I have a world set thousands of years in the future. Humanity reached for the stars and settled planets. They brought various religions, nations, and other groups.

I wanted diversity, so I had different space orgs (Nasa, CNSA, ESA, etc) all settle their own colonies and be somewhat isolationist, that way I avoid convergence.

On my cowboy vs indians planet, I want to bring in the protestants vs Catholics conflict.

Do y'all think this is out of line, or perfectly reasonable?

I'm working on a couple of featural number systems (for base 3&12 and base 2&16). It's occurred to me that lemmy is missing a community to talk about such things like (/r/conscript/), so I created one and posted my base16 representation.

I feel like this may be the right place to share this new community. Please bring anything you have visual representations of, from languages to number systems to magic systems or any other symbolic representations I haven't thought of.

One real-life example is the Eleusinian Mysteries.

This is something tangential I've developed for my science-fantasy world with intelligent animals. For context: In this world, different taxonomic governments represent groups of related species. You have the Felines, Vulpines, Rodents, Avians, etc. Each of them technically belong to a different State but frequently intermingle and live in the same area, and taxonomic governments tend to also have territory/land associated with them where they primarily control the area, but other animals can and very much do still live there. Taxonomic governments have jurisdiction of the species within their scope no matter where they live, and are the ones responsible for having an ID system that works both within their own taxon and with other taxonomic governments and other official organizations.

Instead of making everyone carry ID cards or passports, which would be cumbersome for four-legged or winged animals to use, I envisioned a DNA-based ID system. The tech for this is definitely in the Star Trek levels of sci-fi, but it's basically a flat surface that you press your paw, wing, or other body part firmly onto, and a mechanism below produces a mild energy beam through your fur and skin which interacts with DNA in your cells and gives returns based on the specific sequence, and it's a safe, non-invasive DNA sequencer that can get a full read of your genetic code in seconds. The DNA scanner also checks for things like active metabolism and DNA synthesis and are generally configured to not even attempt to scan non-living cells, so you can't do something like use someone else's severed paw to make the system think you're them.

But since your full DNA sequences can be, for one, several gigabytes long and not conducive to things like printing onto certificates and migration papers or even just sending over the network to other agencies, and also contain actual information about things like your species, sex, family history and a bunch of sensitive stuff that you wouldn't want just anyone having access to, they typically take a cryptographic hash of the DNA and use that as an identifier for an individual animal. Kind of like how humans might have something like a social security number, animals in this world have a DNA Hash that governments use to identify them. Whenever a government agency in our world asks you to show some kind of ID like a driver's license, passport, health card, etc, they just have to scan their DNA and their information is automatically pulled from the right agency, using the hash to look it up. Even things like crossing international borders (of friendly nations) can be done with just a single biometric scan with no passport or ID card required. Basically, if you're animal in this world, the various government agencies around you refer to you as something like "8ed254569e8ddccea1784f569609aa32ced2691e2d22e99583ebd426cac76bd8" which is derived from your DNA sequence, and since you can't change your DNA, the same hash algorithm will always produce the same identifier, but better for privacy since it's impossible to reverse the algorithm and derive the original DNA sequence from the hash, and in theory only your own taxonomic government would have your full DNA sequence stored away on a server somewhere. Also extremely hard to falsify since it's literally identifying your body and not a card or anything that can be replaced.

What do you think? Does a system like this make sense? Are there glaring logistical or security issues that I'm not seeing? (Beyond just having a non-invasive and rapid DNA sequencing system in the first place, but that's what sci-fi handwaving is for.) Do you think a system like this is actually superior compared to physical ID media?

For context, I have a science-fantasy world with intelligent, non-anthro animals trying to live in peace with each other. A major problem is of course what the carnivores eat, and their solution is something called Dietary Enzyme Supplements, which carnivores take in order to supply artificial, carefully engineered digestive enzymes that allow them to digest plant matter and directly synthesize essential nutrients that would otherwise only be found in meat inside their own digestive tracts. It's something that works really well for its intended purpose and that they're really proud of, and I talk more about their history with solving the predation problem here if you're interested.

