Welcome to [!worldbuilding@lemmygrad.ml](https://lemmygrad.ml/c/worldbuilding)! This is a place to share, discuss, and develop fictional worlds for writing, visual art, game development, or just creating them for fun! Worldbuilding is an important part of creating fiction and I'd love to see what my comrades have created! It doesn't have to specifically be socialist or leftist worlds, any genre is fine as long as the broader Lemmygrad rules are followed, though I suspect a lot of us *will* be posting about socialist worlds. I really hope I can help kick off a socialist writing community on Lemmygrad! Also, if anyone who's a long-time Lemmygrad user wants to help moderate, hit me up!

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3167507 > I've posted about this world before [here](https://hexbear.net/post/536533) and [here](https://hexbear.net/post/596720). > > It's an alternate history. Colonialism never happened in the first place. The world remained tribal, and traditional cultures remain strong. But 21st century tech develops. There is a lack of capitalism and exploitation. > > I downloaded these pics from the multiversal interwebs: > > ---- > >  > > Traditionally nomadic cultures – such as this Australian bushman – remain nomadic in the 21st century. But their lives are made easier by technology. Under capitalism, developing technology keeps some people poor but increases the wealth of a few. In the solarpunk, non-colonial world, people use tools like this off-road tricycle to make their traditional lifestyles easier. > > ---- > >  > > North American cultures follow the still-great buffalo herds. They use offroad vehicles that run on gasified biomass they harvest as they go. These vehicles are no faster than a horse. That guy on the right? I guess he's a tourist from a traditional European country; he's visiting his friends. They'll speak the Esperanto-type language to each other. > > ---- > >  > > This picture was taken in a subway station in Cahokia. > > ---- > >  > > This is a typical sight in the [northeast megaregion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_megalopolis). This is what the longhouses of the Haudenosaunee people look like in the 21st century. > > ---- > >  > > The fishing cultures of North Europe live within the ecological limits. Some fish are still wild-caught, providing 5-10% of the diet. Others are farmed in [open ocean farms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_aquaculture). Members of a large (town-sized or city-sized) tribal confederacy have the customary right to harvest from these waters, and manage the wild stock and the farms as a commons. > > ---- > >  > > My post linked above discusses guilds. One guild that exists, alongside doctors, tailors, and microchip-fabricators, is the Soapwitch guild. They have knowledge of local wildflowers, oils, and that sort of thing. Their job is to provide soap, perfume, toothpaste etc. for free to members of their tribe (instead of Unilever and Colgate doing it for profit). It's their tribe's reciprocal obligation to give them food, shelter, protection, etc.

Sooo this is gonna be a long one. It's some sci-fi fantasy thingy, but whatever just read. So geographically its kinda a mess right now, but the only really important thing is that their is a large monster filled wasteland in the north, called the northern no man land. # Major factions This list is incomplete, and only contains factions that have at least one character and a little bit of lore in them at the moment. First the leftist factions: ## Nordfront Originally a paramilitary group founded to protect the independent Communities (such as small counties, city states and villages) in the far north from the monster of the northern wasteland. Today it still serves in that purpose, but has also developed into a marxist-leninst group that works to liberate all people of the world. The group, under various names, has existed for several hundred years. ## The Eastern Republic A young socialist republic in the east (woah who would have thought!). It was founded 20 years ago after the end of a civil war, which the revolutionary forces won with support from Nordfront. It has since developed into one of the biggest scientific and economic powerhouses in the world. ## Demokratische Republik Nordland/DRN (Democratic republic of north land) A socialist state in the north west. While mostly isolated, it's national university is the center of global science. It was founded nearly 90 years ago, when the quickly modernizing region required a proper government to be created. It is one of the major supporters of Nordfront and Everblue Engineering. ## Everblue Engineering A more or less state owned company run by the DRN, Nordfront and the Eastern republic. It's jobs include, but are not limited too: Industrial cooperation, construction of research and military installations, covert support for revolutionary movements, trading, etc. I could make a whole own post about them, but this will do for now. now the other factions in no particular order : ## Lionese Empire Basically the British empire but fantasy scifi. That's kinda it (for now). ## The Federation of Independents A collection of independent villages in the Iron Mountains. They are protected by the Union of Dragons (a local group of dragon-born). Very limited industry. ## The 12 Cities A southern desert country (similar in climate to northern Africa), currently occupied by the Lionese Empire. It primarily consist of 12 cities. Duh. # Some things about the magic system Now the first thing to talk about are the following groups: - animal-born: Those born with the traits of animals (these can be mythological beings like dragons too) - magic-born: Those born with an extremely high natural affinity for magic - non-humans: human like beings that are not actually humans, for example animal spirits, aka animals with human level intelligence who can also communicate with humans Note that most non-humans are magic born. Magic-born are extremely rare in normal humans and animal-born, although slightly more common in the later. ## Casting Most people need casting units to use magic. This is because ordinary people don't have any way do control magic by them selves. While casting without a casting unit can be learned to some extent, however for most casters it is not a skill worth perusing. Modern technology has made casting somewhat easier, mainly through Computer Assisted Casting Units (CACU). ## Animal-born They have some traits from a specific animal, fictional or real. They can also be refereed to as specific-thing-born, for example wolf-born for those with the traits of wolfs or dragon-born for those with the traits of dragons. These are also called the races of the animal-born. The extent of differences between 'normal' humans and animal born varies greatly. For example, other than the ears and tail, a cat-born will only vary minimal from 'normal' humans. However the dragon-born have significant differences to them, such as height, additional organs, significantly higher strength, etc. on top of their obvious 'animal' traits. ## Magic-born Most of them have specialized organs to use magic. This means that they do not need casting units to use magic. In fact, usually casting units are detrimental to their abilities. Due to the fact that magic is natural to them from birth, to them it is as simple as breathing. Magic-born are thus far more capable than ordinary people. A magic-born ten year old often is better at using magic than a trained professional non magic-born caster. However this is not necessarily a good thing: Almost all education for casters, which is necessary to actually make use of one's magic ability, is aimed at non magic-born. This is simply because magic born are so rare, that even filling a class with them would be pretty hard in, and finding an adequate teacher would also not be very easy. This leads to most magic born not having good control of their abilities. Due to the fact that they are quite powerful, a major loss of control could lead to both the deaths of anyone to close and the magic-born themselves. I'll now go to sleep. See you tomorrow internet people.

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](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3055620) 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? This world is supposed to be socialist so I'd love a socialist (or leftist in general) perspective on this!

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?

