#alien worldbuilding

I'll probably do all the above at some point, but I'll start with whichever is most popular. I'll start with an introductory post for a topic and then will talk about related topics.

Just so you have an idea of each choice:

-Pantheons: groups of gods. It is what it says on the tin.

-Mythos: a collection of ideas that together form a kind of mythology.

-Galactic geography: how galaxies are mapped and what defines different galactic regions in the Wonderstruck Universe.

-Superhuman genetics: the genetics that give superhumans their powers.

If the planet is entirely city, where does the oxygen come from? Are their farms dedicated to producing oxygen? Special factories? Are there plants that produce oxygen very quickly all over the planet? Do you have to pay an oxygen tax?

Does the planet have natural water? Are the oceans untouched, incorporated into the city, or have they been drained and the water used for things in the city? What is it used for? Drinking, dams, hydroelectricity, food production, etc?

How deep does the city go? Has the planet been mined into to create more space? Is geothermal energy used? Are the bottom levels reserved for things such as sewage, electricity production, factories, prisons, etc?

What is transportation like? Are there roads, floating roads, or are trains and trams used instead? Are planes used? Is transportation fast enough to quickly travel across time zones?

How is food produced? Is it imported, or is it grown on planet? A combination? Think about greenhouses, factorised farms, vertical farming projects, etc. If oceans are left relatively untouched, is food produced in it? Are fish kept? Are there ration laws?

Are the poles less occupied than the rest of the city? Are they used for storing frozen goods, super computers? On a planet with no oceans, is ice and snow valuable?

The same goes for the equator of the planet. Is it more or less occupied? Is the heat used for anything? Are there solar panel farms? Air conditioning?

Are there parks and protected areas of nature? Ancient gardens, important forests, sacred land? Are there laws about chopping down trees? Are there farms for trees and plants? Are their plant shops, and are they expensive? In Star Wars, a part of Coruscant's highest mountain is a public monument that you can look at - are parts of mountains, rare ores, fossils, etc, preserved?

Not all sci-fi cities look the same. Coruscant has skyscrapers arranged in a very chaotic manner, stretching incredibly deep and incredibly high, and there is almost no plant life or natural parts of the planet to be seen. Xandar is arranged neatly with very similar style buildings whilst remaining relatively low rising compared to other city planets, and has lots of greenery and a fairly untouched ocean. Wakanda is relatively defined in layout, with a mixture of plants and buildings, houses and skyscrapers, with every building being unique. Draw inspiration from whatever you like.

Write whatever you want, even if it's common or cliche. It doesn't matter if it has been done before, because it hasn't yet been written by you.

A Suriiap !! specifically a young caretaker with a larvae surii latched to it scales that is sleeping

the pros of this would be the opportunity to see how this biology would affect a sophont society and ideas of gender and childcare

the problems are that

1. i got attached to my idea that females live in permanent settlements while males travel in nomadic packs between them, based off of elephant society, which i thought would be really interesting to explore the implications of. how would men and women interact? what are their views and stereotypes of each other? what would the split between male and female society look like?

thinking about the fucking ✨I n t i m a c y✨ of learning each other’s body languages and routines/habits and slowly falling in love with the more subtle parts of each other rather than through simply getting to know each other. ALSO ALSO ALSO WITH ALIENS!!!!!! I cannot fucking BEGIN to stress the importance of physical touch. Coming from someone who grew up shipping spirk, PHYSICAL TOUCH IS LITERALLY EVERYTHING. The small gestures, learning each other’s cultural and personal boundaries and adjusting to that even if it’s smth small like, avoiding touching direct skin. Showing that they care, and are considerate at the same time. Other things like trying each other’s native foods that they love, or watching the stars in complete silence together. Just UGH, language barriers are so fucking important to me bc it literally leaves them to fall in love with ALL of each other. Not just their upfront personality, or sense of humor, or manner of speaking, but EVERYTHINNGG. GOD IM GOING TO GO INSANE BC OF THIS WAYAGGGHHHHH.

ANON NO JOKE THIS IS SUCH A HUGE REASON WHY I INCORPORATED A LANGUAGE BARRIER INTO THE INITIAL IDEA OF THIS AU. You are SO right for this its about everything you said and also the expression of love to learn someone else's language even imperfectly just so you can communicate with them. Im so ill in the brain abt it like oh my GODS i love space aus that really lean into the cultural differences and cultural exchange of it all

Also anon you will LOVE that fact that glossy and i were talking the other day about the concept in your other ask-- we've determined that Scar and Jellie's species (now officially called Tsabii) has a huge thing about colours. Ive been picturing their planet to have a lot of deserts and warmer climates with only a few extreme cold ones, as well as a lot of underground cave systems, so colour is something very important and traditional to their people. We decided Tsabii actually translates roughly to "spectrum/all colours/all spirits" and is basically their own word for people as a collective. And instead of saying something like "you make me incredibly happy" you'd say something along the lines of "you have bright colours"

Scar, at some point down the line, tells Grian almost offhandedly that he's the "most colourful person [he's] ever seen." Which is like. Probably one of the most smitten and romantic things a Tsabii can ever say to someone else. A bit like saying aishiteru in Japanese. It's not something you'd ever say in public because it's practically verbal pda, incredibly intimate, and basically declaring this person the center of your world and happiness. And Scar just. Says it to him. With perfect, calculated casualness.

Of course Grian doesn't understand the connotations of that. He's out here assuming Scar just really likes the colour red. And ohhhh my gods the fun we've been having turning that concept around, its been making me insane