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The Twilight Age - Tale of Post-Apocalyptic Mars

Would also explain where the orbital infrastructures (surely there must have been an extensive one considering that Terraforming was just finished) went - they remained on our dimension.

Some might have a problem with altered physics only affecting electronics, though.
I am tempted to post a thread on SB what would happen if Mars disappeared.
 
Honestly, I am very curious too.
Make a thread then?

Also, if Mars popped out of existence, and orbital infrastructure is left behind, what happens to Mars' moons? Those remain behind as well, and ... would they stay of some stable orbit around Sun, or crash into other planets or each other?
 
Maybe if one can approach the Pandora Rift, they can still see the world as it was, complete with orbital mirror farms. Maybe they are after-image of a sort, still there and affecting Nerio even after many years since their displacement.

Maybe there is some sort of time dilation at work, keeping the rest of the Solar System at the moment of the opening of the rift.
 
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Maybe if one can approach the Pandora Rift, they can still see the world as it was, complete with orbital mirror farms. Maybe they are after-image of a sort, still there and affecting Nerio even after many years since their displacement.

Maybe there is some sort of time dilation at work, keeping the rest of the Solar System at the moment of the opening of the rift.
Depends how you want to approach it. If Mars is in fact trapped in other dimension, you will magically rule out all attempts to make a rocket and fly away.
You can firmly place it in parallel universe.
And write a story from perspective of the Earth: "A day when Mars disappeared"

And perhaps .... two version of Mars switched place. A future Earth got an now empty, dead planet, while other universe get terraformed Mars in universe that doesn't have humans. Which would mean, if you make a spaceship on Nerio and fly to Earth, you will find planet that never had any civilization in the first place.
 
Depends how you want to approach it. If Mars is in fact trapped in other dimension, you will magically rule out all attempts to make a rocket and fly away.
You can firmly place it in parallel universe.
And write a story from perspective of the Earth: "A day when Mars disappeared"

And perhaps .... two version of Mars switched place. A future Earth got an now empty, dead planet, while other universe get terraformed Mars in universe that doesn't have humans. Which would mean, if you make a spaceship on Nerio and fly to Earth, you will find planet that never had any civilization in the first place.
All good ideas.

Speaking of Pandora Rift, is it okay if I move it to a different location, such as Elysium Mons?
 
Speaking of Pandora Rift, is it okay if I move it to a different location, such as Elysium Mons?
I placed in there because it has been largely away from populated areas and lore made it so no one could really approach it, in safe manner. If you try, if radiation doesn't kill you, some nasty Stalker like anomaly will.

Elysium, like the island, has been made a main populated area, as it is now.

I am not entirely sure if you want portal to be easily accessible...

Keep in mind, it is portal to another world. What I wanted is to have a story device (that made world to be) that can't be readily used again, or even actively tries to kill something that comes nearby, because if you stick your portal to easily accessible urban area you practically invite stories where someone steps through said portal and brings some technology from some more advanced dimension. It is far easier to rule out dimension hopping that ruling out technological advancements.
 
I placed in there because it has been largely away from populated areas and lore made it so no one could really approach it, in safe manner. If you try, if radiation doesn't kill you, some nasty Stalker like anomaly will.

Elysium, like the island, has been made a main populated area, as it is now.

I am not entirely sure if you want portal to be easily accessible...

Keep in mind, it is portal to another world. What I wanted is to have a story device (that made world to be) that can't be readily used again, or even actively tries to kill something that comes nearby, because if you stick your portal to easily accessible urban area you practically invite stories where someone steps through said portal and brings some technology from some more advanced dimension. It is far easier to rule out dimension hopping that ruling out technological advancements.
I see. I was just wondering if the close proximity to the Rift was what shaped the Elysian beliefs.
 
Something I have in my mind:

As Elysium focused her effort toward the sea, their home island's inland territories were relatively neglected. Recently, however, with the influx of evacuated expats from the overseas, this has been changed. Many lands were opened up to the new colonists and granted away in exchange for military service.

Also, do you think I should justify the unusability of electronics as because of the different physics of alternate dimension, or keep the current fluff of the Spirits' presence messing with electronics?
 
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I see. I was just wondering if the close proximity to the Rift was what shaped the Elysian beliefs.
I think that it would make sense that a chance of being born with a "mage gene" (for lack of better world) increases with proximity to the gate, and thus it makes sense that more mage focused nations would be near the gate. From this perspective, placing the gate on Elysium would work ... however, we will have to establish what would happen should a person interact with the Rift, because I bet you still want to avoid dimensional hopping to be abused to a greater degree.

