On Hom: Prior to Unification (1112 AD)

[Sunshine]

Okay, so going straight to the cards and the first edition of the sourcebook that I have, on Hom, pre-Grail, there were cubes of mixed, condensed flora mixtures (genetically enhanced and/or gathered from alien worlds) that when crushed and inhaled allowed Celestials so do special things the way that Prayers help Terrapyres do special stuff.

Then there were marbles. They were 4D spheres about the size of a shooter marble on Earth. These also contained cool effects but the effects tended to be quantum effects.

In effect (pardon my pun, I'm at WizWorld CC and bored), "cubes" and "spheres" were the same thing. They both balanced out Prayers. In my opinion, we should do away with the cubes and just have the hyperspheres. These could be filled with flora mixtures or with quantum stuff.

Then, in PT, Pholus invents a way to carry a hypersphere within a 3D glass marble.

We'd only need to come up with a world for the hyperspheres.

Onto other topics...

If Hom was primarily a peaceful planet, then just a few small border disputes and only one major offensive attack (the one that goes down at the fjord) would be realistic. There seems like there was incredible high pressure and competition between the Provinces. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other conflicts when teams of Missioaries were off-world gathering.

Last, the same word for recruiter -- both military and academic -- sounds great to me, Cris.

Summer

[Launa]

Leigh, I love the tower and could totally imagine them on Hom. Thank you for sharing!

Summer, I really like the idea of hyperspheres and I wouldn't be against using them to carry everything, but I did have a quick question. I was under the understanding that flora balanced out prayers and marbles were Celestial weaponry? (in the card game.) With marbles holding objects that could be used by the Celestial (like fractal serpents, spectral whips, etc) and flora enhanced the Celestial him/herself (like gaining a burst of speed, recovering from a wound, etc.) Maybe I'm wrong? I was just wondering.

The idea of off-world conflicts is interesting. What do you imagine would happen in one of these conflicts? I hadn't thought of it before. Thanks for bringing it up!

Launa

[LaughingClown]

Cris, I believe I can answer your question about morphs in great detail after working with Summer on the revision for the "Jared" comic and after working with Jennifer on her incredible "Penelope: Written on the Body" short.

Morphs balance Terrapyre transportation in the card game. They provide primarily movement bonuses. In the fiction, they provide other attributes -- depending on the animal/creature. They can be any creature from any world, past, present or future... so long as the Celestial with the specific morph has, him or herself, physically sampled the creature *alive.*

Samples are taken from a creature through a Celestial's acquisition appendage. This is a part of their body. It might look like an assimilation tubal from the Star Trek Borg, or like Kianira's spiked tentacles in Jennifer's short.

Some Celestials are very good at acquiring morphs. This means that every sample they procure, their bodies can process and they can morph into it. Some Celestials are not very good at morphing. Celestials who are not good at morphing are often good at conjuring/manifesting (or whatever we're calling it).

Just like flora and marbles (Summer, I love your simplification and will vote for it when the time comes) balance out Prayers (and perhaps other pure proclamations of Terrapyre faith), morphs and manifesting probably balance out Terrapyre transportation and computer gadgetry.

Hope this was helpful, Cris.

Eric

[LaughingClown]

This is how I imagined Celestial homes on Hom prior to the first Grail drop and fora while after. These are 100% green yurts. Celestials would have the know-how to make the roofs shingled with solar panels. Walls are woven layers of cloth.

[Mikiela]

Eric, we love you idea of seeing Celestials in yurt-style homes. They are an independent people and also like frogs and so these yurts work so nicely.

We talked then about what would become of these wonderful family homes after the Grail began to threaten. Not at first, but rather in the third era that Cris and Summer are talking about.

When we gamed with our group, The Hours, during that third stage, Hom developed floating cities up off the surface of their planet because we made the rule that the Grail always dropped (on any world) with the planet surface as an anchor (it could not drop in the middle of the sky, though it could drop near the bottom of the sea since that is ground). These cities tried to recreate the green beauty that Celestials loved with hanging gardens and earth-friendly home pods. Even farming was present but simply done vertically.