For the species, taxa, and factions that have committed to banning predation and having predator and prey live in harmony, dietary enzyme supplements are typically freely available and a guaranteed right under their constitution, along with plant based food in general. Dietary enzymes are ubiquitous and work really well for their intended purpose, and represent the very bleeding edge of their chemistry and nutrition science prowess.

The most advanced dietary enzymes, those intended for obligate carnivores like cats, contain trace amounts of a special quasi-element called Intium as part of how they work, which is also a really powerful substance that power most of their super advanced sci-fi tech. However, due to how versatile and powerful it is, Intium is also extremely dangerous if misused, so it is heavily regulated by the government, and the only real "consumer" product that contains it are those obligate carnivore dietary enzymes. The next most accessible source is hovercraft fuel and the internal components of hovercraft engines, both of which are prohibitively expensive and require an aviation related license to purchase, while dietary enzymes are both free at the point of access and anyone can just go into a grocery store and take them without anyone else batting an eye.

The vast majority of animals that need dietary enzymes do not abuse their free access to them, since there's no benefit in taking more than the required dose and they're just flavourless pills that most animals don't just stuff their faces with. However, this is where amateur chemistry enthusiasts come in, after a post on a science forum showing how to extract Intium from ATDP, which are the dietary enzyme supplements most commonly used by Felines. The process is pretty simple, basically just burn the pills at a very high temperature and in a high oxygen environment to convert the proteins and other support chemicals into carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, etc, and you're left with a solid residue of mostly Intium oxide, which can then be further processed into pure Intium. This is technically legal since the government doesn't regulate what exactly you do with dietary enzymes once you have it, but the problem is that ATDP, while free to use, still has a high production cost, and only contain minuscule amounts of Intium. A domestic cat for example typically takes one pill of ATDP per week, with the enzymes attaching to the lining of their digestive tracts to prevent the still perfectly functional enzymes from being expelled out the other end after one cycle of digestion and being wasted. However, an unlicensed chemist smelting pills to extract Intium can go through literally thousands of pills in a few hours, and those pills are paid for almost entirely by Feline tax revenue so neither the Feline government nor the Feline population in general are happy about this. Of course the safety risks of working with Intium apply as well, including pretty severe explosion risks, but the amounts they extract are so small that it's hardly a public safety hazard so much as a public burden as they destroy tens of thousands dollars worth of dietary enzymes just to extract ten dollars worth of Intium. The Intium is not the expensive part of those pills, the expensive parts are the carefully engineered and synthesized proteins that surround the Intium. After a few incidents of particularly brazen and entitled animals (who notably weren't even carnivores and had no biological need for dietary enzymes, certainly not the super advanced obligate carnivore versions that contain Intium) cleared out multiple grocery store shelves for their Intium extraction hustle and went viral on their internet, attracting intense public shaming with both predator and prey calling them selfish and misusing public resources, they realized that it was a massive problem and a policy change was needed to ensure fair access to this extremely important resource.

The most obvious and immediately effective solution is just to implement some kind of rationing system, where instead of a shelf filled with boxes of dietary enzymes that any animal can take, they move them behind the pharmacy counter and require ID to obtain, where they'll check both whether you're actually a species that requires the enzyme and also use a centralized database that tracks how much you're taking per month. However, again, only a tiny minority of animals abuse the free access to dietary enzymes to do things they really shouldn't be doing anyway, so it would feel like a massive burden for the rest of the carnivore populations who literally depend on access to dietary enzymes to survive in a society where predation is banned. It would also preclude things like animals who don't need dietary enzymes getting them for their carnivore friends since they were going to the store anyway, or even things like losing your box of dietary enzymes and potentially getting denied replacements if they only allow animals to obtain them at the specific dosages they need, nor would they be able to stock up some dietary enzymes in their own nests and dens in case of supply chain issues. Not to mention the costs associated with implementing and maintaining such a rationing system which will also be passed onto the general public, potentially siphoning funds away from other public projects like housing and transportation, or just having less money to make more dietary enzymes. Free and easy access to both plant based food and dietary enzymes have been such staples in their society that they really don't to abandon it just because a few animals don't follow the rules, so they're looking for an alternative that lets them have their dietary enzymes and eat it too.

