The Church of Climatology: App rumblings
Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 7:56 pm
Disclaimer: This is all the work of a complete amateur, following another complete amateur. Hence the thread title.
Why Climate?
For anyone with a bottom-up approach to conworlding, climates are an essential starting point. Directly or indirectly they affect just about everything, especially plant- and wild-life, which in turn governs agriculture, which in turn forms the basis for how cultures develop. Aspects such as winds and surface ocean currents affect pre-modern travel and trade. Finally, working out climates is an excellent way to get a "big picture" look at your conworld.
Getting Started
What Kind of World?
For the purposes of this guide I'm dividing worlds loosely into three categories - Earthlike, non-Earthlike and Fantasy. There is also the issue of how hard you want your science to be - hard science follows the physical laws of the world (be they real world physics or conphysics) as much as possible, while soft science is more flexible. Also, the softer your science, the more likely it will be that you can apply the Earthlike model without worrying too much about little details like the fact that your world has twenty moons and orbits a binary star system.
Geoff's model for working out climates is for an Earthlike planet, and I'm not about to write guides for all the many and various other possibilities. Instead I'll be providing hints and tips on how to go through the processes described there, and how to adapt them for other world types.
Earthlike Worlds
In theory there's nothing to stop you from applying an Earthlike model to any world. In practice, this usually means that your world is shunted towards the softer end of the scientific scale. Earthlike Worlds:
1) Have a stable orbit around a single star, in the habitable zone
2) Are around the same size and composition as the Earth*
3) Have a similar atmospheric composition to Earth
4) Have a similar day length to Earth
5) Have a similar axial tilt as Earth (between 20 and 30 degrees)
6) Have a single, large satellite; this stabilises the axial tilt*
7) Are non-magical, or do not have magic powerful and prevalent enough to effect the large-scale physical cycles of climate*
* These can be conveniently ignored without things becoming too unscientific
Non-Earthlike Worlds
Non-Earthlike worlds are "everything else", given real world physics. In a very hard science setting different sizes and compositions will affect gravity, anything other than a single, large satellite will probably destabilise the axial tilt over the long term, and it just gets worse the more you change. Non-Earthlike worlds include:
Planets orbiting multi-star systems
Planets with extreme axial tilts
Planets with very short or long days
Planets with very short or long years
Worlds that are moons
Fantasy Worlds
For the purposes of this guide, fantasy worlds are those that a) have magic powerful and prevalent enough to effect the large-scale physical cycles of climate, and/or b) run on their own conphysics. Nothing can be taken for granted on these worlds, especially if you're trying to design an internally consistent set of conphysics (the fantasy equivalent of hard science).
Summary:
* What kind of world do you have? Earthlike, non-Earthlike or Fantastic? Hard or soft science?
Case Study: Menducia
Menducia is the nightmare scenario: a relatively hard-science fantasy world. It has its own laws of physics, with a hefty dose of animism. It's geocentric, with a sun orbiting the world. It's only a quarter mapped, with most of the world's surface permanently designated Oceanus Incognitus. Still, working from the bottom up, we can work out the basic principles that drive climate there.
Why Climate?
For anyone with a bottom-up approach to conworlding, climates are an essential starting point. Directly or indirectly they affect just about everything, especially plant- and wild-life, which in turn governs agriculture, which in turn forms the basis for how cultures develop. Aspects such as winds and surface ocean currents affect pre-modern travel and trade. Finally, working out climates is an excellent way to get a "big picture" look at your conworld.
Getting Started
What Kind of World?
For the purposes of this guide I'm dividing worlds loosely into three categories - Earthlike, non-Earthlike and Fantasy. There is also the issue of how hard you want your science to be - hard science follows the physical laws of the world (be they real world physics or conphysics) as much as possible, while soft science is more flexible. Also, the softer your science, the more likely it will be that you can apply the Earthlike model without worrying too much about little details like the fact that your world has twenty moons and orbits a binary star system.
Geoff's model for working out climates is for an Earthlike planet, and I'm not about to write guides for all the many and various other possibilities. Instead I'll be providing hints and tips on how to go through the processes described there, and how to adapt them for other world types.
Earthlike Worlds
In theory there's nothing to stop you from applying an Earthlike model to any world. In practice, this usually means that your world is shunted towards the softer end of the scientific scale. Earthlike Worlds:
1) Have a stable orbit around a single star, in the habitable zone
2) Are around the same size and composition as the Earth*
3) Have a similar atmospheric composition to Earth
4) Have a similar day length to Earth
5) Have a similar axial tilt as Earth (between 20 and 30 degrees)
6) Have a single, large satellite; this stabilises the axial tilt*
7) Are non-magical, or do not have magic powerful and prevalent enough to effect the large-scale physical cycles of climate*
* These can be conveniently ignored without things becoming too unscientific
Non-Earthlike Worlds
Non-Earthlike worlds are "everything else", given real world physics. In a very hard science setting different sizes and compositions will affect gravity, anything other than a single, large satellite will probably destabilise the axial tilt over the long term, and it just gets worse the more you change. Non-Earthlike worlds include:
Planets orbiting multi-star systems
Planets with extreme axial tilts
Planets with very short or long days
Planets with very short or long years
Worlds that are moons
Fantasy Worlds
For the purposes of this guide, fantasy worlds are those that a) have magic powerful and prevalent enough to effect the large-scale physical cycles of climate, and/or b) run on their own conphysics. Nothing can be taken for granted on these worlds, especially if you're trying to design an internally consistent set of conphysics (the fantasy equivalent of hard science).
Summary:
* What kind of world do you have? Earthlike, non-Earthlike or Fantastic? Hard or soft science?
Case Study: Menducia
Menducia is the nightmare scenario: a relatively hard-science fantasy world. It has its own laws of physics, with a hefty dose of animism. It's geocentric, with a sun orbiting the world. It's only a quarter mapped, with most of the world's surface permanently designated Oceanus Incognitus. Still, working from the bottom up, we can work out the basic principles that drive climate there.