#

Ten years after the invaders came across the ocean, the Southern Lindsen Federation collapsed after an invasion from the puppet state of the Eastern Lindsen Commision. The monarch of the federation, Brandon Holstein, fell into despair as his dream of a Lindsen unified again was shattered, and power was increasingly funneled into the hands of powerful industrialists even as he attempted to modernize his unwieldy nation. He entrusted command of the rump state to his protege, the ultranationalist solider turned utopian Albert Stahler shortly before his death. Stahler disbanded the army upon taking command and organized an Army of the Masses, quickly slaughtering the industrialists and bringing industry under state command. The advance of the ELC forced him to cede eastern lands, but he expanded into the microstates of the west to the SLF's former borders and beyond, spreading his dream of an egalitarian future. To the north, the cowardly but weakened collaborator state Burgune presses upon what was once Lindsen's northern border. To the northwest, the ailing kingdom belonging to Immanuel LeCoq threatens to collapse at any moment and provide a path for the ELC towards the center of Lindsen's many petty warlords and despots. Despite these difficulties, Stahler believes that his borders will once again stretch from the Raimat to the Lohne rivers. Stahler seeks his brother Otto who was lost in action ten years ago, during the first defenses. He may not be ready for what he will find.

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!

The Ikusaban system was a sociopolitical system created by Mukuro Ikusaba following the death of Junko Enoshima at Hope's Peak at the hands of the Red Army. As vast swaths of territory were still under Imperium control, she set out to purge the planet of hope with nuclear fire to bring about the fabled Despair-Endsieg and to establish a superior race of superhuman post-hopist pure doomerites by the natural selection that the extremely harsh conditions following would inevitably lead to. Campaigns where entire cities and stretches of land were gassed had been around since the mid-Junkosreich era but was intensified towards the end, especially with the military and logistics factions vying for control by trying to gas as much land and people as possible. No actual nuclear weapons were used until after Junko's death, and only three were ever launched; however, the result of a year of intense chemical warfare and artillery barrages was that a large chunk (approximately 13%) of Western Europe, North America, and a portion of Eastern Europe was rendered uninhabitable. The Ikusaban system also involved a theoretical warrior race that would be instilled with loyalty by being brought up in the harsh conditions of Todesstädte, or Death Cities, and have superior fighting skill, while being additionally free from hope. High-level imperium officials believed that these warriors would be able to serve their purposes, the remaining population could safely be cleansed with advanced nuclear weaponry. One point that the Imperium leadership failed to consider was that everybody would have fucking died.

The KPW (Kommunistischepartei der Wolfstaat) is quite old to say the least being founded some 500 years prior (did not become ruling party until 200 years later). It was originally a coalition of some of the more radical factions of some workers' guilds. Why did it take so long? - First, their line of communism when they were founded was much closer to petty booj and ultra-left variants ranging from Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to Anarcho-communism which meant their praxis was a mess and didn't resemble anything even close to Marxism-Leninism until some 70 years before the revolution. - Second, rampant chauvinism - this caused several splits throughout the party's first 200 years of existing. The most recent split was between the Neocommunists led by Chairwoman Kristina Wagner and the Paleocommunists (i.e. patsocs, ultras, and leftcoms) over two major reasons: the International Question and the Mage Question. - Third, material conditions. Wolfstaat was still a peasant country when it was founded with industry being close to... non-existent. - Fourth, they lacked the masses' support until the great war. They had no idea how to get the masses to back them until Sergei Molotov's leadership.

Welcome to Lindsen! It's a sub-continent to the east of the Gorsen Mountains, which are rich in mineral deposits. Sure, the soil is bad and rocky and the climate can get pretty cold, especially up north, but here there's some of the richest oil and coal deposits in the whole world! Perhaps that's why the many nations of this divided region have turned up many industrial powers, short-lived as many may be. The largest nation in this region is the northeaster Lindsen(the country, not the continent). They are believed to be the direct descendants of the original humans who migrated here before the theorized Ice Bridge melted and cut them off permanently from their old home, where savages still reign supreme. Well, nobody knows for sure, because any ships that leave the shallow waters kilometers from shore are sure to be attacked by sea monsters. It's not, like, superstition or anything. There are actual sea monsters, and they eat boats and stuff. Recently, only sixty or so years ago, in fact, Lindsen entered an exciting new era as rapid scientific advances allowed for the creation of advanced machines such as birdless carriages, airships, machine manufacturies, and many such beneficial innovations. While some worry about the negative effects releasing large amounts of smoke into the air will have, little actual consequences have been detected by scientists. With this wave of advance comes the ultimate ideology of populism----where the people choose their leaders, widely regarded as the culmination and final form of State. In the true Lindsen spirit, a compromise between the nobles and commoners was reached. Political candidates come from noble families, guaranteeing that they are educated and enlightened. Long ago, the matriarchic ancestors of the modern Lindsenians were theorized to have migrated across the Great Ice Bridge, where the many man-eating birds and other such carnivorous animals put the hunting skills of these ancient men at the forefront of society, a trend that has continued to this day. With recent improvements in shipbuilding, new steamers with steel bottoms will finally be able to resist the crushing bites of sea monsters. Parties have already planned for a joint expedition, which will no doubt foster unity between the many nations of Lindsen (the region, not the country). If successful, they will succeed in civilizing the savages who still remain in their homelands, and exploit the fertile soils for their own use. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

imgur.com

"Your starmap. I like it. Isn't it beautiful? Look at those stars. They're so docile now, just floating like that, just ghostly projections... I could stare at it all day." ----Leto, upon seeing Miu's Starmap following engaging in energy-intensive activities. Not much to see here. Just an average Ixian middle school project, kept for sentimental value. Maybe she'll even give it to Leto. It's still a fine piece of machinery.