What do you think? Is their only hope to just start rationing dietary enzymes? If you were a policy maker in this world, how would you address this issue?

Deleted

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1490209

Yes, it's the Mormon dude. I know, I know.

But I was recommended this by a communist friend in PSL who said I needed it and highly recommended it and said that, according to contacts he knew, he's... err, had misgivings about the faith (not sure if I should say it here).

I'm going to start these now and see if I find them useful. Wish me luck. Just need the advice, is all.

So, this starts with the local currency of Laroth (Laroth is not a single country, and does not have a unified currency, but that’s for another post- I’ll just treat it as such here) which originally consisted of Chinese-style silver coins with holes in the middle. These holes meant that you could string them up on a piece of cord and carry large amounts of them easily that way. (This also served as a standardised unit, but again that’s for a future post about currency.)

People start wearing these strings on their belts, since pockets aren’t really a thing yet. Rich people, to show off, start wearing large amounts of them, all around their waists. Not only does this show off that they have that much money, it also shows that they can walk around in public with that much money without worrying about thieves and robbers, whether that is because they can afford to hire bodyguards or for some other reason. This still isn’t enough flaunting for some though, so they start using fancier materials, replacing the plain cord with gold/silver chains, or intricately patterned ribbons.

This currency stays around for a fairly long amount of time (how long exactly I haven’t decided yet) and this trend becomes pretty well-established in Larothan culture as a way for the rich to show off. It starts seeping into the fashion of the lower classes as well, as a set of plain ribbons or tassels attached to the belt.

Eventually, Laroth switches to coins without holes in them (again, Laroth has multiple currencies and not all of them did) and people started carrying their money in pockets (the medieval kind not the modern kind), purses, wallets, etc. The ribbons now end up entirely useless for carrying money, but by this point they’ve been a part of Larothan fashion for a long time and so they stick around, except since they can’t carry money it becomes entirely about the ribbons themselves.

Since they no longer have to serve a practical purpose, these evolve into many styles. Some are plain, just dyed with more expensive dyes (reds, blues, greens, purples). These are mostly worn by peasants and such. Then they get fancier with patterns and tassels and so on. Some incorporate bits of gold, silver, lumin, and other precious materials. Some have beads or glass or other decoration. Some have elements evoking the coins they once held, while others completely ignore the history of the garment and are made in ways that could never hold a coin.

They differ massively based on class, and there are many regional variants- especially since some areas did not move away from the old style of coins with holes, so they still serve their original coin-holding purpose there.

So, I've had this idea which doesn't fit in my world (I've only got humans), but I thought it was neat so here it is: Dwarves would invent bullpup firearms and here is why.

With early muzzleloading firearms, you have to reach the muzzle of the gun to be able to load it, which poses a problem for dwarves since if your gun is much taller than you it would be difficult to reach. You can't just shorten the gun, since with black powder you need a long barrel to get it to fully burn and give your ball enough power. Furthermore, a long gun would also be unwieldy inside small dwarven corridors, which would be extra important since with dwarves living underground they'd be more likely to be fighting indoors.

The solution to this is to bullpup their muskets. I'm fairly certain that there aren't any significant technological barriers to making it work, there just wasn't much reason to do so in our world. This would let them load their guns normally, without sacrificing power, and make them much easier to carry around and use indoors.

