MinstrelI am reminded of "Flatland" where there is a pronounced horizontal gravitation which gets stronger and stronger depending on the region. Since someone on the edge of the world would have the entire earth to one side, they would feel a pull in that direction; someone in the center would only be pulled downward. You could decide just how strong this pull is, from making it impossible to reach the edge to being just a small but noticeable force. This would be easy to implement and a fairly clear hint as to the shape of the world, as opposed to any bizarre astronomic effects.
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What if the world was flat?
- Thread starter Fnord
- Start date
That's pretty cool. I like the idea of not being able to reach the edge because of this.
Ravana
Istar
I've used the opposite of this to set up a specific effect I desired–I wanted people to be able to "fall off the edge." In this world, gravity is polarized, rather than being a function of the center of mass. Thus, the force of gravity is the same all across the surface of the world… until you get to the edge; once you get there, it's reversed.
Which, of course, is how it's possible for ships to sail to the homes of the gods (i.e. the "stars"). Well, that, plus "space" not being a vacuum.
Note that while this makes it fairly straightforward to leave the surface of the planet, returning can be problematic.…
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[Note also that this is an example of my frequent reminder: "With gods, all things are possible." That's the way they wanted the world to be, so that's how it works.]
Which, of course, is how it's possible for ships to sail to the homes of the gods (i.e. the "stars"). Well, that, plus "space" not being a vacuum.
Note that while this makes it fairly straightforward to leave the surface of the planet, returning can be problematic.…
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[Note also that this is an example of my frequent reminder: "With gods, all things are possible." That's the way they wanted the world to be, so that's how it works.]
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Androxine Vortex
Archmage
Sorry to resurrect an old thread (Threadomancy!) But I am working on a project that too has a flat world. I really don't have to go too into detail about the why's and how's because the world-disc was created by the Gods and if they say it will work then who are we to argue? So let me draw you a mental imagine of my world...
There is the Earth and it is a flat disc. Now imagine a huge dome that got placed over it. That would be the horizon. So even though the Earth is flat, the horizon and sky is still in a curved, half-spherical state. How would that affect people's perception of the sky?
There is the Earth and it is a flat disc. Now imagine a huge dome that got placed over it. That would be the horizon. So even though the Earth is flat, the horizon and sky is still in a curved, half-spherical state. How would that affect people's perception of the sky?
Benjamin Clayborne
Auror
Depends on how big it is. If you're near the edge, it might be more obvious that there's a dome in play. If you're closer to the middle, it would just look like sky the same way we see it now.
Or you can ignore the trigonometry of it and have it look however you want, because, you know, magic.
One explanation for a flat earth is if reality is consensual, that is, the universe behaves the way most of the people expect it to behave. You can "prove" that the world is round, as Archimedes did, but he was outvoted and the world stayed flat. If you can only explain the motion of the planets with a set of crystal spheres, then the solar system is a set of crystal spheres.
