Welcome to Gaia! ::

1. As always, respect the Gaia ToS. This should be a given.

2. Pick a theme. If you don't want to choose your theme yourself, shoot me a PM titled "World-Building Project" and ask me and I will randomly assign you a theme.

3. Use this thread to post your world idea, to make comments about other people's ideas, to expound on previous thoughts or ideas, or even to offer advice. I will even welcome an occasional "BUMP" if you want, but if you choose to bump, please only do so once per day. I don't intend for this thread to be a Bumping thread at all, but if you want to bump it to occasionally keep it current, that's fine.

4. Please don't beg for items or gold. The purpose of this thread is not for a contest of some kind. The only things that are to be shared here should be ideas and positive criticism. You want a contest with rewards, there are hundreds of other threads for those.

5. Keep it simple enough. I'll let you decide what "simple" means, but please try to make it more than one paragraph at least. That being said, don't feel like you HAVE to divulge your own Chapter One of your book.

6. Keep it positive overall. You can positively give people criticism without offending them. Don't say things like, "That sucks," or "that would never work." A lot of these will be fantasy or sci-fi ideas. Details can be added later on the physics or mechanics of how an airship flies, or how some species can manipulate gravity. Its possible that some people may want ideas how to describe the way their planet hangs in a fixed orbit, or whatnot.

7. This is what I call the "loose rule." It states to please pick only one theme at a time. If everyone picks the same thing, then there'll be a lack of creativity. Be adventurous, pick a theme no one else has. Pick something that you think will give you a challenge. However, this is a "loose" rule because I won't be exactly strict with this. I'm not one to stifle creativity or anything, so if you feel you really have a good idea that someone else has done already, then go for it.

8. If you feel you want to add a reference image, please add it as a link. The reference image can be your own drawing or art, or it can be an image you saw on the net. If it is an image you found on the net, please be sure your only using it as reference only. Give some details and say things like: "its the same as this but they have blue skin, horns, and wings" or some sort of extra description like that.

9. Have fun. Please just have fun, sharing, commenting, or reading the ideas on this thread. Expand your writing ideas, seek out inspiration, build your own world. The universe is the limit.

10. I can add more rules as I see fit, please don't make a fuss. I promise they won't be unreasonable rules or anything.

These are all who have contributed along with their accompanying theme and page where you can read and discover their world:

Dominant Species--The Destrians are mammalian species, slightly ape-like in appearance. Sentient and very strong and resilient. Tall and fur covered in some areas. No tails. Inspired in part by the Sensoth aliens of the tv show Defiance.
Ecology--Ice World. Snowy to clear weather. The occasional snow thunderstorms are a wondrous phenomenon. Mountainous, flatlands, arctic temperatures.
Technology--The Technology of the Tylarans saved their existence. Their cities are wrapped in force-field bubbles to protect them from the harsh climate.
Threats--Their dying world. Their own pride. They know that one day migration and colonization of another world will be necessary, but they still believe that they will one day be able to jump-start their planet’s core and revive their world.
Inspiration: Physically, the Destrians as I mentioned above were influenced by the simian creatures of the show Defiance however their society is largely influenced by the Viking and Norse mythologies.


Uninhabited
Ecology--Fiery, lava world. Extreme heat and ravaged by volcanoes. Virtually no atmosphere and virtually unsustainable of any kind of life. Recently however, ancient relics and giant stone ring monuments have been discovered on the moon. This has led to many questions that no one knows the answer to.
Influence--This world was influenced greatly by Jupiter's moon of Io.


Dominant species--The Honhe are an insect-like, sentient species with a very complex language. They are tall and very thin with a tough exoskeleton. Because of the atmosphere, the Honhe, do not rely on photosynthesis. Rather they rely on a process known as chemosynthesis. Because their world is steeped in darkness almost perpetually, the Honhe rely on bio-luminescence to see. In fact, entire cities on the planet are light up in spectacular ways to those able to visit Honhe with the protective gear. The Honhe are very adaptable and a resilient species. They can travel to otehr worlds, so long as they wear specialized tanks of methane hidden and surgically implanted within their own exoskeleton. These tanks only need to hold a small amount of methane in order for the creatures to survive in other environments. Also, Honhe who travel off-world are often surgically implanted with new eyes, or sometimes modifications to their own eyes to automatically adjust to the brightness of other worlds.
Ecology--The moon is covered in a yellowish hue of clouds so much so that the surface is not visible from orbit. The only creatures able to survive conditions are the Honhe.
Cosmology--Honhe is unique in that it has a twin moon nearly the same size and composition. Both planets orbit one another as well as orbit the gas giant, Typhos. Because of the nature of its orbiit, and its position in relation to the other moons, Honhe's orbit around Typhos is extremely slow. Scientists believe that it is due to its unique position in the lunar system and the way that the moons, Typhos, and its Sister planet all pull at its gravitational field. For this reason, both Honhe and Hamhe are nearly always on the night side of Typhos making it almost perpetually dark. Astronomers predict that one day the alignment of the moons will be as such that Honhe and its Sister world will break free of its slow orbit and enter the light side of the planet Typhos. They speculate that the world may one day greatly heat up, the methane on the world causing a sort of greenhouse effect.
Technology--Although their technology isn't incredibly advanced, it does serve to make the world habitable for its people and very beautiful. The Honhe are said to have discovered new ways to use and bend light and the scientists of Tylara believe that they will be the ones to help them discover "faster-than-light" travel.
Society--Their society is very peaceful. Despite their appearance and their strong nature, most Honhe are pacifists by nature. Those who aren't peaceful however, can be extremely violent. Its as if, they can either be one extreme or the other. The violent society however, is believed to be wiped out, although there are rumors that some managed to dig deep within the planet and are as of yet, unknown to the surface dwellers.
Inspiration--These creatures were inspired greatly by the aliens known as "prawns" from the movie District 9. I was also inspired by the deep-dwelling crustaceans and shrimp that are able to live off the deep sea-floor near the hot vents and "smokestacks" of Earth. These creatures are capable of surviving the most extreme of environments imaginable going from crushing pressures and extreme heat to extreme cold with no problem. They also do not rely at all upon the sun and survive off of the chemicals that spew out from the thin Earth's crust.
Finally, inspiration for the moon itself comes a great deal from Saturn's moon, Titan. Many suspect that if there is life on Titan, it exists through chemo-synthesis, a process that is unsustainable to human life. Granted, no one believes that if there is life on Titan that it is sentient, however, speculation exists that there may be forms of bacteria that are able to survive in its methane-rich environment. I just took it one step further by making the creatures bigger and smarter.


Hamhe is almost identical to Honhe except that is does not contain sentient life of any kind. There are microbial lifeforms on this planet, but nothing of significant size has ever been discovered on this world. The Honhe, now that space exploration has been brought to them, have considered colonizing their Sister Moon if overpopulation ever gets to be an issue on their homeworld.