The main issues with this are that having the flashpan so close to the user's face would burn them, and the hearing loss. The flash is dealt with by that plate that sticks out beside the lock, which would hopefully deflect the explosion away from the user. The hearing loss I think could be compensated by the fact that the dwarves, having to fight indoors underground oftern, would probably have much better hearing protection much earlier than in our world.

The interdimensional Christmas bug is coming to town, and every world needs their own Santa. Doesn't matter if they have no idea what Santa or Christmas is, participation is mandatory and they need to use whatever exist in-universe to replicate Santa's flying sleigh as best as they can.

The following are some guidelines for what a prototypical Santa and sleigh would entail, your world needs to try and replicate as many of these elements as possible.

1. A fat bearded man or similar species dressed in all red.

2. A huge sack of toys or whatever the kids in your universe like.

3. A sleigh or another vehicle modified to resemble the classic shape of a sleigh, one that is capable of flight.

4. Eight flying reindeer or similar species strapped to the front of the sleigh.

5. One more flying reindeer or similar species up front with a glowing red nose.

Note that the reindeer don't actually have to be the ones pulling the sleigh through the air, you can choose any propulsion system you want as long as it looks like the reindeer are pulling it.

How does your world pull it off? Who would need to be called in and what kind of equipment acquired to do this? What unique conflicts does Santa face in your world that the "real" Santa wouldn't?

If your world is also conducive to other Christmas characters like Krampus, the Grinch, Frosty, Jesus, etc and you want to replicate them as well, we'd love to hear it!

Context: This is a world inhabited by intelligent, non-anthro animals, some of which have decided to outlaw hunting and eating prey in favour of living in harmony and cooperating.

They have a zero tolerance policy for predation and it is criminalized extremely heavily. Depending on what species or taxon you are (all animals have the right to be tried by members of their own species and taxa, and they are responsible for carrying out sentences of their own kind too), First Degree Predation, where you personally kill then eat an animal, is the only crime that formally carries the death penalty. Regular first degree murder where you "merely" kill an animal without intent to eat them only has a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Second Degree Predation (aka Simple Predation) is where you obtain meat with the intention of eating it without personally killing anything, carries only a mandatory fixed term prison sentence in addition to losing certain freedoms post release.

However, their laws on the issue is very much based on intent as that is their philosophy, that because they are all sapient and no longer bound by their natural hunter instincts, they are responsible for their own actions. You don't have to actually eat the prey you killed to have committed First Degree Predation, and the inverse is technically true as well, where if you kill an animal for some other reason and only after they're dead do you decide to eat them, then you're technically only guilty of murder and Second Degree Predation instead of First Degree Predation. There are also legal ways that certain animals can obtain animal tissue, for example, as skin grafts and organ transplants, autopsy and forensic investigations, or for general research. Because animals handling tissue in these cases don't intend to eat it, it does not fall under Second Degree Predation. However, if you buy animal meat and later decide not to eat it, that's still considered predation.

Especially with the nature of eating and digesting food, law enforcement only has a very small time window to order a suspect to undergo lab testing of what's in their belly where it will actually show a positive hit for animal tissue, so my original thought is that the intent clause is meant to make prosecuting predation easier, since they wouldn't need to actually prove that the accused has animal tissue in their digestive tract at any point, just that they wanted at some point for some form of animal tissue to end up inside them.

I know there are many real life laws that use intent in a similar way, but I don't know how courts actually prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Can anyone who's delved more into the legal side of worldbuilding comment on how the courts in my world might prove (or disprove) that someone intended to eat another animal when they do not have direct evidence that the animal was indeed eaten?

I saw an interesting post on Reddit related to worldbuilding and I thought I'd reproduce it here for the fediverse. It's from /r/Userfaulty and it's about where natural resources would appear normally in the world. It might not be completely accurate but it's a great start and inspiration.