Here are pictures of our ideas.

Mik

These would be clustered together. "Eco Factor: Sustainable prefabricated house harvests solar energy and rainwater."

Designers at MisoSoupDesign have unveiled the designs of a next-gen prefabricated living unit that reacts to nature and co-exists with it. The major components of the house are divisible and transported by a typical 120” wide tractor trailer and can then be easily assembled on-site.

The Live Pod incorporates a sustainable building system and renewable materials such as a rain screen façade, bamboo flooring, photovoltaic panels and a green roof that collects rainwater for irrigation. The components of the house can be made according to the specifications of the user and shipped on site for assembly.

The installation of the Live Pod is as simple as making a cabinet. After settling the foundation, the three sides of the house can be erected, which also serve as structural members. The floor slabs can then be installed as shelves, after which they will be bolted and welded to maintain structural stability. Finally, all mechanical equipment, the staircase enclosure, photovoltaic panels and the green roof system can be installed.

The green roof can be used to grow shallow-rooted vegetables and can also be used to prevent storm water runoff and reduce heat island effect to regulate the interior temperature.

















Vertical farming looks like this:





Vertical farming is an eye-popping construction to grace the world with a new and innovative concept of agriculture. Skyfarming, as it is also known, is a proposal to perform agriculture in urban high-rises. In these farmscrapers (high-rises) food such as vegetables, fruit, fish and even livestock can be raised by using greenhouse-growing methods. The idea is to grow food in urban areas by creating tall buildings where each floor is its own super greenhouse capable of growing crops to feed people.

With the continuous growth in population, arable land is under threat from deforestation, over-farming, poor management and global warming. All these factors point to vertical farming being an idea whose time may finally have arrived.

Vertical farming is a pioneering idea, which will certainly change our future but for the better. But vertical farms where we hope to grow staple crops in environmentally friendly skyscrapers exist only in futuristic designs today. Nevertheless, the concept will be a reality very soon. Dickson Despommier, a professor at Columbia University, firmly believes the new model of agriculture is vital to avoid an awaiting disaster.

Despommier says, "The reason why we need vertical farming is that horizontal farming is failing."

According to the recent studies, vertical farming is a groundbreaking concept that has the potential to help solve impending food shortages. It purely makes sense as the environment will benefit from it to a large extent. This bold idea will bring a sustainable future.

Advantages:

Vertical farming has several potential advantages associated with it.

1. Year-round crop production as vertical farming multiplies the productivity of the farmed surface by a factor of 4 to 6 depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres).
2. No weather-related crop failures due to geological and meteorological events such as droughts, floods, earthquakes, wildfires or pests.
3. Vertical farming virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water.
4. It food is grown organically eliminating the use of herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers.
5. It converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water released into the air by evapo-transpiration.
6. It greatly reduces the occurrence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface.
7. It reduces the need of new farmland, restoring ecosystem functions and resources.
8. It adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals.
9. Vertical farming dramatically reduces fossil fuel use as no tractors or plows are required.
10. It converts deserted urban properties into food production centers.
11. It creates sustainable environments for urban centers.
12. It opens new avenues for employment
13. Vertical farming may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps.
14. It offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
15. It could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture.

Technologies & Devices:

Vertical farming is dependent on various physical methods to produce food. The vertical farm brings these technologies and devices together, most of which are still under research. Some of the most common and popular technologies used are:

1. Solar greenhouse (technical) / Greenhouse:

A solar greenhouse works by letting the solar radiations penetrate in order to heat the ground along with the structure and then traps the energy to increase and maintain the temperature at a much higher level than normal.

2. Aeroponics / Hydroponics:

Aerponics, a form of hydroponic technique, is a method of growing crops in a closed or semi-closed environment with their roots suspended in a misted nutrient solution. Aeroponic growing practices are considered safe and ecologically friendly for producing natural, healthy plants and crops and also conserves water and energy.

3. Composting:

Composting is a process that includes purposeful biodegradation of organic matter by micro-organisms such as bacteria, yeasts and fungi. It up-cycles organic kitchen and yard waste and manures into an exceptional humus, bringing vital organic matter, nutrients and bacteria that are very important to plant nutrition.

