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1500 questions
55
votes
18 answers
What US states are most likely to rebel?
A Little Explanation
I have come across many books and trilogies based on the premise of a war torn United States. The latest of these is Burning Nation (link to Amazon page) in the Divided We Fall trilogy by Trent Reedy. This is a great book and…
Jax
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55
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24 answers
Wooden sticks are the only allowed weapons in a technological society - how far would these weapons have progressed by now?
Imagine that the inhabitants of Earth all follow a religion that allows only wooden weapons. How would warfare look nowadays?
Commandment 37.
37a) Thou shalt make weapons only from the wood of trees that grow in
the forests. No weapons of metal…
chasly - supports Monica
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55
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8 answers
Creating a realistic world map - Coastlines
This Query is part of the Worldbuilding Resources Article.
Whenever I draw coastlines for a map, I find myself simply drawing large curves and adding in small squiggles in between, occasionally varying things a little for river deltas or small…
HDE 226868
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55
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13 answers
Can you shoot someone with a bullet... from orbit?
I remember a character I once created who was a really good sniper. When describing him, I said he could pull off a headshot on a terrestrial target from orbit. Now, in this case it was with a laser, and it was a long time ago so I didn't know as…
DaaaahWhoosh
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55
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24 answers
Need to start a religion with a predefined self-destruct
I'm an alien. I made a bet with another alien, that I can:
Stay on Earth for at most 100 years.
Start a religion
It may be based on existing one, but be meaningfully different.
E.g. Latter-Day-Saints (Mormons) vs. mainline Protestants counts.…
user4239
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55
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13 answers
What would an immortal-run American bank have to do to secretly maintain bank accounts for immortal customers?
A common concern with immortal fictional characters like vampires and the like is the frequency with which they'd have to change their identities and move around in order to avoid people noticing how they don't age. This would require the frequent…
Cyrus Drake
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55
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25 answers
The Emperor's New Palace
The Galactic Emperor is making a new palace. He has one problem: he can't think of an expensive enough material to make it out of!
At first he considered gold or silver, but those are common materials. There would probably exist enough naturally…
Vincent
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55
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3 answers
Could dinosaurs breathe modern air?
During much of the Cretaceous period, oxygen levels were substantially higher than they are currently, with estimates indicating that around 30% of the atmosphere consisted of oxygen. Obviously, this indicates that species that evolved during this…
Gryphon
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Why zero tolerance on nudity in space?
Set in the immediate future, mankind visits Titan, moon of Saturn for the first time. A manned space station goes into orbit around the moon once every 4-5 hours. Actually there have been many people being sent all over the solar system. Some…
user6760
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55
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25 answers
Lifeform - resistant to gunfire but vulnerable to melee
Is there a plausible makeup for a lifeform which is highly resistant to even very advanced firearms (or any ranged weaponry for that matter), but can be injured more readily (albeit still a major feat) by close-ranged machinery/arms?
This could be a…
user6415
55
votes
46 answers
Plausible reason why my time machine can only go back a certain amount of time?
So, I have built a Time-Traveling machine. It’s a prototype, and I’ve noticed a few kinks in the machine. If the control pad gets jammed in home mode, the universe will repeat the same day for all eternity. Also, I noticed that my machine can only…
DT Cooper
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55
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22 answers
How would you bring wealth back to the past?
Edit: A few people have argued that this question is off-topic, and as I write this it looks like it will be closed soon. However, I have written a new (and hopefully better) version of the question at How could an inter-temporal banking system…
mweiss
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7 answers
What if the speed of light were 100 times higher?
Imagine the speed of light is 100 times that in our universe. Light from the moon takes about 1/100th of a second, the sunlight reaches our eyes in about 4 seconds, from nearby Alpha Centauri in about 16 days, and from the galactic center in about…
Serban Tanasa
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54
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11 answers
How could mushroom/fungi forests be possible?
I am currently working on a setting which is fantasy but based around a soft approach to speculative biology.
It is a tidally locked world with the habitable region based around the terminator between the bright hot sun side and the freezing dark,…
mental_maelstorm
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19 answers
What would be the possible benefits of pointed ears?
The title fairly well sums up the question. We all know elves have pointed ears. Whether they be LotR style with slight tapers, or full blown foot long impracticalities, all elves have pointed ears.
In a realistic context though, would there be any…
Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron
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