Basically, I have a sci-fi world with intelligent animals. The story is that long after humans disappeared from the Earth, animals eventually become intelligent and made their own society to replace them. One major development in their history is that predators and prey agreed to live in harmony, signing treaties, making laws, and generally working very hard to ensure lasting peace between natural enemies. One aspect of this is of course prosecuting animals that engage in predation. The way criminal trials work in this world is that every animal has the right to be tried by members of their own species or taxonomic group, who are also responsible for carrying out sentencing. Each animal has a taxonomic government to answer to, so if you're a cat you are under the jurisdiction of the Feline government, mouse, Rodent government, bird, Avian government, etc. Each animal follows the same basic laws and regulations that all taxonomic governments agree on, things like prohibiting predation is one of these, but each government can also pass taxon-specific legislation, and are also able to determine criminal penalties independently. The Felines only had their revolution a few years ago, when they overthrew their old kingdom which was very pro-predation, and made a republic that has signed the Interspecies Peace Agreement and is therefore very anti-predation. Because it's so recent, the Felines also have the harshest punishments for a predation conviction made after the revolution. One count of first degree predation (when you personally kill then eat an animal) is an automatic life in prison without parole, the same penalty as "regular" murder without eating the victim, two or more counts is life in prison unless the prosecution requests for the death penalty at the start of trial and this is authorized by both the judge and the Feline Ministry of Security. Generally, courts stop at two predation convictions even if it's obvious that the defendant committed more, since that's enough to either put them away forever with no chance of parole, or kill them. Second degree predation, AKA simple predation, where you eat already dead animals that someone else killed, is treated much less harshly and sentencing options only has fixed term imprisonment possibly with parole, though with restrictions afterward like you can't work in the government or security-critical industries unless the court lifts those restrictions on a case by case basis. The ISPA lists execution after being convicted beyond a reasonable doubt of a crime that causes the death of two or more other animals as the only exception to the no killing rule, and it can only be done by members of the same species or taxonomic entity, and is also subject to oversight and can even be blocked outright by other ISPA members through the ISPA Inter-Taxon Court, so they also do not have full autonomy on who they can execute, and taxa that have the death penalty much also must make their execution methods (which are mandated to always prioritize minimizing suffering), judicial procedures, and statistics public. They do also use the threat of execution as a way of getting information about a predation case though. If they catch a Feline who is apart of a predation ring, it's better than nothing but they'd obviously much rather take down the leader and the entire organization. The Feline Ministry of Security can basically tell the accused "Look, your trial date has been set, the prosecution has requested authorization to use the death penalty from us, and you know what evidence they have on you. We're still trying to decide if we want to grant that request. It's up to you and we can't force you to give us any information, but is there anything you want to tell us about your organization or do you want to gamble with whether you'll be found guilty or not?" Funnily enough most of these cats don't care that they're killing sapient prey animals that have lives and families and stories, but break real fast when it's their own life on the line. The Felines (and any ISPA member for that matter) can also arrest other species if they commit a crime on their territory or against a their own animals, but within the Interspecies Peace Agreement member species, animals have the right to stand trial and receive sentencing by their own species or taxon, so most they can do is investigate the crime, form a case with evidence, and then extradite the defendant back and forward their findings to the government that actually has jurisdiction. Most they can do to a non-Feline is detain them, extradite, and then ban them from Feline territory. However, any ISPA non-signatories, AKA predators that are actually predators and eat prey, who engage in predation, either against any ISPA member species anywhere in the world, or on ISPA territory against any animal; are not granted this right (obviously, since if you extradited them back to their own territory they'd be home free). So if you eat a cat or eat a mouse or bird or any other animal on Feline territory, you are dealt with just like any predatory cat by the Feline government regardless of what the laws by your own taxonomic government is. I should also add that *every* animal is intelligent/sapient in this world. So predation really would be like murder. No copouts like eating fish or whatever. Even in universe this is quite controversial even among prey species so I'm not trying to claim that this is the ideal state of the law, but I'm more trying to make sure if this makes sense or not. I also know that they will almost certainly have very different morals and ethics for humans, but then again I'm writing this story for humans so not sure how relevant that actually is. Is the motivation of having a death penalty despite not even allowing animals to eat meat a realistic one?

So basically, this is a sci-fi fantasy world with intelligent/sapient animals. Not anthros like in Zootopia, just regular animals that can all talk to each other, form societies, and develop science and technology. Obviously, predation is a massive, central issue to this world, being that it was the primary driving force of all animals for most of their history. However, they have now progressed enough technologically where even obligate carnivores like cats can get all their required nutrients without needing to eat other animals, with sufficient help from their biochemistry and chemical manufacturing prowess. Obviously, this does not mean every single species who historically did eat meat stop overnight. Actually, some would argue that the journey toward abolishing predation, a journey marked by revolution, war, and death for both sides, is almost as bloody and violent as predation itself (this is a massive logical fallacy yes, but it is an opinion held by many in-universe and I explore that in my plot). First, some context: I will be using the terms Carnivore and Herbivore, to refer to the *biochemical* characteristics of animals. In their universe, those designations, when capitalized as proper nouns, have fairly straight forward definitions: A carnivore is any animal that, without access to science or technology, is incapable of deriving their complete nutritional requirements without eating meat, they cannot subsist on raw plants alone without processing and/or taking synthetic supplements. A cat is a carnivore, so is a dog, so is a ferret, so is a fox, so are humans technically but they disappeared from the planet millions of years ago. By contrast, a herbivore is any animal that *can* subsist on raw plants alone, like mice, rabbits, horses, and deer. This definition is *purely* biochemical, as in do you have the enzymes and gut structure to do it, and by design does not take into account things like preference, behaviour, culture/religion, or how practical it would be (if there was only plant that can sustain you and literally nothing else other than meat, it still counts), because, again, they have the technology to allow basically every animal to subsist on plants, comfortably at that, minus it not tasting the same. You're either one or the other, if you're not sure, then Carnivore is the catch-all term unless your ability to subsist on raw plants is verifiable. Omnivore isn't really as a term in this world since pretty much every animal is technically an omnivore, as in they *can* eat and digest both meat and plants, including nearly every "Herbivore." Likewise, terms like predator and prey imply behaviour and ecology, not biochemistry, and most animals fell into both categories historically, but with their technology those terms have become so fluid as to be essentially meaningless. Which brings me to the in-universe opinions that I have come up with, they relate to both predation and interspecies coexistence in general, since those kind of go paw to paw. Note that these are super generalized and are in no particular order. # Carnivores: * "It's my right to eat my prey, no matter how much suffering it causes! I don't care what technologies are available, predation is the natural order of things and should never be challenged! The role of a predator is to dominate and rule their prey. Maybe the prey would suffer less if they just accepted and made peace with their place on the food chain!" (This is called Trophism.) * "Predation is both barbaric and totally obsolete in our current technological landscape. It is unbecoming of an intelligent, sapient species with complete control over our primitive instincts. Every species is equal, we should all live in peace as comrades and work together to take care of and benefit everyone!" (This is called Unitism.) * "Look, I'll concede that we shouldn't be *eating* other animals and actively making them suffer. But I just can't agree to this interspecies cooperation nonsense. My only responsibility to my own species (or taxon, which is a group of related species), no one else. I won't hunt my prey but I won't be helping them without benefit to myself either." # Herbivores * "Even though I'm low on the food chain, it is still my place. I don't want to be eaten and will try to avoid it to the best of my ability, but if that's what it comes to, then so be it." (Trophism) * "I don't want you to eat me, in fact I want to be your friend and ally! I think every species is equal and that your evolutionary history does not define an intelligent animal, and as long as we all commit to being nice to each other, there is no reason every species can't live in harmony!" (Unitism) * "Those savages hunted us for generations! I don't care if they don't do that anymore, I don't care how long not a single member of their species has even so much as mildly hurt another animal! Not only do I not want to ally with them, I think it's the duty of my species or taxon, as the prey, to rise up and destroy my predators! No amount of peacemaking now can undo nature and I'd turn the tables and kill every single one of them if I could!" * "Hey, it's nice that you're not eating prey anymore and all, and though I don't harbour any active ill will toward you, I still don't trust you and just want to be left alone with my own species or taxon. You don't interact with me if you don't need to and I don't interact with you if I don't need to, cool?" What are your thoughts? Are there any more sides to this issue that you can come up with? And personally, which one would you most agree with if you were in this world?