4. Grow light:

A grow light is an electric lamp that emits an electromagnetic spectrum to support plant growth. The emitted light spectrum is similar to that emitted from the sun and is appropriate for photosynthesis, allowing indoor growth with outdoor conditions. It is widely used for indoor gardening, plant propagation and food production, including indoor hydroponics and aquatic plants. Grow lights are being extensively used for vertical farming.

5. Phytoremediation:

Phytoremediation is a method applied to deal with the environmental problems by using plants to diminish them. It is a clean, inexpensive, eco-friendly and efficient method to mitigate environmental problem without the need to excavate the contaminant material and dispose of it elsewhere.

[Launa]

Eric, I love those yurts. The first one seriously reminded me of Ganymede, and the last made me think of the creepy trader in "Together Alone." What a great idea! So much more natural and, at the same time, elegant in a way I have come to associate with Celestials. Also, thank you for the bit about morphing. This is how I also saw morphing. In a way I think I was falling back a bit on my old Animorph books (physical contact with a live specimen, aquire the genetic code, morph. Some are much better than others). Is it like this, or am I slightly off? I just want to be sure.

Mik, this is also great information. I am in love with the vertical farms. I have a thing for plants and controlled plant chaos (like the green rotating apartment building Jennifer posted about in the MG3K Universe section. I know the farms would be much more controlled, I just love the idea of a farm indoors). All of these green inhabitations and upgrades really capture me. Thank you so much for posting.

[Cris]

Apr 15, 2010 18:04:00 GMT -8 Launa said:

When I imagined pre-Grail "marbles" I imagined weapons or items stored in spherical stones, not marbles. Perhaps if we decide that certain elements are present on all planets these elements could make "marbles?" I imagine they'd be a bit bigger than marbles and probably not as smooth. I also imagine they'd have limitations, perhaps in power or size of what they can hold. These things were perfected by Pholus. This is what I imagined, at least.

You're right. They're not "marbles" per say. In terms of what elements are present on all planets, it's not something we decide, but something we'd need to research. Why don't you come up with a list of two or three elements that seem to be present across the board on planets, moons, asteroids, etc. Then we can decide from there which ones we want to feature, okay?

Also, I have a quick question. Cris, when you say there were wars and border skirmishes, is this new information or are you referencing the battle between Ornbergh and Gwandiis? I was under the understanding that the Provinces did not fight and had no or extremely limited contact pre-grail. Just curious

Yes, I am referring to the incident between Ornbergh and Gwandiis in particular, but Summer raises a very valid and important point. It's just not something we've explored much yet. Celestials, like Humans and other creatures, will have natural selection. This will manifest in border skirmishes, wars, etc in Celestial history that we haven't explored yet. We need not only account for that, but also create the backstory that supports it.

Cris

[Cris]

Apr 18, 2010 1:56:48 GMT -8 LaughingClown said:

Cris, I believe I can answer your question about morphs in great detail after working with Summer on the revision for the "Jared" comic and after working with Jennifer on her incredible "Penelope: Written on the Body" short.

Morphs balance Terrapyre transportation in the card game. They provide primarily movement bonuses. In the fiction, they provide other attributes -- depending on the animal/creature. They can be any creature from any world, past, present or future... so long as the Celestial with the specific morph has, him or herself, physically sampled the creature *alive.*

Samples are taken from a creature through a Celestial's acquisition appendage. This is a part of their body. It might look like an assimilation tubal from the Star Trek Borg, or like Kianira's spiked tentacles in Jennifer's short.

Some Celestials are very good at acquiring morphs. This means that every sample they procure, their bodies can process and they can morph into it. Some Celestials are not very good at morphing. Celestials who are not good at morphing are often good at conjuring/manifesting (or whatever we're calling it).

Just like flora and marbles (Summer, I love your simplification and will vote for it when the time comes) balance out Prayers (and perhaps other pure proclamations of Terrapyre faith), morphs and manifesting probably balance out Terrapyre transportation and computer gadgetry.

Hope this was helpful, Cris.