Alternatively, I have interesting idea I think - do exact opposite, invert the mechanic and state Pandora Gate is the place where our world physics actually seep through, hence Elysium, being far from the Gate, have much more mages than those who are much closer. Ironically enough, Hellas has same mage potential as Elysium, but went for different route for cultural reasons.

As Elysium focused her effort toward the sea, their home island's inland territories were relatively neglected. Recently, however, with the influx of evacuated expats from the overseas, this has been changed. Many lands were opened up to the new colonists and granted away in exchange for military service.
Depends where you stand with an gate business.

I personally think that Elysium would be fairly well developed, having an industry with enough steel mills, shipyard, refineries etc. and rely on import for resources. Which is a reason why they went to war, to keep the influx of cheap resources from their dominions. Depends how climate works, it may be viable to have farmlands more inland, with industries on shores where goods from colonies can be unloaded.

Also, do you think I should justify the unusability of electronics as because of the different physics of alternate dimension, or keep the current fluff of the Spirits' presence messing with electronics?

I would make it one and the same. World is stick with different dimension and it's natural presence of the spirits that causes a problem, but everyone, including the technological development, slowly acclimatize for the change. I am not fan of statis setting, but in the same time, I would like to prevent one-man industrial revolutions brought by self-insert like characters or factions.
 
Alternatively, I have interesting idea I think - do exact opposite, invert the mechanic and state Pandora Gate is the place where our world physics actually seep through, hence Elysium, being far from the Gate, have much more mages than those who are much closer. Ironically enough, Hellas has same mage potential as Elysium, but went for different route for cultural reasons.
Interesting idea.

I would make it one and the same. World is stick with different dimension and it's natural presence of the spirits that causes a problem, but everyone, including the technological development, slowly acclimatize for the change. I am not fan of statis setting, but in the same time, I would like to prevent one-man industrial revolutions brought by self-insert like characters or factions.
Agreed.
 
The Horizon DIsaster
The Horizon Disaster

The Horizon Project was supposed to revolutionize the interplanetary travel, and possibly even open up the way to colonize beyond our Solar System. By allowing Humans to instantly travel between the planets, it would have allowed them to dramatically reduce the cost of the expansion, and overcome the tyranny of distance.

Of course, it instead led to the worst disaster in the Human history, crashed the Nerinese civilization overnight in the Sorrow, and severed them from the rest of Humanity.

What exactly went wrong is lost to the time and the Sorrow, but everyone knows that the disaster started at the Pandora Lab facility on Pavonis Mons. They know this because the large 300km wide spatial anomaly that covers the entire shield volcano, visible from the great distance. Most commonly called the Spirit Gate after the extradimensional entities that arrived alongside the anomaly, it is also known as the Pandora Rift or Horizon Disaster Ground Zero. The Gate is surrounded by the deadly levels of radiation combined with nearly perpetual dust and electric storms ravaging the area, making the already desolate Tharsis Highlands even more inhospitable and lethal.

It is a commonly accepted theory that the Spirit Gate is a rift to the Spirits' home dimension, hence the name. But unbeknownst for everyone, including the Spirits, the truth is far more strange.

The Horizon Disaster did NOT open a rift to the Spirit World, instead, it displaced the entire planet of Nerio into an alternate dimension that is close to the Spirit's home dimension, thus making it possible for the Spirits to project their consciousness and energy unto the Nerio, allowing their presence to interfere with physics and make Magery possible.

That's the reason why no one from the rest of Humanity tried to reestablish contact with the Nerinese Humans - because there are no Humans outside Nerio in this universe, and why the electronics fail to work in this new world - because physics are altered by the Spirits' presence, although tech developments are slowly acclimatizing to this.

As for where the rift leads to, no one knows for now.
 
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Good. Even though, I somehow feel there is something wrong with ... phrasing? ... feel? in second half of the post. I can't say what exactly is the problem, it does still feel differently.

Also, are you going to implement the correlation between the gate and ... genetic predisposition towards magery?
 
Good. Even though, I somehow feel there is something wrong with ... phrasing? ... feel? in second half of the post. I can't say what exactly is the problem, it does still feel differently.
Anything you want to add? Anything I should elaborate more?

Also, are you going to implement the correlation between the gate and ... genetic predisposition towards magery?
Probably, but I think that's a stuff for later fluff.
 
Anything you want to add? Anything I should elaborate more?
Not at the moment. Perhaps later some rephrasing things later on ... I suspect that thing with "different physics" will eventually raise a question which laws of physics are different, and how it really work.
 