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A Guide to Placing Resources on Fictional Worlds

Resource

I recently watched a great video on youtube by Artifexian where he showed how to place Fuels and Metal Ores on a fictional world. But I was left in a lurch. What about stones? What about valuable gems? What else should I at least make a note of that could be of strategic importance? Well...I did the digging and below is my abstract, I haven't taken geology classes in 20 years, guide to placing resources on your fantasy world maps. If you find something below that I grossly misjudged then let me know and I will try to fix it but keep in mind that these don't need to be accurate to the real world. They are just suggestions to help the worldbuilder that just wants help in placing it in a somewhat believable area. I tried to be as accurate as I could. The below locations will contain the highest quality of the materials or will be the easiest to find for your early hunter gatherer societies. edit Added more wood types for bows and arrows. Included areas for Iron. Added Clay and Tar.   Fuels

Coal remains of ancient tropical and subtropical swamps that then become compacted over lots of time remains become Peat then when buried further becomes Lignite Lignite buried further becomes more concentrated and becomes Bituminous Coal Then becomes Anthracite

Place Coal in areas that were low-lying tropical and subtropical swamps Higher quality coal in foothills of mountain belts that formed in those regions do not place Coal in interior of mountain chains

Graphite will form in interior of mountain chains instead of coal

Place Peat reserves in modern day low-lying wetlands

  Oil & Gas derived from remains of ancient plankton remains fell to bottom of ocean buried and compacted to form Shale Shale then becomes Oil Shale Oil Shale at greater depths becomes Oil and Natural Gas Oil will try to escape through the water table to the surface forming Gas/Oil Seep

Place Oil in locations that were once shallow tropical seas and lakes also normally forms along tectonic plates

  Metal Ores

Deposits of Copper forms around volcanic plate boundaries Copper, Copper-Gold, Copper-Molybdenum, or Molybdenum will also form near Volcanic Hotspots These will contain minor amounts of Lead, Zinc, Silver

Place a couple Tin-Tungsten deposits here too

Gold Place near the Copper deposits but still close to volcanic active plate boundaries

Place Gold with minor amounts of Silver and Copper Farther out place Gold with minor amounts of Silver, Lead, and Zinc Farther out place Gold with Minor amounts of Silver and Mercury Farther out place Iron-Copper-Gold deposits, will become sources of Uranium

Place Nickel-Copper and PGE-Chromium (Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium, Osmium, Iridium) in the middle of stable plates

Place Iron around old mountain chains (this can be lone sections of hills or mountain bands that are not near active volcanic boundaries). Also can be placed around swamps and marshlands. Iron can be found almost everywhere but these locations will contain highest quality or be the easiest to find for early hunter gather societies.

Place Lead-Zinc-Silver in sedimentary basins along outskirts of coasts (fairly uncommon)

Place Aluminium in rain forests or very wet regions

Place some secondary deposits of all ores downstream from mountain deposits or inland a ways from the main source

  Stones

Ancient Chalk beds formed on the floor of ancient seas.

The Chalk later solidifies into Limestone. Can be placed where hills meet grasslands in non wet areas.

Flint (also called Chert) forms as lumps between layers and in cavities left in the sea floor in these Chalk beds.

Marble is formed from Limestone that has been subjected to intense heat and pressure. Marble will be placed near mountain ranges.

Jade is placed not too far inland along ancient or current convergent plate boundaries that occur or occurred along a coastline. They will be located on the steeper parts of drainage basins where erosion reveals the uplifted mineral. Was also used as stone age tools.

Obsidian is formed when water flows over volcanic lava to cool it rapidly. Placed near volcanic plate boundaries that no longer have large amounts of water. Water breaks down obsidian over time.

Granite is formed when molten rock is slowly cooled. It forms the bottom layer of all land continents. Placed along two land type convergent boundaries on the uplifted side where it is raised to the surface, making quarrying easy.

Sandstone is formed when sand is deposited in large quantities and under goes large amounts of pressure, heat, and drainage causing the sand and other minerals to "cement" together. Placed near ancient drainage basins that deposited sand from deserts or beaches, or alternatively where hills or mountains meet a dry desert.