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A very basic dropship, but it's good for moving soldiers around. Can carry: 50 soldiers (Reserves, Despair Speakers, SS), but up to 80 if they pack tight enough, or 390 monokumas. Defenses and machinery: four suspensors with side flaps to prevent burning nearby soldiers. No defenses other than a single radio jammer situated above the dropship. Some carried shield projectors. Built by: Lockheed martin. Produced mostly during the imperium days, especially near its end. A large amount were sent into later battles, including the Battle of Hope's Peak Academy, where many were shot down by Red Army lasguns.

Yet another term stolen from dune. I know, ok? Balisets, also known as Field Pianos or Marching Pianos, were a type of nine-stringed musical instruments that originated on Kaitan during the late 2030th to early 2040th decades, where they were used as pianos would be in an outdoor setting. The baliset's nine strings were constructed of Lyrosteel, a type of steel fiber manufactured of Hiram IX that could amplify and, to a certain extent, tune notes. These strings were attached to small rectangular regulators that could be adjusted. The strings ended on a rhombus-shaped chorus-amplifyer that could improve the sound of the music in addition to the effects of the material of the string itself. An electric fan was placed below the chorus-amplifyer that served to not only cool off the internal workings of the instrument while outside, but also cooled off the performer. Finally, a pair of suspensors were placed at the bottom of the heavy instrument, which, when turned on, could allow the baliset to hover and be easily moved while the performer focused on playing. The ability of a baliset to be played as a piano while being significantly easier to be played mobile made it popular for junior high and high school orchestras, especially on Kaitan, where the instrument originated. One such baliset was played by Kaede Akamatsu during a Kaitanese junior high Infantry Scouts excercise.

"Monika, you must realize that I take no pointless actions. There is a purpose behind every policy, every interaction. With these seemingly unnecessarily cruel actions I am aiming teach a lesson. What lesson you take is determined by how willing you are to face the truth." ---- Junko Enoshima. 'Junkonomics' refers to a system of policies within the Imperium of Despair that aimed to further the Golden Path, unbeknownst to most Imperium officers at the time. The first step to achieve this system was the replacement of currency. The old Dollar was replaced with Monomarks, which were then rapidly distributed to reach hyperinflation. By the end of the Imperium, inflation had reached 10^32 times base value, rendering Monomarks mostly worthless. As an example, it was worth less to use the currency as toilet paper rather than to actually purchase toilet paper---if any plants to manufacture it remained in business. The main result of this was, aside from a massive decrease in standard of living, the rapid reduction of profits for major companies, which rendered them completely subject to the Padishah Kaiserin's whim, as they relied on her gold subsidies to maintain operations. The major companies allowed to exist were: McDonalds, the sole provider of food in the Imperium, Lockheed Martin, the Imperium's weapon manufacturer, and Microsoft, the provider of electronics and other such technological needs. The second part of Junkonomics was an engineered decrease in living standards; that is to say, the removal of minimum wage, as well as the extension of the workday to 20 hours. This, compounded with the effects of Monomark hyperinflation, meant that those who were not billionaires would all be affected and forced to find other ways of survival aside from the conformity to capitalism they had once. As the Golden Path predicted, this massively strengthened the Red Army. Junkonomics ended following the death of the Padishah Kaiserin and the subsequent collapse of the Imperium, giving way to global socialist planned economy. Would you like to know more?

Kaitan is the third planet in the orbit of the star Arcturus, approximately 37 light-years from earth. It is classified as a paradise planet, with no seasons and all-around temperate climate, excluding ice caps at the poles. It is mostly terrestrial; however, many large lakes dot its surface. Kaitain has no known geological activity, though it has a magnetic field. A single day on Kaitan is approximately 6 earth days, while a Kaitan year is around 12 earth years. This is a result of the planet's distance from its star, which is part of the reason for its fair weather----the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere, coupled to the large star, would render the planetary heat unbearable were it any closer to its system's center. To accommodate for the unusual day/night cycle, the citizenry's windows are generally equipped with spinshards to simulate night during sleeping hours. The planet is approximately 5/4 times the size of earth, and its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, with significant Argon and Neon content. This has changed since human pioneers arrived, and the oxygen concentration is now stabilized at around 20%, the result of the mass planting of tropical and garden plants that thrive in the climate. In stark contrast to the industrial planet of Hiram IX, Kaitan's population is more devoted to artistic pursuits, perhaps related to the pleasant environment. For example, it is the homeworld of Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist who is due to board a Soviet no-ship. Single-celled life once existed on Kaitan, as an abundance of fossils and massed structures can prove. However, they eventually died out when they metabolized most of the previous atmosphere into carbon dioxide and were unable to evolve photosynthesis as a result of the planet's distance from its star. Yes this is a Dune reference. I just thought it was a nice name, ok?

"You have the right to talk to me about Rakistan? What right do you have to preach to me about your idiotic religions worshiping your failed divided goddess, clinging to hope---ha! There's the word!--- that her fragmented mind has somehow survived through the worms? I've studied the worms myself, much harder than you or any of the others in your pretentious shadow of a religion-tribe ever have. You Museum Despair are filth! Filth tainting the surface of pristine Rakistan!"---- Lyla Raek to Sheina Hinata Yikes. That's not very nice, Lyla. But... who are the Museum Despair? Who is this Divided Goddess they worship? And how did they get there? After the fall of the Imperium, there was suddenly a large amount of war criminals and hard-line doomers in the custody of the new governments that had to be dealt with. Complicating this fact was that most of them were underage, and therefore ineligible for execution. However, a solution was proposed: with the new no-ship technology discovered in the Padishah Kaiserin's cache, they would be sent to start a colony on the harsh desert planet of Rakistan while it was being oxygenated by the massive sandworms the Tyrant left behind. The Museum Despair, as they were called, took it upon themselves to preserve their ancient traditions and rituals and saw moderate success as a tourist attraction. Despite this, some criticized the Museum Despair as only a vestigial relic to satisfy the morbid curiosity of visitors and also claimed they had deviated from their original values into a sort of crude imitation. Despite these criticisms, the Museum Despair persisted, eventually evolving their own pseudo-culture revolving around the desert. They came to worship the sandworms in the Rakistani deserts as their deity, believing that the spirit of Jalib Alyas resided inside the creatures. It was considered a great honor for the Museum Despair when one of their own, Sheina Hinata, capable of limited communications to the sandworms, was selected for the no-ship voyage of the Krasnyi Fujisaki. There, she developed a special interest in Haika, the resurrected flesh of her Divided Goddess.

