zompist bboard

CatDoom wrote:I think that, given the distribution of species we've got so far, the hardest thing to explain will probably be how a civilization of nightpeople wound up on that arctic island. The species originated in a desert region, which so far looks like it was probably in the south of the big continent, and it's a long way from point A to point B. They are mysterious and sneaky, though, so the most satisfying answer might very well be "nobody knows..."

No, the distance doesn't look that odd; humans originate somewhere in Africa, and yet human cultures ended up in Patagonia in pre-modern times.

The long stretch of oceant they'd have had to cross is harder to explain, OTOH I think nightpeople can survive long ocean journeys more easily than humans do.

Matrix wrote:For the golems, there is a black tower in the tile I chose, covered in symbols. This is where the golems come from. They have forgotten how to read the symbols or enter the tower, but they know it is very important.

This could also explain the high concentration of sapient species on a single planet. Created by one forgotten civilisation or by competing civilisations (perhaps another way of saying "conworlders"). We're pawns for an interstellar war!

I wouldn't be surprised if we find pyramids hidden in the jungles somewhere.

It could be like the Kaaba, and golems of various kinds go on a hajj to visit it

Maybe? The religious comparison is rather inapt, since Golems don't do well with religion.

Matrix wrote:

It could be like the Kaaba, and golems of various kinds go on a hajj to visit it

Maybe? The religious comparison is rather inapt, since Golems don't do well with religion.

If humans had and knew of the spot they all came from, I'm pretty sure most would want to visit it. I'm thinking like if we found the Monolith from Space Odyssey 2001. Don't have to be religious to place great import on a location.

(V, -8)

Species undecided

If we are mixing species, I'd like monkees living alongside my amphibimorphs. I like the idea of monkees up in the trees and amphibimorphs down on the ground, with a symbiotic society.

ol bofosh wrote:If we are mixing species, I'd like monkees living alongside my amphibimorphs. I like the idea of monkees up in the trees and amphibimorphs down on the ground, with a symbiotic society.

If we're mixing species I'd like humans and birdmen. If not, then just humans.

Ars Lande wrote:No, the distance doesn't look that odd; humans originate somewhere in Africa, and yet human cultures ended up in Patagonia in pre-modern times.

The long stretch of oceant they'd have had to cross is harder to explain, OTOH I think nightpeople can survive long ocean journeys more easily than humans do.

It's true that humans populated most the of the planet with very limited technology, but the island of Madagascar, which is relatively close to the earliest habitats of humankind, seems to have remained unpeopled until sailors from Borneo settled there about 50,000 years after the development of behavioral modernity. Likewise, New Zealand and most of the islands in the Pacific remained uninhabited by humans until relatively recently, even though New Guinea and Australia were among the earliest places humans arrived after spreading out of Africa. The ocean is not to be underestimated as a barrier to population movement.

That said, as a species adapted to the desert, the nightpeople probably would do better on long ocean voyages than humans, so I could see them getting swept off to that island during some ancient trans-oceanic migration. Probably wouldn't have been their first choice of destination, though .

Ooh, maybe they were brought there as slaves by some forgotten civilization of dragons. It makes a lot of sense; they're low maintenance, physically no match for a dragon, and have nimble hands that would be all sorts of useful to quadrupeds with limited manual dexterity.

I like this idea that the dragons once had a vast civilisation. 'twould explain how they ended up in the far north and south.

Here's a new map with the latest land grabs. I also decreased the transparency so colors are more apparent. (If you specified multiple species, that's OK, but I only listed the first species you mentioned.)

you mind I use the map for a video-game I'm making?

I think the species chosen so far respect the dominant species well enough, so I think there's no need to make adjustments there.

You can start creating cultures. But land grabbing is still open (even if you don't yet create a culture).

In which case, I may push my southern dragons up the archipelago.

I'll expand my nightpeople civilisation to the south. The mountains divide my island into three plains, so I though that the northeastern and southeastern plains could be inhabited by nightpeople while the golems have the entire western plain.

You know, I was looking at the map with the colour coding for the squares we chose, and I momentarily thought you mismarked one of the ones I wanted, but when I double checked my original post, I realized I put down the wrong square. I meant to select b3r, not b1r. Sorry.

That northeastern continent looks a little bare. I'll take one of V6, V7 or V8 for the Munkees, as they can live in cold conditions, and I want a maritime culture for them. I'll also take U3 for combined humans / Munkees.

I'll take Jr5 for humans and golems. nice desert.

I would like F -3, and F -4, with orcs. (just F -3 if it's rude to take two squares at once)

W10. Golems and dragons.

I couldn't help myself, the idea just struck me as interesting. Something more dystopian than monkee-amphibimorph symbiosis.

If it was dragons who moved people around the planet, that might suggest that it was dragons who also created golems, as, essentially, replacement humans(/other). Maybe the golems got out of hand?

Oh yes, they will get out of hand.

Edit: I've been working on the golem-dragon culture. It's disturbing, it was too much for me and I couldn't help adding some little ray of light at the end. Soulless golems give me the shivers.

Also, I suggest naming the continents. I've already used the continent creators' names for the two continents I'm on: Torcopea and Salmonica.

Ooh, this looks like fun. I'll grab Jr-3 for a group of humans.

It looks like humans originated in Lyra's continent, and I imagine that my culture migrated across Lyra's northern island and down onto Torco's continent. I'm thinking there should be a trail of humans along that route, so I think it might be good to have a culture of humans in P5. I might develop them myself or someone else could do it, but I think there should be some human culture in that area anyway. Someone for my culture to interact with in the north.

Yeah, I've been having trouble coming up with even a partially golem culture. On the one hand they have no material needs... they just *are*, need a couple pebbles a week or something to be alive, and from what I gather don't experience cold or disease or whatnot. But then again, they're canonically not "spiritual" or "religious" and have a "materialistic" bent to them. But why are they materialistic? are they just possessed of an pre-rational instinct to accrue more and more stuff ? what do they *do* with that stuff? hang it on their body and display their wealth to others? I feel as if they wouldn't have any motivation! they don't want to become richer, so they have no economic motivation... and they have no spirituality, so they don't have ideological or religious motivations either. They're pretty fucking alien, come to think of it. Now I wish I had voted for sexies xDDDD

If I manufactured a golem, I would give it a job to do. So maybe some golems have an internal imperative to build ziggurats or something. But any good designer knows that the more specific the instruction the more inevitably it will fail in a hilarious way. So maybe some golems have more vague instructions, like "make things," similar to a human drive to be creative or productive. Some golems might be dedicated artists, without their makers even intending it. There are more possibilities for achievement in a society without needs, not less.

Also, you should feel bad about the Sexies. They would have been a proud race.