Clay can be placed on hillsides, on lake and sea bottoms or on shores, and near volcanic hot spots that heat a water source.

  Gems

Agate place near ancient volcanic flows that met active drainage basins.

Amber occurs in ancient pine type forests then carried by rivers and tides to deltas in coastal regions, where they were buried over time.

Amethyst can be placed where ancient lava would flow near an iron deposit.

Aquamarine normally found in the interiors of tectonic plates and located near Granite and contains a Tin - Tungsten deposit in the same water shed.

Carnelian normally located near ancient volcanic plate boundaries with iron deposits and then are washed down to river beds in current times

Citrine is formed by heat treating purple Amethyst or can be found where Amethyst has been naturally heat treated

Coral is normally found between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn (the equator to the lower and upper temperate zones) but can be farther out where warm currents flow out of tropics.

Diamonds will go in the middle of stable tectonic plates (near Nickel-Copper and PGE-Chromium, make them rare)

Emeralds almost the same as an Aquamarine but when a PGE-Chromium deposit is in the same water shed.

Garnets can be found in Granite but is also found where two tectonic plates converge.

Jade is placed not too far inland along ancient or current convergent plate boundaries that occur or occurred along a coastline. They will be located on the steeper parts of drainage basins where erosion reveals the uplifted mineral.

Jasper is formed when ancient volcanic flows possibly met with ancient sea beds that then get reburied, are relifted, and then are washed down to river beds in current times.

Jet is similar to coal but is formed differently. Coal is from ancient wooded swamps, Jet is from wood material being washed into a body of water, becomes waterlogged, sinks and is covered by organic rich sediment.

Lapis Lazuli can be placed in high naked mountain valleys along plate boundaries and is somewhat rare. formed when underground magma contacts limestone.

Obsidian is formed when water flows over volcanic lava to cool it rapidly. Placed near volcanic plate boundaries that no longer have large amounts of water. Water breaks down obsidian over time.

Onyx is formed in the same way as Agates and can be placed in the same manner.

Opals are placed near or in sandstone deposits.

Pearls can form in any mollusk like creature in any body of water.

Peridot/Olivine is normally found around active lava flows near tectonic hot spots or where lava has fallen during a pyroclastic blast around an erupted volcano and cooled quickly.

Rubies are placed near convergent plates that has no iron but has trace amounts of Aluminium and Chromium. They are extremely rare. They should be placed in stream beds or watersheds leading away from the creation site.

Sapphire is the same as Rubies but has trace amounts of Titanium instead of Chromium.

Shells are found in tropical coastal areas with shallow tide pools.

Topaz can be placed near volcanic convergent plate boundaries.

Tourmaline can be placed similar to Granite. Can also be found in stream bed long distances from the source deposit.

Turquoise is is formed when copper deposits are transported through a watershed that contains aluminium deposits in arid environments.

  Wood

There is a large amount of wood and it would take much longer than I want to discuss all the types of wood. You should keep in mind at least the following historic common uses for wood but its up to you:

Dyes - Brazilwood

Paper - Mulberry, Bamboo, Beech bark was also used as a writing tablet

Glassworks - Beechwood

Shipbuilding - Elm for capstans and mastheads. Larch and fir for internal planking, masts, and spars. Oak for hulls. Walnut for rudders.

Weapons - Ash for spear shafts. Hickory for weapon hafts. Osage, Bamboo, Ash, Black Locust, Oak, Maple, Yew, Elm, or any flexible hardwood or animal horns for bows. Pine and Cedar is common for Arrows. Walnut for gun stocks.

Bridge Pilons - Alder

Construction - Sycamore, Oak, Bamboo, Poplar, Hickory

Forges for Iron and Bronze - Charcoal, Coal, Coke, Any abundant wood will do

  Oils

Olive Oil

  Glues

Pitch, Tar, Bitumen, Asphalt, Resin - Pine, Petroleum, Coal Tar, or Plants. Can be collected from Charcoal production, Tar pits where Oil Seeps occur. Resin is made from plants. Bitumen and Asphalt is Petroleum (crude Oil).