Translated to English from the original Chinese: Leto Makotovich Naegi was born on 4/19/2039 in Leningrad, to general Makoto Naegi and Army Group Commander Kyoko Kirigiri. As of 2056, he is 17 years old and is currently attending Lenin High School. In terms of personality, he is general business-oriented though caring to his friends (i.e the Ghola-Child under his his custody, Haika), and looks up to general Pavel Arkhangelsky as his role model. He has often been termed a "model soviet youth". Featured on the cover of this issue is the Krasnyi Fujisaki, the no-ship that he will soon be boarding this year. It is speculated that the name "Leto" is derived from Leto II Atreides from the Dune franchise, by Frank Herbert. This would not be the first time important historical figures have been inspired by this work, seeing as the Tyrant famously drew inspiration from said God-Emperor in constructing her Golden Path.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3035737 > I'm making a github organization that uses GitConsensus to manage a collaborative markdown worldbuilding wiki. Basically, you'd vote on pull requests using thumbs up and down emojis. > > I don't want this to be a thing where I point at an empty text document and say "worldbuild." What's some work I could do beforehand that could get people interested in contributing?

Nobody knows what Bruce T's real name is. What we do know is that the 'T' in his pseudonym stands for 'tankie', referring to his leftist politics. Bruce T was a famous Marxist-Leninist kung-fu monk, who was living in America when the Doomerist Jihad started. Despite multiple attempts to recruit him, Bruce T refused to join the Despair Speakers, stating that the Imperium's fascist policies could never align with his own. As a young child, Bruce T grew up in China, where he was trained in martial arts in the Shaolin temple. From a young age he developed amazing skills, capable of easily defeating his peers, or even many of them at once due to his long hours of practice. Afterwards, Bruce T decided to go around the world to fight martial artists from every country. However, when he was in America, the Doomerist Jihad started and he found himself unable to leave. Due to being a rogue rebel and dangerous dissident, Bruce T was extensively hunted by the Imperium of Despair, primarily by Bashar Mukuro Ikusaba during the Jihad. However, Bruce demonstrated extraordinary aptitude with martial arts, at times taking on hundreds of Reserves or Monokuma units at once. Bruce T once found a group of scared children inside a school. While he was searching for food to give to them, they were slaughtered by Bashar Ikusaba, causing him to develop a strong hatred for the commander. They fought on several occasions after that, with neither side managing to gain the upper hand. Near the end of the Jihad, Bruce T was swarmed by Despair Speakers, and almost died. However, he was saved by Duncan Illinois at the last moment and joined the Red Army afterwards.

I'm trying to write a dark (and communist) twist on a classic princess story for this world. Their monarchy is modeled after my best interpretation of and assumptions about royalty in Medieval/Renaissance Western Europe (it doesn't actually take place there, but I wanted that general aesthetic), but that's not something I've done a lot of research on and would like people more knowledgeable to weigh in. Is there anything in the character profile I have for her that would absolutely not happen in a Western European style monarchy? Context for this world is that it is inhabited by intelligent animals, think Zootopia but more sci-fi, and with quite a bit more political and societal turmoil during the time period this post focuses on. Also, these are normal, animal shaped animals, not anthros. They do have human scale lifespans though, if only because a 15-20 year lifespan for a cat is not conducive to detailed character development. Princess Iliana the Second (her mom is the first), later known as Nikita Almondtail, was the crown princess and heir to the throne of the former Feline Empire. She is a domestic cat with a coat of brown and cream patches. One might even go as far to say that the brown tones on her fur, which extends to her tail, resembles the colour of an almond. Predictably, she was born to a life of the highest luxury, at least materially. As a kitten, her father, the king, would beat her mercilessly for any perceived transgression, while her mother mostly ignored her. She was born into a time of great unrest in the empire. The Unitist movement was picking up speed, which is an ideology that involves making peace and cooperation between predator and prey animals, collective ownership of property and resources, basically vegan socialism. The king was trying to quell the dissident voices in his typical brutal way, but was failing slowly but surely. This was endlessly enraging and terrifying for the king, and he took it out on his helpless daughter. This caused her to both fear and resent her father from a young age. Even at this early age she could recognize the irony in being taught that royalty must be graceful and elegant in everything they do, that they cannot so much as slam a door or make a thud when setting something down on a table or the floor, yet the king beats her whenever he sees fit. At some point in her childhood, she asked her mother for a mouse toy, as in, a plushie that she can cuddle when alone in her chambers. Her mother, not really paying attention to what she was actually asking for, went and got a live mouse from the kitchen and gave it to her to basically be her personal slave. However, she quickly grew attached to the mouse, which she considered her only friend. The mouse would often be the one tending to her bruises and scratches after her father beats her senseless. At the same time, she was being taught how to hunt. But, due to her emotional attachment to her own mouse, she couldn't reconcile whether mice were friends or food. What made that one so special? And what makes these mice so worthless that they are fit to be eaten alive? Combined with the fact that her father, whom she already hated, was pushing her to learn to hunt, she despised every moment of it. Some cats greatly enjoy the screams and pleas of their prey, her father sure did, but she was not one of those cats. In her teenage years, as she secretly worked to gain precious few morsels of knowledge of the outside world that her parents had tried to keep from her, about the nature of being a cat, and hints of the disparity and oppression that the working class beyond her castle wall faced. She became obsessed with the idea of being an obligate carnivore and the idea of biological dependence on prey. Specifically, why? Why couldn't she eat plants like her prey did? What about her body was preventing her from not having to kill to live? When she became an adult, her parents wanted her to begin her training as the successor to the throne immediately, all in the palace of course, she can count on her paws the number of times she was allowed off its grounds. But, she somehow managed to convince them to let her go to university first, arguing that an educated ruler would be taken more seriously by the other powers in diplomacy. She was enrolled in the Royal Feline Science Institute's Moonpeak campus (Moonpeak is their capital city so it was literally within walking distance) and began studying biochemistry, following what she had been curious about for a big part of her life. This is when she also adopted the name Nikita Almondtail to hide her real identity. As a side note, the last name scheme of something in nature plus a cat body part is squarely a working class name. Her calling herself Almondtail would have been extremely scandalous should the aristocracy or god forbid her dad finds out. She learned about the biochemical mechanisms of her own nutritional requirements, and also learned about the work that other predator animals have done toward making peace with their prey, the cutting edge of which was the dietary enzyme supplement, a pill that is swallowed to give predator animals the ability to subsist on plant-based food. This greatly intrigued her, but unfortunately, the only products available are for omnivores, not carnivores, so she could not take advantage of it. It's also during this time that she met [Yvonne Dandelionpaw](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ficiverse/comments/nkcex9/char_yvonne_dandelionpaw_the_chemist_cat/) (Old Reddit link, actually it's a little out of date with my developments for Yvonne, but she's my main character so I'm spending more time editing and adding to her profile before I post a proper updated version on Lemmy) who was studying quantum chemistry, but who was also a vocal Unitist. They formed a connection and became friends, with Yvonne even taking Nikita to general meetings of the underground Unitist cell that Yvonne was apart of. They even worked on a joint thesis project for their degrees, developing an enzyme supplement for obligate carnivores, which they would later perfect and turn into the product now known as ATDP, which is the first and still only dietary enzyme supplement capable of providing complete nutrition to felines from plant-based sources. It is unclear exactly when Nikita revealed her real identity, but we do know that she revealed it in her final year of university, first to Yvonne, then to the rest of the Unitist group, denouncing her father and his empire and vowing to join them in their [revolution](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/990183). First there was a great amount of friction and distrust toward the princess, but it was quite quickly worked out, many members saying afterward that they could somehow just tell that she was sincere. After some brainstorming, it was decided that she would go back to the royal palace, while keeping in secret communications with the Unitists and acting as a double agent. The aristocracy was beginning to take her more seriously now that she was an adult, and because the king was aging fast and rumored to already be in poor health. She misdirected and deceived them prior to and during the outbreak of the revolution. As her involvement was becoming more clear, she officially defected to the side of the revolution, re-joining Yvonne as they once again worked together, this time to develop a covert, nearly untraceable neurotoxin that was used to carry out highly targeted assassinations on key members of the aristocracy and military. At this point she had fully changed her name to Nikita Almondtail, casting away her royal past and resolving to make a new life for herself as a unitist worker. As the revolution drew to a close and the trials against the monarchy began, Nikita was the only member of the royal family who did not so much as see the inside of a courtroom, she was seen as a comrade at that point. The rest of her family was sentenced to death. Nikita attended the execution of her father. Standing in the first row, making sure his father could see her in the crowd. As the firing squad took aim, it's said that Nikita's eyes burned with satisfaction and triumph. Does this progression make sense? What are your thoughts on her backstory? BTW yes, this is inspired by that one Chinese emperor who got successfully re-educated into a worker following the revolution in China.