Eric

Yes, very helpful. Thanks so much, Eric.

Morphing is described this way in the 2nd version of the SB, which will be up this week.

"Conjuring" is called Summoning.

In terms of combining cubes and marbles, I like Summer's idea as well. It will make things a lot simpler and then we can work Pholus' marbles in a bit later.

Thanks for your input.

Cris

[Cris]

Eric,

Also, the yurt homes are really perfect. They fit beautifully into the environment and also are in alignment with the green tech required on Hom. Great find here. These are much more attractive than I'd imagined, especially the first example.

Cris

[Launa]

Cris,

I did some research and, though I'm in no way a science girl at all, I found a few interesting things. I found this article, about the elements in terms of the cosmos, helpful: www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/essays/nathist/periodictablecosmos

Also, Grace's post in the Portals section (which inspired me to think of making early "marbles" out of potentially the same elements that were being used for portals) was:

Apr 3, 2010 18:43:09 GMT -8 Grace said:

Jennifer, I like your idea because the science takes an elegant predictive leap and I haven't heard the concept used before. Also, the colors do appeal to the Celestial nature very nicely.

As for the composites that the archways would be made of, may I make some suggestions?

Of the natural elements, only twenty-five are essential for life as we know it so far. Of these twenty-five, there are six elements that are fundamental building blocks. They are: sulfur, phosphorous, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. Carbon's prime importance comes mainly from the enormous variety of structures that it can form due to its unusual four valence electrons. It can create longer and more complex chains than any other element.

Group 14, the carbon family, includes carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead. To layman, carbon is the chain-maker of all life; silicon is gemstones; germanium is required for the creation of semiconductors and electronics; tin as the earliest metal used by man -- about 3500 BC, and lead as used to make the two electrodes in car and truck batteries.

Carbon (and its allotropes: diamond and graphite and fullerene, the hollow molecule discovered in 1985) and silicon (and its allotropes: quartz and flint and many gemstones) would be prime candidates.

Another candidate would be glycine which was finally suspected in interstellar medium in 2008 with a firm confirmation coming in 2009 (from a sample taken in 2004 from the Wild 2 comet by the NASA Stardust spacecraft). This is credited as the first extraterrestrial (off-Earth) glycine. Glycine allows our brain's neuro-transistors to communicate (H2N-CH2-COOH = hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen) and so is often seen as a marker of intelligent life.

www.ptable.com/

Grace

From what I found, the elements found most abundantly in the universe (http://education.jlab.org/glossary/abund_uni.html) are hydrogen, helium, oxygen, neon, nitrogen, carbon, silicon, magnesium, iron and sulfur with hydrogen, helium and oxygen seriously leading the pack.

I really like Grace's way of explaining the elements in actual use, however and think she makes a lot of sense. Some of the most abundant elements in the universe wouldn't make great "marbles" and if put to a vote, I would vote for the elements she suggests.

As always, since this is SO not my area of expertise, I welcome any and all feedback and changes.

[Cris]

Apr 20, 2010 14:16:32 GMT -8 Launa said:

Cris,

I did some research and, though I'm in no way a science girl at all, I found a few interesting things. I found this article, about the elements in terms of the cosmos, helpful: www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/essays/nathist/periodictablecosmos

Also, Grace's post in the Portals section (which inspired me to think of making early "marbles" out of potentially the same elements that were being used for portals) was:

Apr 3, 2010 18:43:09 GMT -8 Grace said:

Jennifer, I like your idea because the science takes an elegant predictive leap and I haven't heard the concept used before. Also, the colors do appeal to the Celestial nature very nicely.

As for the composites that the archways would be made of, may I make some suggestions?

Of the natural elements, only twenty-five are essential for life as we know it so far. Of these twenty-five, there are six elements that are fundamental building blocks. They are: sulfur, phosphorous, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. Carbon's prime importance comes mainly from the enormous variety of structures that it can form due to its unusual four valence electrons. It can create longer and more complex chains than any other element.