  Whales   Furs   Spices   Salts

can be placed along low-lying ocean beaches or inland in deserts that formed from evaporated inland seas

  Sources

Most of the information was gathered from these sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9qvQspSbWc&t=582s by Artifexian

http://www.stoneagetools.co.uk/what-is-flint.htm https://geology.com/gemstones/jade/#geology http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2018/03/worldbuilding-gemstones.html https://www.getty.edu/publications/ambers/intro/4/#:~:text=Amber%20is%20formed%20from%20resin,hardens%20and%20forms%20a%20seal. https://sciencing.com/how-amethyst-geodes-formed-4913351.html https://www.minerals.net/mineral/amethyst.aspx https://www.gemrockauctions.com/learn/technical-information-on-gemstones/what-is-aquamarine-made-of#:~:text=Aquamarine%20Formation,magma%20which%20forms%20the%20gemstone.&text=Almost%20all%20aquamarines%20are%20formed,world%20where%20there%20are%20mountains. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegmatite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl#:~:text=While%20gem%20beryls%20are%20ordinarily,miarolitic%20cavities%20of%20the%20rhyolite. https://www.gemselect.com/english/gem-info/carnelian/carnelian-info.php https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/geography/#:~:text=Most%20reefs%20are%20located%20between,in%20Florida%20and%20southern%20Japan. https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/garnet#:~:text=Most%20garnet%20forms%20when%20a,and%20cause%20minerals%20to%20recrystallise.&text=Garnets%20can%20also%20be%20found,such%20as%20granite%20and%20basalt. https://www.minerals.net/gemstone/chalcedony_gemstone.aspx https://geology.com/gemstones/jet/#:~:text=Jet%20does%20not%20form%20in,degraded%2C%20and%20heated%20in%20isolation. http://www.gemstones-guide.com/Lapis-Lazuli.html https://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/eps2/wisc/Lect16.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl https://www.gemselect.com/other-info/about-peridot.php https://geology.com/gemstones/ruby-and-sapphire/

For context, this takes place in my world with intelligent, non-anthro animals trying to live in harmony. This is part of the backstory of my main character and why she's where she is currently.

The Felines had recently underwent a bloody and violent revolution, replacing their monarchist empire that is very pro-predation (Trophist) with a democratic republic that is very anti-predation (Unitist). Shortly afterward, they signed the Interspecies Peace Agreement and committed to banning predation by all Felines forever, to overwhelming support by the Feline public. Signing of the ISPA not only bans predation but also allows other ISPA members to engage in trade, travel, and exchange of knowledge and technology with the Felines, which is a big deal because the Felines are considered the most technologically advanced taxon, being the first taxon in history to surpass even the humans that lived before all of them millions of years ago.

The Unified Territories, which is an alliance of Unitist small and medium sized animals, including the Felines' former prey like Avians and Rodents and is considered the second most advanced, took the opportunity to call up the Feline government to ask for a favour. Basically, the Unified Territories Ministry of Science called up the Feline Science Institute (both are government research institutions), and asked if they can have Yvonne Dandelionpaw transferred to one of their labs in the UT. Yvonne Dandelionpaw is a domestic cat who played a major role in recent Feline history: She co-developed something called ATDP, a dietary enzyme supplement that allows obligate carnivores like cats to subsist on plant based alternatives (where the "DP" part is named after her); she participated in the Feline revolution fighting for the Unitist side; and perhaps most importantly, she is one of the main scientists working on something called a quantum interface, which is one of the next frontiers of science that the Felines are actively pursuing. They basically wanted her to come over and work with their own scientists that are also trying to develop a quantum interface, and essentially spun it as "hey, let's work on this together since you're an ISPA member now!"

