Royce's Random Thoughts

Back at Part Eight for Planet Crowdsource, we asked about the nature of the mysterious MacGuffin Crystals. Out of thirteen votes the overwhelming choice (okay, six votes at 22.2%) was for them having some sort of psionic component. After that the next most popular choices were a three way tie at four votes (14.8%) apiece for "They hum/vibrate oddly when you pick them up," "Pulse with odd colors," and "Including bizarre visions." I've decided to include all of those, so picking one of these suckers up is going to be quite an experience. No wonder those miners want them so badly!

My original idea of what this week's poll was going to be about was how much flak miners would have to go through to get to the planet, but I hink we still need to find out what Life is like when they get there. So let's see if there are any friendly natives about.

[Poll #1882068]

Previously at Part Six of Planet Crowdsource, we asked about first about the thickness of the atmosphere. At four votes (36.4%) it was decided that the atmosphere was thin enough to leave humans winded. We'll imagine it's about as thin as the Andes Highlands, which is probably uncomfortable if you're not a Peruvian native. Anybody working outside for a long period will probably want supplemental oxygen as a safety precaution.

Actually you'll probably want it anyway, because there was a 50/50 split over what sort of local pollutants were in the atmosphere, between tiny bugs that lays eggs in your lung and something that glows. Well, the good news is that the glowing bugs are probably nocturnal, so they're easy to avoid. The bad news is the word "probably". Wear a filter mask if you go out. It'll make breathing safer... and harder.

Now we're going what mining is like on this world, and how active its crust is. As a planet sized moon orbiting a gas giant, Crowdsource should have pretty damned active vulcanism, if not Io levels of nastiness, at least very noticeable. If it doesn't, that will require explanations in further polls.

[Poll #1876509]

Previously at Part Five of Planet Crowdsource, we finished discussing the weather by trying to figure out why there were large ice packs as well as a hot equatorial region. By slim margin (30.0%) it was decided that the ice age was ending and the hot equator was the result of the changing weather patterns as the planet heated up again.

Today we'll be deciding the last possible questions I can think of concerning the atmosphere, and also trying a change to the format. Rather than factual based questions I'm going to try and go with narrative ones, which is a bit fuzzier but which I do hope provokes more argument interest.

[Poll #1873276]

Back at Part Three of Planet Crowdsource, we asked what the sun was like, and what average size of the continents were. At four votes for 40%, our habitable moon's home world is orbiting not a star, but a white hole spewing energy, which must make for some pretty spectacular sunsets. A whopping 50% of voters also chose that 80% of the surface is covered in water, with the largest continents no bigger than Australia. Should have some interesting effects when we get down to deciding what the local cultures are like.

Now we're going to decide what the local weather will be like. There will be more questions about axial tilt and such next week, but for now I'm limiting things to two questions per poll I think.

[Poll #1870710]

I haven't given up on this, but I've been on a great roll with Shadow of the Red Vixen and I hope to get it completed to send off to Beta readers in the next couple of weeks. I'll see if I can't get the latest pol posted today or early tomorrow.

Just trying something new. In the spirit of Robin D. Laws' experiment a couple of years ago building an RPG society through group consensus and polling, I'm going to try to create a sci-fi planet suitable for stories or roleplaying by posting occasional polls and taking the results and commentary in consideration when creating the details.

Ground Rules:

1. Polls will be posted every few days, minimum once per week, until we run out of details to consider or everyone gets bored.

2. The planet will have an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and a gravity field survivable by unagumented humans, possibly with exotic properties that might require breathing apparatus, but basically something a human can walk around in without need of a spacesuit.

3. Anything else is open to discussion.

Let's get building!

[Poll #1867444]