So the aviation industry in my science-fantasy socialist world with intelligent animals is dominated by hovercrafts. They levitate and move by manipulating gravitational fields, and can move freely in any direction, are very quick to respond to control inputs, can hover in place or go as slow as they want since they don't have a stall speed. Basically, if regular planes are like an eagle soaring in the clouds, a hovercraft is like a hummingbird darting around with absolute precision. However, hovercrafts can also be very fast, with the ones used in commercial aviation having a similar top speed as today's airliners, with the benefit of course that they can slow way down on takeoff and landing (both of which are done vertically onto a landing pad) and only hit their top speed in cruise. But, they also have birds and other flying animals in this world, and obviously safety is extremely important. The gravitational slipstream engines of hovercraft are considered safe for flying animals to approach at low speeds, as they do not have spinning blades or create strong air currents, that's why they are the norm for aircraft and the only type allowed in populated areas. So really the only real thing to worry about is a collision. For the brunt of collision avoidance, my solution is to have to stratified airspaces: Animal-prioritized airspace starts from the ground and extends to some predetermined level above either the average tree line in a forest, or above an absolute altitude value, depending on jurisdiction, it would be set based on how high birds and other animals can actually fly on their wings (which according to [this](https://www.livescience.com/55455-how-high-can-birds-fly.html) is apparently about 5500 m being the highest *typical* altitude, but some of the highest recorded being over 7000 m. For reference a 737 has a max altitude of 41000 ft, or about 12500 m), above which the airspace is designated for aircraft. Basically, in airspace where you'd expect to run into flying animals, they get absolute priority because they are extremely vulnerable in a collision. Their cruising altitudes are similar to our planes, because they *absolutely* need to be well above *any* animal when traveling at high speeds. To quote one of my avian characters: "Back when cats still ate prey, if you got caught your death rate was, what? 50 percent? 60? And that's pretty bad. An animal on aircraft collision is more like a 99.9% death rate." However, hovercrafts still need to descend into the forest canopy to land and drop off/pick up passengers. I envision landing pads both on the ground, inside tree cover, and on the roofs of buildings providing last-mile transportation in a city. They don't have to deal with bumper to bumper traffic like we do with private cars because they only have essentially aerial busses and public transit, but that only means a hovercraft would only come every few minutes, and the rest of the time its path would be invisible. We have a static safety measure in road vehicles or trains because the infrastructure is clearly visible and you know if you see a part of the ground that looks like that, there will be cars or trains coming. But in the sky, the aircraft corridors and approach areas for landing pads are on maps only. The hovercrafts will have navigation and automatic flight path following capabilities, but if you're a bird flying through the forest, there is nothing to hint that you're in the path of a busy flight corridor unless you actually see a hovercraft, and even then it could turn and change directions, you'd have no way of knowing what their path will be unless you've memorized the charts and have *really* good spatial awareness and ability to translate a set of coordinates denoting waypoints into where around you that actually would be. If they were unfamiliar with the part of the city they're in, they would disrupt hovercraft traffic by blocking their path at best, or end up in an instantly fatal collision at worst. Birds in this world would definitely be smart enough to actively avoid hovercrafts and wouldn't place themselves in the path of one if they can help it, but the issue is having the information to do that *in advance*, and I really don't want to make this world cyberpunk and have glowing holographic tubes denoting every flight corridor and animal-restricted airspace. Actually, in-universe they really prefer to have cities, which are mostly inside forests, look as natural as possible even with their very advanced technology. Does anyone have any ideas how I might be able to rectify this? Anyone else have naturally flying members of their society flying next to powered aircraft? How do you deal with it? Have you come up with any other aviation safety mechanisms that I might not have thought of? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I had a little fun coming up with names for the "Arcs" or books of the potential story I had been thinking about. I haven't made progress with writing it or know specifically what is going to happen in these Arcs, I just thought it would be fun to do a broad draft. Sci-Fi cyberpunk dystopia with themes of (how surprising...) revolution. The world is not our own, it takes place in a similar world that is far more technologically advanced. Title: Black Hand Arc 1- Absolution Arc 2- The Syndicates Arc 3- Insurrection Arc 4- Political Animals Arc 5- Against Empire Arc 6- Elysium Arc 7- World Revolution I'm curious to see what names for story arcs you guys might have thought of. Of course, another way to do it would be to name it after you finish actually writing it, so it differs for people.

The doomerist jihad was a continuation of a series of defeatist protests shortly before the birth of the Imperium of Despair. After the coup that replaced the US government, a jihad begun, partly sparked by the Padishah Kaiserin, that aimed to exterminate all hope ~~and get rich in the process~~. This resulted in waves of Despair Speakers and Reserves ransacking large cities across the west, with attempts stopped brutally. However, the Jihad was unable to reach several areas, most notably AES states as well as swathes of Russia, South America, and Africa. By the time the Jihad ended and the Red Army was organized, over 23 million people had died, and 102 cities completely destroyed. Many nuclear reactor sites had also been detonated out of sheer stupidity or intention. By this point the despair was very real and prevalent, and conscription rates for the Reserves soared ever higher. This extremely unstable state rendered logistics for the Imperium Army a complete nightmare, with most food supplies being leftovers salvaged from storage areas. In addition, most industries, with the exception of those subsidized with Imperium gold, collapsed. In total the Jihad was a complete disaster for the human race as a whole. However, it would be unfair to say that nothing good came out of it, since it was a major part of the Golden Path, designed to wipe out global imperialism completely. We must remember that the Tyrant was a complicated figure, and we are still exploring her effects on the world today.

