!worldbuilding@lemmy.ml
A community for sharing your worlds, exploring others' worlds, and discussing anything relating to the art of worldbuilding.
!worldbuilding
@lemmy.mlThe interdimensional Christmas bug is coming to town, and every world needs their own Santa. Doesn't matter if they have no idea what Santa or Christmas is, participation is mandatory and they need to use whatever exist in-universe to replicate Santa's flying sleigh as best as they can.
The following are some guidelines for what a prototypical Santa and sleigh would entail, your world needs to try and replicate as many of these elements as possible.
A fat bearded man or similar species dressed in all red.
A huge sack of toys or whatever the kids in your universe like.
A sleigh or another vehicle modified to resemble the classic shape of a sleigh, one that is capable of flight.
Eight flying reindeer or similar species strapped to the front of the sleigh.
One more flying reindeer or similar species up front with a glowing red nose.
Note that the reindeer don't actually have to be the ones pulling the sleigh through the air, you can choose any propulsion system you want as long as it looks like the reindeer are pulling it.
How does your world pull it off? Who would need to be called in and what kind of equipment acquired to do this? What unique conflicts does Santa face in your world that the "real" Santa wouldn't?
If your world is also conducive to other Christmas characters like Krampus, the Grinch, Frosty, Jesus, etc and you want to replicate them as well, we'd love to hear it!
Context: This is a world inhabited by intelligent, non-anthro animals, some of which have decided to outlaw hunting and eating prey in favour of living in harmony and cooperating.
They have a zero tolerance policy for predation and it is criminalized extremely heavily. Depending on what species or taxon you are (all animals have the right to be tried by members of their own species and taxa, and they are responsible for carrying out sentences of their own kind too), First Degree Predation, where you personally kill then eat an animal, is the only crime that formally carries the death penalty. Regular first degree murder where you "merely" kill an animal without intent to eat them only has a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Second Degree Predation (aka Simple Predation) is where you obtain meat with the intention of eating it without personally killing anything, carries only a mandatory fixed term prison sentence in addition to losing certain freedoms post release.
However, their laws on the issue is very much based on intent as that is their philosophy, that because they are all sapient and no longer bound by their natural hunter instincts, they are responsible for their own actions. You don't have to actually eat the prey you killed to have committed First Degree Predation, and the inverse is technically true as well, where if you kill an animal for some other reason and only after they're dead do you decide to eat them, then you're technically only guilty of murder and Second Degree Predation instead of First Degree Predation. There are also legal ways that certain animals can obtain animal tissue, for example, as skin grafts and organ transplants, autopsy and forensic investigations, or for general research. Because animals handling tissue in these cases don't intend to eat it, it does not fall under Second Degree Predation. However, if you buy animal meat and later decide not to eat it, that's still considered predation.
Especially with the nature of eating and digesting food, law enforcement only has a very small time window to order a suspect to undergo lab testing of what's in their belly where it will actually show a positive hit for animal tissue, so my original thought is that the intent clause is meant to make prosecuting predation easier, since they wouldn't need to actually prove that the accused has animal tissue in their digestive tract at any point, just that they wanted at some point for some form of animal tissue to end up inside them.
I know there are many real life laws that use intent in a similar way, but I don't know how courts actually prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Can anyone who's delved more into the legal side of worldbuilding comment on how the courts in my world might prove (or disprove) that someone intended to eat another animal when they do not have direct evidence that the animal was indeed eaten?
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/kbmnd6/a_guide_to_placing_resources_on_fictional_worlds/
For context, this takes place in my world with intelligent, non-anthro animals trying to live in harmony. This is part of the backstory of my main character and why she's where she is currently.
The Felines had recently underwent a bloody and violent revolution, replacing their monarchist empire that is very pro-predation (Trophist) with a democratic republic that is very anti-predation (Unitist). Shortly afterward, they signed the Interspecies Peace Agreement and committed to banning predation by all Felines forever, to overwhelming support by the Feline public. Signing of the ISPA not only bans predation but also allows other ISPA members to engage in trade, travel, and exchange of knowledge and technology with the Felines, which is a big deal because the Felines are considered the most technologically advanced taxon, being the first taxon in history to surpass even the humans that lived before all of them millions of years ago.
The Unified Territories, which is an alliance of Unitist small and medium sized animals, including the Felines' former prey like Avians and Rodents and is considered the second most advanced, took the opportunity to call up the Feline government to ask for a favour. Basically, the Unified Territories Ministry of Science called up the Feline Science Institute (both are government research institutions), and asked if they can have Yvonne Dandelionpaw transferred to one of their labs in the UT. Yvonne Dandelionpaw is a domestic cat who played a major role in recent Feline history: She co-developed something called ATDP, a dietary enzyme supplement that allows obligate carnivores like cats to subsist on plant based alternatives (where the "DP" part is named after her); she participated in the Feline revolution fighting for the Unitist side; and perhaps most importantly, she is one of the main scientists working on something called a quantum interface, which is one of the next frontiers of science that the Felines are actively pursuing. They basically wanted her to come over and work with their own scientists that are also trying to develop a quantum interface, and essentially spun it as "hey, let's work on this together since you're an ISPA member now!"
The Feline Science Institute felt rather pressured by the Unified Territories, and responded with something along the lines of "We're just about okay with that, but you need to ask Yvonne directly. We're not going to force a Feline to relocate and take a job outside Feline territory." So they call up Yvonne initially refuses, saying "Well, it's a interesting offer, but I'd rather stay here and work with my own taxon as we rebuild after the war." But then the Unified Territories spun it in a different way to her, trying to convince her that a cat coming over to work in a UT government lab would be a great diplomatic opportunity for the two governments, and controversially, basically told her that there are researchers in the UT who are the Felines' former prey, and "wouldn't you want to be the one to reconcile with them so they realize how nice modern cats are and ditch that old stereotype of cats being pricks?" At which point she finally agreed to the transfer, on the condition that she remains employed by the Feline Science Institute and basically serves as a liason and diplomatic representative in addition to being a researcher, which the FSI was understandably also very adamant about.
She is now working at a lab in the UT capital city, but the decision to have her there is very controversial on both sides. Many Felines accuse the Unified Territories of using their position among ISPA members to basically poach Feline talent, while many UT citizens accuse Yvonne of being a Feline spy, considering that she is a high ranking member of the Feline government who is working in a classified UT lab.
What are your thoughts on this progression? Is it something that can reasonably happen when two governments are first establishing diplomatic ties? Do you think the way they spun it to Yvonne counted as coercion or guilt tripping? Any other opinions you have I would love to hear that as well!
In real life, that's oil. In Dune, it's spice. What is it in your world?
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/series/scavengers-reign-team-talks-through-the-worldbuilding-process-for-their-sci-fi-thriller-series-exclusive-233879.html
Check out the concept and development artwork that went into Max's 'Scavengers Reign,' debuting today.