

[Ban]

Question 4: Now stuck in your world, I would like to continue my studies. What university, academy or similar institution would I want to apply for? (Bonus question: Where would I actually end up studying?)

Long before 2080, the coastal Opportunity States of Federal China, have been given absolute corporate freedom, guided only slightly by the technocratic motherland. While this has led to a daily battlefield of corporate warfare, it has also created some of the best-performing universities in the world. According to the Shanghai Index, the world's most prestigious ranking system of academic institutions, Shanghai itself has the best university when it comes to the amount of nobel prize winners they have churned out, while Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei outperform Shanghai on student satisfaction with their education. All in all, the opportunity states is where you'd want to be...

...if you're a Chinese national or have wealthy parents, otherwise you want to apply in the EUCPL. Following trends of severe national specialization within the EUCPL, France is now the place to be for arts, political studies and social studies, Germany for economics, medicine, communication studies and engineering, Luxembourg for management, Austria for military studies, Poland for physics and mathematics, the Baltic Union for programming and information studies, Hungary for film and entertainment studies and the Netherlands for both chemistry and law. Of course these all require proper funds as well, so I'd likely end up at a two-bit education facility in a country that hasn't specialized in any field. Political studies in independent Brittany, here I come!

 

[Orc Knight]

Question 4: Now stuck in your world, I would like to continue my studies. What university, academy or similar institution would I want to apply for? (Bonus question: Where would I actually end up studying?)

There are very few prestigious places of higher learning, much less places of higher learning. Given the world, they're still working on those bits, though the city of Emerald Deep is a good place to go learn and is often sought after. If you can get through the jungle to go find it. You have to really, really want to learn. Otherwise the big place is Zukal's Magical Academy.

Built as the center of learning for the city of Zukal on the southern continent. It is home to general academics, military, magical and a few other higher learning options. And it only loses around twenty to thirty students a year to deaths, which is considered pretty good overall. It is located out of the famous Zukal Tower, which has a giant flower like opening roof that is solar powered through magic. You can learn quite a bit (maybe except cooking, culinary academies still have yet to come about) while there and pending you survive. From creating your own golems (or an army), biological and alchemical sciences, joining the Griffon Knights or any of the other military applicable fields (which includes said golems), airships and aircraft and engineering and a lot of other things. It is pretty much the go-to academy for humans.

So, yeah, you'd want to end up there.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Question 3: I dive to the bottom of the sea. What wonders, treasures and curiosities will I find on the seabed? That depends on whether you dived into the literal seas in the OmniCosmos, or the metaphysical Sleeping Sea. In the case of the former, you'd find the sunken remains of the NoBeing's rampages across all the universes. In the case of the latter, you'd just find more of the Sleeping Sea, or end up in the Ocean of Origin.

Question 4: Now stuck in your world, I would like to continue my studies. What university, academy or similar institution would I want to apply for? (Bonus question: Where would I actually end up studying?)
Well, apart from Mahopolis in the Psycheverse, the only universe that has things like that is Wyrd, which is, as the name implies, weird, and is home to the Course of the Source, a learning house designed for meditation and receiving cosmic wisdom. Alternately, you could ask to gain access to the Cosmic Records, which the Eternal Ones may or may not open to you.

 

[ScaryMJDiamcreep]

Hmm, there'd probably be two universities in the Duongel's city(unless I say otherwise, it's a good idea to assume that that city will be the scene for most of my answers here), and each would be about equal in education level. Many students will take two lessons at once, thanks to the multiple bodies the Duongels have, though any sports classes both bodies will be in the same class, as to not excersise one body more than the other. And archery deities have pity on any human in an archery class full of Duongels, as the Duongels will hit bullseye 99.9% of the time(if I were to put the actual number of nines, this post would be more nines than text). Hell, they'll even show off sometimes and hit bullseye on all the targets by shooting mutliple arrows from both bodies. Actually, since the Duongels are so good with projectiles, archery wouldn't even be a subject by university. Primary school, maybe(translation for Americans: middle school). I think at university, the projectile sport they might do would be more like clay pigeon shooting, but the discs are over 100 meters away. Even then, expect them to rarely miss. As a human, it'd be better to go to the one on the right side of the bay, as they have more teachers trained in teaching humans, and a wider range of human-friendly sports. Both universities are about on par with a Russel-group university(not sure what the equivilent is called in America), and are not too hard to get in, especially given that you would probably have some knowledge that their researchers might want. And while it's impossible for a single-bodied race to learn how to speak the Duongel's language, those universities are probably the only places where a human might learn to understand it.

 

[WooHooMan]

I don't have anything to add to this thread but I wanted to tell Ban that I'm thrilled this thread has some good traction. I love hearing specifics about other people's settings.

