Cyclone231
2007-08-16, 01:53 PM
Science fiction is a genre that is as varied as fantasy, if not moreso - it is a term for a setting, not a story. Just as with fantasy, there are stories of adventure, stories of exploration, stories of wonder, and stories of any other number of things - politics, romance, policework, et cetera.
This forum has a community world-building project in the form of a fantasy setting. Why not create a community world-building project which is a science fiction setting?
Of course, there are a large number questions that first occur - foremost is where one travels. To another planet? A handful of other worlds? An entire galaxy of planets and peoples?
Are humans even out there? If so, are they even us? Or are they our mutant descendants, our genetically engineered brethren? Do they even come from our earth? Or in their world, did something happen differently - did the Nazis win WW2, the Soviets win the Cold War, or did someplace else start the Age of Exploration before the western europeans?
Is earth unique - alone with life in an infinity of might-have-lived dead worlds? Are there other worlds with animals, but no sapient races? Are there a handful of alien species capable of space travel, or a hundred?
I suggest that we do an alternate history SF, simply because they aren’t done so much (yes, future histories always become alternate histories, but that isn’t the same thing), and it lets us depart from our own earth whenever we want.
What are your ideas and opinions on these various questions?
I, personally, would prefer a handful-of-known aliens and about four or five times as many habitated/accessible/accessed planets, with an alternate history with a divergence point deep in and somebody other than the western europeans taking control of most of the world (I kind of like India for this), but that's just my ideas/opinions. What are yours?
This forum has a community world-building project in the form of a fantasy setting. Why not create a community world-building project which is a science fiction setting?
Of course, there are a large number questions that first occur - foremost is where one travels. To another planet? A handful of other worlds? An entire galaxy of planets and peoples?
Are humans even out there? If so, are they even us? Or are they our mutant descendants, our genetically engineered brethren? Do they even come from our earth? Or in their world, did something happen differently - did the Nazis win WW2, the Soviets win the Cold War, or did someplace else start the Age of Exploration before the western europeans?
Is earth unique - alone with life in an infinity of might-have-lived dead worlds? Are there other worlds with animals, but no sapient races? Are there a handful of alien species capable of space travel, or a hundred?
I suggest that we do an alternate history SF, simply because they aren’t done so much (yes, future histories always become alternate histories, but that isn’t the same thing), and it lets us depart from our own earth whenever we want.
What are your ideas and opinions on these various questions?
I, personally, would prefer a handful-of-known aliens and about four or five times as many habitated/accessible/accessed planets, with an alternate history with a divergence point deep in and somebody other than the western europeans taking control of most of the world (I kind of like India for this), but that's just my ideas/opinions. What are yours?