askerian | Mermaids... IN SPACE.

I should work on the story, but argh. I have no clue where to start. I kind of want to work on the world more, but I have so much of it already. D: Also i'm not sure what needs to be tinkered with right now. What I should do is 1) invent Two-tails characters who'll make me LOL at the idea of them interacting with Blue and the pirate crew, and 2) work on the later plot. I have a lot of the plot until everyone meets and things start crashing and burning, but after that I'm lacking OMGCOOL-scenes to play with. Hrrrn.

Though the idea of the crew interacting with the two-tails is hilariou even when they're just a shapeless blob of people. "Hello good sirs and madams, we are here on the behalf of two-tails society to request that you donate a few genetic samples, preferably in the form of BAAAAABIES come on you know you want to breed tons of strangely shaped little kids with us :DDDDD" Oh, their FACES when they understand. bwahahahahahaha.

Edit: ... Oh hell, I know what I want to do, I want to develop Arun's world so I have a better idea of where he comes from. Blue's planet already is pretty developed, and it's really kinda wacky/dystopian, which gives him strange quirks. Arun is lacking in quirks. Therefore...!

Geology:

-Is actually a moon (Khonsu-Yah) : rich in water; was originally frozen.
-Started terraforming during the Evil Reign; rising temperatures freed chemicals in the ice that are slightly corrosive. (No native life over the bacterial level) Untreated rock would take many years to wear down. Skin becomes irritated; eyes should be immediately washed clean. A half-hour of a continuous drip would dissolve the skin.
-Due to terraforming, climate in the equatorial belt is rainy and windy, ground is often muddy and soft.
- Polar ice caps very extended, cover over 3/4ths of the planet.
-Spin axis not very tilted => not much of a seasonal variation.
-The moon is under tidal lock. The planet-side has colder temperatures due to less sunlight reaching it.

Inhabitants:

Biological facts:
-Descendants of gene-modified stocks:
--psi gifts: 'path (empath, telepath, mind influence), kinic (telekinetic (teekay), pyrokinetic (pyretic, pyro, peekay))
--Hair and skin color variations that can be attained with black, red and yellow pigments (blue pigments would not be passed down, thus also excluding green and purple.) Includes stripes and patches.
--'raff -- giraffe-people, very tall and elongated
--dwarf : denser bones => thicker bodies
-- control stock, untouched but for health tweaking and cleaning of genetic diseases.
=>400 years later, none of those lines are still pure and a lot have faded, crossbred, or been almost entirely bred out.

Settlement history:
-Colonists -- mostly from a region that encompassed, amongst others, Egypt, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Syria... (it was united long before that, though)
-Settled by the Evil Reign
-More rich people settle on the Space side, because it's warmer; Dirtside is for poor people and people working in commerce with the planet.
-Evil Reign falls => lack of money => terraforming abandoned
-Industrialized society begins its slow downfall into pollution and loses productivity and money.

Societal facts:
-Still highly dependent on the planet's help, and resentful of that, but aware they cannot survive without. Anti-planet sentiment is high.
-Acid rains and cold/damp climate =>
--Lots of protected passages/awnings/underground passages on, beside and under the houses
--Not enough money to keep everything in perfect condition + lots of rain -> lots of mud and bumpy roads => people walk or take the train
--People wear reinforced clothes, hoods, gloves, boots, and often goggles and face masks as well
---->People aren't very sociable in the streets due to not seeing each other's faces much.
-Failing industrialized society --> poverty is high, the moon is practical for contraband purposes, police isn't respected and often swamped => rise of corruption/ police presence/ crime organizations
-- People usually work with the numerous mafia-like clans, not around them. Politicians often have an official Family affiliation, as do business or company owners. There is no clear separation between those. Families aren't 100% about money extortion, contraband and seedy things; they also provide free or cheap shelter and support to contributing members, fund pensions for their widows and orphans, contribute hugely to building and funding schools, and even offer healthcare. (They're kind of a blend between a mafia and a corporation. A corporation that doesn't worry too much about looking like they obey the law...but one that doesn't fire its employees as much.)
--Mafias sponsor psychic training in exchange for a set years of indentured work at their service. (They would like psi tests to be mandatory, but at this point the society is too fractured and unruly to make it work. Even if they were mandatory, people would skip out on them so often that you couldn't do anything about it.)
-Telepathy/empathy:
--Power is on a scale of almost 0 to 10 -- 0 being dead and 10 being a theoretical absolute. The curve is exponential. A power is only noticeable and trainable when it's over 2.
--A test isn't mandatory, but still highly advised
--While no job is reserved for mind-blind or 'path, being refused a job on the basis of having or not having 'pathy is perfectly legal, provided the job requires the presence or absence of such a trait -- surgeons should not have it because it will overwhelm them while they're cutting into a patient, nurses should because they need to know when to help even when the patient cannot speak, judges should because they need to know who lies, policemen -- it depends on how well they shield. Etc.
--Telepathic children are taught early on not to push; of course some still do. If you value your privacy, you will buy a white-noise-like device. Empathy is more "eh, it happens", at least at its lower levels.
--Skin-to-skin contact reinforces psi contact as well => people don't touch each other's bare skin easily; it's intimate.
---->Reaction to nudity is stronger,
---->Bare hands are sexy. Arms and shoulders less so, it's in fashion to wear see-through raincoats, but sleeves that end in gloves are unpractical, so gloves are still essential clothes.
-Slow-growing Earth plants only grow in greenhouses. Bamboo and genetweaked grass grow everywhere.
--People like the color green.