 

[Ban]

I don't have anything to add to this thread but I wanted to tell Ban that I'm thrilled this thread has some good traction. I love hearing specifics about other people's settings.

Aw thank you, I'm also happy to see the thread so busy and thanks everyone who is participating. I've got a good catalogue of prompts saved up, so we won't run out soon. That's a good thing for myself too, as I'm working on a different world for November. This thread should help keep me attached to the 2080 world.

 

[ScaryMJDiamcreep]

I think at university, the projectile sport they might do would be more like clay pigeon shooting, but the discs are over 100 meters away.

Actually, maybe they might even take it a step higher, and combine archery and clay pigeon, so you're using a bow to hit the discs. More excersise that way. And more opportunities for the Duongels to show off. They have to keep the disc launchers hidden to prevent the Duongels from predicting the path of the discs before they've been launched, cause otherwise they'd shoot before the discs are even launched, knowing that they'll be at the point the arrow is by the time the arrow gets there.

 

[Ban]

Question 5: What strange beliefs do your peoples have about places lying beyond the known world? (Here be dragons!)

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Question 5: What strange beliefs do your peoples have about places lying beyond the known world? (Here be dragons!)

Well, most of the universes are known, and magic and weirdness are rampant. The Astral Abyss, which is Dream's domain, however, is completely unknown, and all sorts of wild tales and theories have sprung up about it.

 

[Ban]

Question 5: What strange beliefs do your peoples have about places lying beyond the known world? (Here be dragons!)

In the 2080 world, Australia went through a severe economic collapse in the 2050s as its staunchly conservative government refused to ride the global trend of renewal and green innovation. As Australia's economy was based primarily on raw resources and tourism, impossible competition on the former led to the demise of the latter. Now Australia has stabilized with the help of Federal China, but its role in the world has diminished extensively.

Now how is this important? Well, at the very same time, neighbouring New Zealand had transformed itself into a full-fledged technocracy, in the image of Federal China, the EUCPL and the URS (Collectively known as AUREA together with some minor states), and unlike Australia, New Zealand had fully embraced the rise of nanotechnology, cybernetics, bio-engineering, data-innovation and green industry. However, due to the collapse of its far more profitable neighbor, trade with the Oceania region from Eurasia dried up.

The Technocratic government of New Zealand decided in those years, that it would not accept being relegated to the status of an economic backwater. It has closed off all communication with the outside world and has developed unknown technology capable of preventing radio from entering or leaving the islands, and foreign satellites from capturing footage of New Zealand.

For the last 3 decades, Eurasia and its allies (and the countercore countries on the other side), have created books worth of conspiracy theories. Some of the wildest theories claim that the New Zealanders have uploaded their minds into a technological singularity, while others claim the New Zealanders are living among us, gathering information so they may one day take over the world. More reasonable theories suggest New Zealand is simply a highly advanced hermit kingdom like Tibet and Bhutan.

 

[ScaryMJDiamcreep]

Of the races known to humans, the Duongels know the most about what's beyond the ocean. And even they don't know much. A Duongel might be able to fly carrying a canoe across the length of the English channel, but they'd be too tired to fight anything that might be there when they land, and they wouldn't get anywhere near as far if they had a passenger to help with the fighting. And then you've got to take into account rations for the 3 bodies present, further restricting their flight. And while a Duongel might be able to get near to the continent on the other side of the ocean if not bringing anything, it's likely that they would not make it all the way. There is a legend about a pair of Duongel mages who used restoration and conjuration magic to be able to last the journey, and they managed to just about see land on the other side of the ocean, but turned back after reaching there for reasons they did not say. Teleportation magic can only work if you've been there before, or you can see it. A true master of teleportation magic might be able to make the calculations needed if they were given latitude and longitude coordinates. Technology has only just made the journey possible for humans, and even with the general recklessness that humans posses, no-one has been brave enough to place the thrill of discovery over the incredible risks that the journey holds.

Actually, that's just given me an idea for a good plot. The area of my story that I've put the most effort into is fleshing out the characters, so the plot hadn't come around to me yet.

 

[Orc Knight]

Question 5: What strange beliefs do your peoples have about places lying beyond the known world? (Here be dragons!)

It's a lot of the usual sorts of mundane, even amongst the peasantry and unlearned on Eld, if only due to the healthy amount of weird that happens even on a fairly regular basis. Though from the western continent (The known Fey kingdoms where the stories come out of) is that the East will crush the Greenskins in the Dragon's Spine mountain range and bring forth a new Imperial Elven Kingdom. Or humans from the South will come again and try to conquer with their golem armies and the like, though since the Lich Wars, most of it has to deal with undead and Liches popping up.

Most of those have an unfortunate habit of being direly correct.