Respect the sandworms because ::: spoiler spoiler alert they're where Junko's consciousness is scattered :::

Losses: Red Army: est. 24000 wounded and killed Fedaykin est. 7000 wounded and killed. PLA est. 2100 wounded and killed. est. 450 tanks lost est. 1038 aircraft lost est. 3700 artillery lost 5 ornithopters lost Imperium of Despair: 1 Junko lost Reserves: est. 52000 wounded or killed Verzweiflung Waffe SS: est 31000 wounded or killed Despair Speakers: est 3000 wounded or killed Monaca's Volkstrumm: est 24000 wounded or killed Monokumas: all deactivated est. 1400 tanks lost est. 1800 aircraft lost est. 3900 lasart lost est. 1300 ornithopters lost

This is my attempt to write the actual Interspecies Peace Agreement, the treaty that basically say natural predators or prey won't eat each other anymore. Think Zootopia but with actual animal shaped animals instead of anthros. This is the (socialist) world it's set in: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/985699 The ISPA has way more provisions than *just* banning predation. Other protections granted include freedom of migration between ISPA territories, and that you can't discriminate by species (or discriminate in general). I'll write those sections in the future, but for now I'd really love to know what you think! ## **Interspecies Peace Agreement** **Article 1: Scope of this Treaty** The terms of the Interspecies Peace Agreement ("ISPA" or, "this Treaty") shall apply to: 1. Any animal residing in or passing through the natural territory of any species, clade, or taxa, that is signatory to this Treaty 2. Any animal who is a natural member of any species, clade, or taxa, that is signatory to this Treaty, or is a registered citizen of any territory in the scope of the previous paragraph, regardless of their geographic location 3. Any individual animal signatory to this Treaty, or any registered citizen or member or any territory, nation state, population, community, or other entity that is signatory to this Treaty, or 4. Any animal, entity, territory, nation state, population, community, species, clade, or taxa, who engages in or wish to engage in commercial, cultural, technological, or academic trade with any member entities of this Treaty, when interacting with any ISPA signatories. **Article 2: Predation and Causing the Death of Animals** Signatories of this Treaty are to criminalize, immediately following the signature of this Treaty: 1. Predation of Any Animal, and 2. Causing the Death of an Animal For the purpose of this Treaty, an animal is guilty of "Predation" if they willfully eats, directly or indirectly, any bodily tissue, organ or structure of any other animal. Predation and Causing the Death of an Animal shall be separate criminalized offenses, and in cases of Causing the Death of an Animal for the purposes of or to facilitate Predation, they are to be prosecuted concurrently as separate criminal charges and criminal sentences executed consecutively. Attempts at either shall also be criminalized under the same or a lesser charge. Where a group of animals engage in a conspiracy to commit or attempt Predation but not all animals are directly involved in the death or attempted death of an animal, the entire group shall be charged with both offenses. ISPA member entities shall also be required to take all reasonable actions to educate against, prevent, investigate, prosecute, and execute criminal sentences for any instance of Predation or Causing the Death of an Animal. --- To see how the treaty is ratified, here's a look at Section One of the Feline Criminal Code. They have the harshest punishments for predation as, being cats and all, they have the biggest problem with their citizens preying on others and only recently signed the ISPA. **Section 1; Paragraph 1** Any Feline who engages in, attempts to engage in, or takes any action in preparation to engage in, encourages another animal to engage in, or facilitates another animal in engaging in Simple Predation is guilty of a Class 5 offence under this section and shall be sentenced to fixed term imprisonment of no less than one year but not more than twenty years, and optionally fined without limitation. 1. For the purposes of this act, Simple Predation is "Predation" as defined by the Interspecies Peace Agreement, where the act does not involve, neither directly nor indirectly, the death of an animal, or the animal has died of causes unrelated to the act of Predation. 2. Felines sentenced under this paragraph shall not be eligible for parole until half of the given sentence has been served. 3. Felines sentenced under this paragraph shall be barred for life from holding public office, working in any Public or State-run Ministry, Institution, or Enterprise, voting in any election, applying for the sealing or removal of any parts of their criminal record, holding a passport, or migrating out of Feline territory. 4. The above restrictions may be individually released by a ruling of the Feline Central Court and if authorized by the Feline Ministry of Security, with additional conditions placed on the continued release of these restrictions. **Section 1; Paragraph 2** Any Feline who willfully causes or attempts to cause, by any means, directly or indirectly, the death of another animal, or either willfully or recklessly without regard for the safety of others, engages in any act they know to have a high propensity to cause or contribute to the death of another, and where the act does in fact cause or contribute to the death of an animal, is guilty of Willfully Causing the Death of an Animal and a Class 9 offense under this section and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life without parole. **Section 1; Paragraph 3** Any Feline who commits an offense under Paragraph 2 for the purpose of committing or facilitating the commission of an offense under Paragraph 1, is guilty of First Degree Predation and a Class 10 offense under this section, and shall be: 1. Sentenced to imprisonment for life without parole for one count of this offense, or 2. For two or more counts of this offense, sentenced to imprisonment for life without parole, or, if requested by the Feline Ministry of Justice Public Prosecutor's Office and authorized by the Feline Ministry of Security, sentenced to death.

I'm sorry, I had to rip off another term from Dune. Anyways, enjoy this shitty Komaru mouse art by yours truly:  Well anyways, you may want to ask, what is a Fedaykin? Well, as you've probably gathered from the title, they're elite soldiers of the red army. I realize now that I've never gone into the lore of the red army, so I'm saving that for a later post. But for now, we're staying focused on the Fedaykin. Aside from normal Red Army soldiers, there were also dare-to-die corps of volunteers who would perform dangerous missions. Eventually, these groups gathered experience and were reorganized into the Fedaykin, possibly the only military force in the world at the time capable of confrontation with Despair Speakers. Notably, although Duncan Illinois was capable of easily taking on multiple Despair Speakers at once, he never joined the Fedaykin, citing his duties as a general. Notable members of the Fedaykin include Komaru Naegi, and Natsuki. Because they often dealt with Despair Speakers and other similarly powerful units, they were quite well-equipped from captured Imperium equipment, including Komaru's iconic long-barreled Imperium lasgun. Fedaykin first saw combat during the latter half of the Battle of Moscow, when they arrived along with 130 divisions of Red Army reinforcements to aid AGC Kirigiri's line, proceeding to encircle Miller's command group. More Fedaykin were present at later battles including the Battle of Hope's Peak Academy, where they were vital in taking the position that would allow for the destruction of the bridge the Padishah Kaiserin was standing on. After the war, the Fedaykin remained as highly trained units in various socialist militaries, still existing as of the time of the Second Killing Game.