Group 14, the carbon family, includes carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead. To layman, carbon is the chain-maker of all life; silicon is gemstones; germanium is required for the creation of semiconductors and electronics; tin as the earliest metal used by man -- about 3500 BC, and lead as used to make the two electrodes in car and truck batteries.

Carbon (and its allotropes: diamond and graphite and fullerene, the hollow molecule discovered in 1985) and silicon (and its allotropes: quartz and flint and many gemstones) would be prime candidates.

Another candidate would be glycine which was finally suspected in interstellar medium in 2008 with a firm confirmation coming in 2009 (from a sample taken in 2004 from the Wild 2 comet by the NASA Stardust spacecraft). This is credited as the first extraterrestrial (off-Earth) glycine. Glycine allows our brain's neuro-transistors to communicate (H2N-CH2-COOH = hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen) and so is often seen as a marker of intelligent life.

www.ptable.com/

Grace

From what I found, the elements found most abundantly in the universe (http://education.jlab.org/glossary/abund_uni.html) are hydrogen, helium, oxygen, neon, nitrogen, carbon, silicon, magnesium, iron and sulfur with hydrogen, helium and oxygen seriously leading the pack.

I really like Grace's way of explaining the elements in actual use, however and think she makes a lot of sense. Some of the most abundant elements in the universe wouldn't make great "marbles" and if put to a vote, I would vote for the elements she suggests.

As always, since this is SO not my area of expertise, I welcome any and all feedback and changes.

Basically, it seems like what we're looking for is an element that would be relatively common on worlds which sustain plant and animal life. This element would have to be able to be manipulated in some way so that it could "store" the essence of something.

The way I understand this is that the cubes/marbles, when crushed release energy (as with a weapon), a drug (as with a substance that would enhance speed, dexterity, etc.) or some kind of armor.

The question becomes: What element has the potential to be manipulated in this way and how would the actual cubes/marbles be created?

Cris

[Cris]

There has been some discussion about the nature of Celestials--what kind of people are they and how do they live?

After talking with Jennifer, it seems like it would be a good idea to share what is commonly known about Celestials so that we're all starting on the same page.

1. Celestials are competitive, but not warlike.

2. They don't get along, but they don't fight each other. For example, in Jennifer's words, "The Ornbergians, with their near Vulcan-like logic do not get along with the rune-throwing, myth creating Irivalians." Each Province is home to very unique and different Celestials. They don't care for each other's company. They see the world very differently.

3. They definitely compete in terms of who has the best, most unique stuff to add to the Great Archive, but they don't attack each other off world to get it.

4. Any border skirmishes that happen are accidental. For example, a boat carrying Celestials from Irivale runs aground during the night in Quetqu. The Irivalians disembark and wait till dawn to fix their craft. The Quetqu don't attack them when they're found on their land. But the Irivalians will make amends--an offering of goods usually--to apologize for trespassing.

5. Except for an actual battle that occurred at the rapids near the border of Irivale and Ornbergh, involving both those people and a group of Gwandii, Celestials have never killed their own.

6. The fact that Celestials don't kill each other is what directly fuels their altruistic nature, which is an essential part of their culture and psychological makeup.

Questions? Please post them here.

Cris

[Jennifer]

There is only one primary cosmic building block that could be the shell of a marble and contain quantum effects or crushed flora that would be inhaled or absorbed.

As Launa reposted from Luz: "Group 14, the carbon family, includes carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead. To layman, carbon is the chain-maker of all life; silicon is gemstones; germanium is required for the creation of semiconductors and electronics; tin as the earliest metal used by man -- about 3500 BC, and lead as used to make the two electrodes in car and truck batteries."

Of the members in the Group 14 collection, I would vote to have the marbles made of silicon for their vibrant color variants. Emeralds, garnets, rubies, sapphires, quartz, and turquoise can all be created in a standard lab using silicon. These would be created hollowed as two halves, filled, and then heat-sealed.

Just a thought

[Cris]

I agree with Jennifer that silicon is a good choice. Also, there has been some theorizing that silicon, like carbon, could be the base for a sentient life form--it might be crystalline, but the idea is interesting. Plus silicon has many uses and would give us a versatile material to play around with in the universe.

Cris