Fantasy Cosmologies

[psychoticbarber]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

The current cosmology I'm working on for my setting is (tentatively) a single red giant star and two moons, one smaller than the other. The smaller moon orbits the larger one.

[L. Marcus]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

In Primordial Chaos, the Seven Siblings awoke. They found Chaos repulsive, so they cleared a space for themselves -- Father Sky, Father Rock, Father Ocean, Mother Air, Mother Sea, Mother Earth, and last Fire, who retained much of Chaos, and without whom nothing would ever change.

 

They set the world in its place, and set the stars and the Wanderers in the Wall of the Sky, and set the Moon and the Sun in their orbits to light the world.

 

Stands to reason, doesn't it?

[TSandman]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

They set the world in its place, and set the stars and the Wanderers in the Wall of the Sky, and set the Moon and the Sun in their orbits to light the world.

 

Stands to reason, doesn't it?

 

Ain't it the way it's written in Destiny's book? He could have written it himself, and since he's the older one, who's to challenge him

[tkdguy]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

The Shadow World setting also has the smallest of five moons revolving the largest. The largest moon is also home to the Lords of Orhan, the major gods of the planet.

 

The planet itself, Kulthea, takes 350 days to revolve around its sun (no leap years), so the year is divided into 5 seasons of 70 days each: winter, spring, summer, autumn, and fall (or harvest). Yes, there's a difference between the autumn and the fall in Kulthea.

[MrBunraku]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

Speaking of flat earths and cosmologies and the like, I was going to poll the assembled masses to get opinions. For a while now, I've been wanting to design a campaign world that's a disk. Should I have: (a.) the sun travel along the middle of the disk (sorta like a needle in the middle of a record player), so the center of the disk is arctic, the middle zone is the "equator" and the outside is arctic, (b.) the sun travel up over the entire disk, so the arctic bands are at the top and bottom of the disk, and the tropical "equator" runs from one side of the disk to the other, (c.) have the sun stationed in the middle of the disk (like someone else mentioned above.)

 

Just thought I'd ask.

 

Ed

(Who is dating himself with the whole "needle on the record" reference.)

[L. Marcus]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

I'd use the old Scandinavian Bronze Age version of the sun -- drawn in a chariot from east to west in the day, presenting it's bright side to earth, and during the night, drawn west to east presenting it's dark side. Then there'd be a north and a south to the disc that is arctic, and the land beneath the carriage's path would be desert or tropical.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

Speaking of flat earths and cosmologies and the like' date=' I was going to poll the assembled masses to get opinions. For a while now, I've been wanting to design a campaign world that's a disk. Should I have: (a.) the sun travel along the middle of the disk (sorta like a needle in the middle of a record player), so the center of the disk is arctic, the middle zone is the "equator" and the outside is arctic, (b.) the sun travel up over the entire disk, so the arctic bands are at the top and bottom of the disk, and the tropical "equator" runs from one side of the disk to the other, (c.) have the sun stationed in the middle of the disk (like someone else mentioned above.)[/quote']

There are two other issues here that may or may not be important to you:

Night and Day, and

The Seasons

 

In none of the three versions will there be any seasons*.

In (a) it's always daytime.

In (, there's night and day, more or less normally.

In ©, it's always dawn/sunset. (I assume you mean that the sun looks sort of like the yolk in a fried egg.)

 

*Of course, in a fantasy word there can be other factors which cause the seasons to change, with no relation to the movement of the sun/earth. And even in (a), if the sun moves around the "middle groove" once a year, that could be the source of seasons.

 

What happens on the other side of the disk?

[TSandman]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

If you want a Disc Shaped "Planet" and a serious game, make sure no player has ever read any Discworld novels...

 

Else, you *WILL* have problems

[Markdoc]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

I like option a)simply because it gives the disc a sort of "natural boundary" of ice snows and monsters of the outer dark, before you get to the edge of the disk. However, I'd move the orbit slightly closer to the centre so you get a really Arctic wilderness around the rim and a cooler - but still habitable area in the centre.

 

One point though - if you had such approach, that would kind of imply you had no night - the best you might manage would be twilight when the sun was at the far extent of its circuit from you. You could, I suppose put a really big mountain at the centre to provide more darkness when the sun went behind it and you could increase it further by keeping the sun relatively low, so it would be obscured by the horizon....

 

cheers, Mark

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

Maybe the sun itself dims and brightens on a daily basis. That could give day and night with a constant sun presence.

[Markdoc]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

Maybe the sun itself dims and brightens on a daily basis. That could give day and night with a constant sun presence.

 

Or you could have two heavenly bodies - a sun, which sheds light, pursued by a moon that consumes light - bringing darkness in its wake.

 

cheers, Mark

[assault]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

I'd just have the sun pass through the underworld at night, more or less Egyptian style.

[MrBunraku]

Re: Fantasy Cosmologies

 

Thanks for all the opinions! My idea for the day/night thing was having the disk big enough, or the sun small enough, that the sun would only shine on part of it as it travelled around its "groove." Sorta like the effect you'd get if you shine a flashlight onto a record album. As the sun travels around it shines on the disk in one spot, so as it gets closer you'll have dawn, it will appear to move in the sky as the day progresses, then you'll have dusk as it rolls away, and finally night.

 

(Assault) I had the same idea, and from the same source! That would work well, as I decided my sun god was also the protector of the dead. I had the notion that as he travelled across the sky he collected the spirits of the dead, then dropped them off in the underworld while he made his way back to the "east" or whatever point he starts from.

 

I had also come up with the idea that the disk was ringed by huge arctic mountains. If you can get over or find a pass through them, you can "jump off" the disk and end up in my etheral/astral space. You can also get there by going deep enough underground.

 

As far as seaons go, I had thought about making the sun move closer and further away as it moves around, so it might move in a spiral fashion (spiral up and down if I use the record needle motion, or spiral out and back if I use the up and over notion.)

 

Thanks again for all the input! Not that I'll probably do anything with it soon, but it's always nice to hear other folks ideas.

 

Ed