In the latest chapter of Doom Messiah, we briefly got a look at a new type of Imperium officer, the judge of the change. >He was suddenly distracted by a massive commotion near the entrance of the camp. There was the Monokuma banner, then the black-and-yellow arrow flag of the Imperium. It was an Imperial envoy. Alscaen hurried towards the entrance, where a boy he’d never seen before was standing with a platoon of monokuma units. > “I am Hajime Hinata, Judge of the Change”, he declared. “I am on official business for the Imperium of Despair.” > A judge of the change? > As if reading his thoughts, Hajime continued, “The Padishah Kaiserin has appointed me to evaluate the possibility of placing more Despair Speakers under your command.” > Alscaen bowed. “You will not be disappointed, judge Hinata. My assault on Moscow will begin in a few hours.” Other than that, we don't get a lot of information about the position and its function. So to satisfy your curiousity (honestly, how many of you are even reading the actual fanfic lol), I'm just going to explain it right here. Again, I ripped the name from Dune. Although this time, their function is quite similar to the original. Basically, whenever a major change was to be made, such as in this case placing more Despair Speakers under the command of general Miller here, it was not done immediately. Instead, a Judge of the Change would be appointed to observe and reach a decision, which they would then report to their superior, which in many cases was the Padishah Kaiserin herself. As such, Judges of the Change were very respected within the Imperium. Massive spoilers ahead: ::: spoiler spoiler This particular judge, who became a mentat through the same R-probe procedure that would later be applied (albeit semi-accidentally) to Sayaka Maizono. During the later days of the Imperium he began to suspect the existence of the Golden Path, but by then it was too late to do much to avoid it. ::: Although Judges of the Change were important, their job was actually relatively useless as the Padishah Kaiserin was perfectly capable of such decisions herself. Their primary function was to provide her with data that was needed for a projection-map of the world. The Judge Uniform was similar to that of Despair Priests, although the robes were shorter and lined with gold instead of black. In addition, they were usually escorted by mostly ceremonial units. After the collapse of the Imperium, most Judges were captured and imprisoned.

Throughout history humans have always pursued longer lives, hoping to achieve immortality eventually. But no matter how far medicine progressed, there was always a cap, a limit imposed on human lifetimes that could not be reversed but with extremely advanced technology, technology that even now has not emerged yet. People were always searching for workarounds, but although these studies yielded useful results, none actually suceeded in extending a human lifetime significantly. With a single exception. The body of the Padishah Kaiserin, following her death at the liberation of Hope's Peak academy and the then-young Pavel Arkhangelsky, was always seen as an attractive target for study or simply historical value. Researchers however were unable to find uses for it, and eventually they simply gave up and locked the corpse in a freezer for a few dozen years, where it was later rediscovered. By this point medicine had progressed enough for researchers to propose a gholafication of the body--- that is, to restore it to birth condition, in the hope they would be able to restore some functionality and perhaps glean some information about the golden path from the ghola. They succeeded in restoring its functionality, managing to create a mostly healthy ghola-child, although she had none of the memories of her "previous" life. She did, however, retain an intrinsic fear of heights that they suspected stemmed from her original death, that is, falling off a bridge into a river. This was probably the only sign of success during their entire study. The creation of gholas ran into ethical problems following this, and further experimentation was closed down. After a few more unsuccessful probes the researchers once again gave up and gave custody of the ghola-child to Leto, who was only around ten years old himself around that time. The two were later forced into the Second Killing Game aboard an expedition no-ship they had been offered to join. The rest involves severe spoilers for Children of Doom, so I'm just gonna stop here.

So this topic seems to be on the brain lately, actually been meaning to do a prompt like this for a while because I'm very much a stupid name enjoyer, but this seems like the right time. What are some organization names, or names in general, in your world that your characters think is stupid? Do people still actually use the name or do they have an informal substitute?

Some random sharingan clone political symbol for my setting called the Circle of Five. It's a symbol dating back to the Lyconian Empire and has two different meanings depending on who you ask.  In the traditionalist Lyconian Diaspora (aka descendants of the 1 million wolf-people forcibly enslaved) see the central dot representing order; the other outer dots representing honor, bravery, and loyalty respectively; and the "Fifth" circle representing harmony. The Wolfstaater version (Wolfstaaters are descendants of survivors of the Lyconian Empire's cataclysmic collapse during the Great Immolation) has a radically different meaning which it gained during the first 200 years after the Red Storm, a series of leftist revolutions that swept not just Wolfstaat (which was smaller compared to today during that time) but across the Lyconian Isles in general. The reason why it took 200 years because the Wolfstaater Civil War (which lasted for over 100 years) slowed the progress. The central dot now represents discipline; the outer dots representing peace, progress, and compassion; and the "Fifth" circle representing justice. The 3 outer dots gained a much stronger meaning when Socialism - a post-Lyconian philosophy based on collective good and protection of the weak - was formally adopted in the Charter of Union which established the Federation. This flag was adopted shortly after the Tetsujima War.  Here's the symbolism. Red represents the blood of the workers and peasants (symbolized by the cog and wheat) sacrificed during an even in Medieval Wolfstaat known simply as The Uprisings. The Red Star represents Socialism. The Circle of Five in the Red Star is deliberate choice by the in-universe designer. To quote a message I posted here. The Wolfstaater version [of the Circle of Five] has a radically different meaning. The central dot now represents discipline; the outer dots representing peace, progress, and compassion; and the "Fifth" circle representing justice. The 3 outer dots gained a much stronger meaning when Socialism - a post-Lyconian philosophy based on collective good and protection of the weak - was formally adopted in the Charter of Union which established the Federation. This means the Circle of Five in the Red Star symbolizes the need for discipline to build a socialist society.

By the time of the age of no-ships, artificial intelligence had progressed to the point where they were able to control most functions of no-ships as well as being nearly indistinguishable from humans. However, in the case of a breakdown or error, there were always humans who were ready to take control of the no-ship's functions as needed. These people. who were often well versed in no-physics and computers, were known as shipspeakers. One such AI, known as "Marty", was in control of the Krasny Fujisaki during the second killing game. Notably, despite the hostile AI Daniel taking control, she still managed to continue a niche existence inside the ship's systems, aiding the crew when she was able to. Though they had a vast knowledge of no-physics, shipspeakers were not necessarily mentats. However, they were still able to perform foldspace calculations quickly when required. The role of a shipspeaker must not be confused with that of a captain. Captains were mostly in charge of providing morale and establishing command over the crew, while shipspeakers were supposed to handle the more technical aspects of no-ship travel. However, they were often unfamiliar with machinery other than their Markov Drives and no-field projectors, meaning that most no-ships had machinists as a seperate occupation. Many shipspeakers spent large amounts of time interacting with the ship's mechanical parts and conversed with the ship AI than their crewmates. This, coupled with their technical knowledge, led many to be viewed as oddballs by their crew members. This slightly negative view can partially explain the ghola caregiver Leto's disgust for Miu Iruma during the Second Killing Game, though other factors may have played a larger role.