The Feline Science Institute felt rather pressured by the Unified Territories, and responded with something along the lines of "We're just about okay with that, but you need to ask Yvonne directly. We're not going to force a Feline to relocate and take a job outside Feline territory." So they call up Yvonne initially refuses, saying "Well, it's a interesting offer, but I'd rather stay here and work with my own taxon as we rebuild after the war." But then the Unified Territories spun it in a different way to her, trying to convince her that a cat coming over to work in a UT government lab would be a great diplomatic opportunity for the two governments, and controversially, basically told her that there are researchers in the UT who are the Felines' former prey, and "wouldn't you want to be the one to reconcile with them so they realize how nice modern cats are and ditch that old stereotype of cats being pricks?" At which point she finally agreed to the transfer, on the condition that she remains employed by the Feline Science Institute and basically serves as a liason and diplomatic representative in addition to being a researcher, which the FSI was understandably also very adamant about.

She is now working at a lab in the UT capital city, but the decision to have her there is very controversial on both sides. Many Felines accuse the Unified Territories of using their position among ISPA members to basically poach Feline talent, while many UT citizens accuse Yvonne of being a Feline spy, considering that she is a high ranking member of the Feline government who is working in a classified UT lab.

What are your thoughts on this progression? Is it something that can reasonably happen when two governments are first establishing diplomatic ties? Do you think the way they spun it to Yvonne counted as coercion or guilt tripping? Any other opinions you have I would love to hear that as well!

https://discord.gg/RZSQhUY7S2

QUICK LORE GUIDE FOR CONTRIBUTORS (WIP)

Magic System and Metaphysics

The universe consists of two planes or dimensions of existence: the Material Plane and the Astral Plane. The Astral Plane contains the spiritual components and domains of the world and acts as a sort of "backstage" for the main stage which is the Material World. This is where all of your gods and spirits and eldritch entities and afterlives and godly domains reside. Every object in the Material Plane has a spirit in the Astral Plane.

Magic can be done in many ways. Bargaining with gods and spirits, drawing power from Domains in the Astral Plane, and enchanting swords with the souls of the dead are all possible. All magic, however, must follow the law of conservation of energy and there is almost always some sort of cost to magic.

One of the main forms of magic is Essence manipulation. Essences are like spiritual forces or elements that govern the world. There can be a potentially countless number of Essences. The main rule for Essence bending is that each Essence must have an opposite which it repels. For example the dual Essences of Chaos and Stasis. Where there is a lot of Chaos Essence there cannot be much Stasis Essence.

Basic Races Giants - Tall, large, hairy humanoids who may or may not be the ancestors of all the other humanoids Ungada - Neanderthal-like, hairy humanoids. They are naturally attuned to nature Humans - Descendants of the Ungada. Colossi - Hairless rhino-like giants who live most of their lives wading in bodies of water. They inhabit equatorial and tropical regions Blind Men - Pale, blind humanoids who live in cave and tunnel networks Hradlings - Desert-adapted, camel-like humanoids. They have fat reserves and a complicated digestive system to be able to preserve as much food and water as possible Saericlings - Intelligent octopi who live in tropical waters Drowned - Amphibious relatives of the Saericlings The World is "currently" in the Late Neolithic. Keep this in mind when making cultures Starting Tech

Humans Pottery Agriculture Animal Husbandry Basic construction Neolithic tools

Drowned Agriculture (?) Writing Aquatic animal husbandry Basic construction Neolithic tools

Ungada Pottery Animal Husbandry Neolithic tools

Giants Pottery Agriculture Animal Husbandry Basic construction Neolithic tools

Colossi Pottery Agriculture (Fruit focused) Animal Husbandry Basic construction Neolithic tools

Blind Men Pottery Basic construction Neolithic tools Copper Metallurgy

Hradlings Pottery Animal Husbandry Neolithic tools

Saericlings Writing Aquatic animal husbandry Neolithic tools

In real life, that's oil. In Dune, it's spice. What is it in your world?