Not at the moment. Perhaps later some rephrasing things later on ... I suspect that thing with "different physics" will eventually raise a question which laws of physics are different, and how it really work.
Hmm, should I remove the reference to different physics for now?
 
Hmm, should I remove the reference to different physics for now?
Instead of different physics, let's say it allows spirits to actually interfere with a world they wouldn't be able to in our dimension. If there is entity, consciously or subconsciously interfering how physics work, rather than different physics baseline, you will get away with less explanations.
 
Instead of different physics, let's say it allows spirits to actually interfere with a world they wouldn't be able to in our dimension. If there is entity, consciously or subconsciously interfering how physics work, rather than different physics baseline, you will get away with less explanations.
Okay, how is this:

The Horizon Disaster did NOT open a rift to the Spirit World, instead, it displaced the entire planet of Nerio into an alternate dimension that is close to the Spirit's home dimension, thus making it possible for the Spirits to project their consciousness and energy unto the Nerio, allowing their presence to interfere with physics and make Magery possible.

That's the reason why no one from the rest of Humanity tried to reestablish contact with the Nerinese Humans - because there are no Humans outside Nerio in this universe, and why the electronics fail to work in this new world - because physics are altered by the Spirits' presence, although tech developments are slowly acclimatizing to this.
 
I suggest moving the SB thread under creative writing/index as it is a serious world building attempt (general is mostly post and forget), and posting details you have already established, but aren't on SB yet.
 
I suggest moving the SB thread under creative writing/index as it is a serious world building attempt (general is mostly post and forget), and posting details you have already established, but aren't on SB yet.
Would that be okay? I am hesitant to do that because I am not sure if I have much to show.

Also:

What DOESN'T exist:

1. Heavier-than-air aircraft: Aircraft technology is still very much at their pre-WW1 infancy, as much of researches are directed toward airships, which has the advantage of long range and the heavy load. Modern air travels are reliant on hydrogen-lift airships, which can be surprisingly advanced compared to general technological level.

2. Nuclear power and weapons: No attempts were made in recreating them since the Sorrow, and while scientific theories are known, technology is not yet (re)advanced enough to make them into a reality.

3. Electronics: Radio can be built, but useless due to the Spirit interference. No one managed to recreate working electronics that are immune to interference yet.

4. Reliable body armor: Like our era, weapon technology in Nerio is always ahead of protective technology. What armor they have is restricted to ceremonial dress, steel helmets, and occasional relatively lightweight armor marketed at paranoid civilians.

Also, how do you feel about the legged vehicle?
 
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Also, how do you feel about the legged vehicle?
No. I think those are bad idea. Setting doesn't have a light weight materials and electronics that you need to make those work.

Heavier-than-air aircraft: Aircraft technology is still very much at infancy, and much of researches are directed toward the rocketry. Modern air travels are reliant on hydrogen-lift airships, which can be surprisingly advanced.
I think as far as keeping the setting down on certain level, it is necessary to write off rocketry completelly, rather than heavier than air aircraft.
Working missiles are more prone to be used as I-Win button in setting focused heavily on slow, hydrogen filled aircraft.
While I would point out that no one made advancements towards the WW2 era planes just yet, and lighter than air aircraft is at it's WW1 era infancy, as Zeppelins (long range, heavy load) received much focus.

Would that be okay? I am hesitant to do that because I am not sure if I have much to show.
I think so. It's a serious worldbuilding attempt, not one post effort.
 
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Also, how do you feel about the latest post by Typhonis 1

One of he most common plants on Mars is bamboo. It can grow a foot a day under ideal conditions. It has a hundred and one uses. It can be used for scaffolding, flooring, paper, drinking vessels, pipes, bamboo shoots remain an edible treat. . Large parts of it are grown in all locations that can support the plant making it a common sight in all areas of the red planet. Next to Bamboo in usefulness is the humble cannabis plant.


The most common long distance communicator is crystal radio. Given it's low tech abilities it allows various groups to speak to one another. ((Fun fact Crystal Radios were used before vacuum tubes replaced crystals.))
Obviously the radio is out, but bamboo could work.
 
Obviously the radio is out, but bamboo could work.
We probably need to work out the nature of interference.
As far electronics goes, obviously, vast majority of all electronics has been damaged beyond repair, and technology didn't advanced well enough to make fine electronics. Crude electric circuits, like lighting, generators or engines can be worked out, anything fine will have serious issues and fail to work properly. Virtually, nature of the interference make microchips impossible at this moment.

Crude radio does work, however there is another interference that messes with signals.
 
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