Religion:
-Islam / Christianity mishmash.

... I love this planet. Acid rains, telepaths and a pseudo-samurai class emerging out of the numerous mafias. (after all, that's what samurai were. Protected the interests of the nobles (= politicians and big-time owners), and supposedly protected the peasants against outsiders, too -- but since they were the only ones carrying weapons, they were also arrogant and could be shitty to the peasants without anyone telling them otherwise. Mmmh. ♥) It's only starting to emerge, though, so it's not really tradition yet, and it's only similar in societal roles, not in behavior, clothes, or anything else.

Arun's planet:

-Is a planet. XD
-Is very Earth-like, and then they went and terraformed it to be even more Earth-like so they could use it as a sort of Noah's Ark to save animal and vegetal species that were going extinct on Earth
-Was never part of the Evil Reign (I need a better name) => there are no empaths/telepaths/teelekinetics there apart from the ones who immigrated
-to immigrate you've got to be kinda AWESOME with the references and how useful you'd be, because they take pride in their planet being a jewel~ (oh hey, I just figured that out, neat)
-As the primary purpose of that planet is preserving animal species, the second is studying them. It stretched into studying everything. The planet is extremely well known for its excellent zoos, museums, and universities.
-Also a leader in the fields of environment-friendly industries, recycling, solar energy, etcetera.
-Extremely high animal and human treatment ethics, anti-genetic engineering outside of healing sickness and defects.

So what they value most is respect of Nature and knowledge.

I got all that stuff for Blue's just from knowing he's kinda poor, always wears gloves, doesn't know how to swim and is a little scared to learn, and is an empath who never learned to control his gift. *_* Now what I want to do is take Arun's planet and push what I've got to its logical conclusions, so I get a better idea of the context in which Arun evolved, too. So far all I've got is what I listed there and it's kinda blah. I mean, ordinary people and ordinary places exist, too, and Arun's supposed to be a normalish guy anyway, so I don't want anything horribly dystopian, but I still want to develop it a bit to at least give him some better defined mannerisms and cultural expectations.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Guhh, this is so tempting. I want to read the mermaids in space story sobadly, but I have studying to do o_o.

BUT THE ONE ON THE RIGHT. UH. Krish. Is adorable, I'm loving the, 'don't mess with me, bitch' look <3

=D;;; so far it's mostly drabbles, a couple of scenes that are going to have to be rewritten anyway, and a lot of worldbuilding and character development babble. You're not missing much actual story?

Hehehe, thanks. I think I kinda like her more than I thought I would, because I created her as a total plot device. she's starting to develop a bit in a corner of my brain...

Oh, character development. The only part I like writing about in commentaries. Ahh, one day, I'm going to take one of your stories and write a full-out commentary of it. Ooh, that should be fun, I'm excited.

And the best characters always develop when you're least expecting it :]

... commentary? *perksp up* 9_____9

*adds stuff about arun and blue's planets* *writy writy*

People aren't very sociable in the streets due to not seeing each other's faces much.

That just made me laugh so much xDD

And yees. I've had to practice on Hamlet a couple billion times, so one day, I'll be all gung-ho and be like, 'so in this paragraph, the syllables in each sentence vary greatly, which indicates Sasuke's discomfort upon seeing Naruto dry hump the kunoichi's leg. Furthermore, the commas and semi-colons signify that Naruto is being long-winded, and is thus disoriented. Therefore, I can conclude that this paragraph is important to character development in that the reader is able to see Sasuke's inner wub for his blond hottie, and Naruto's subconscious telling him to get it on with his emo hottie'.

:]

XD;;; ahaha, oh god. awesome. ♥

Blue's planet sounds interesting like whoa. *_*

Guess who's been getting bunnies for a friggin SEQUEL. DX

I am amused by huge difference in length between the two planets. XD

... yes, well. It's not my faunt Arun's planet is so functional and happy. (at least on the surface. all civilizations have problems. Now I want to know what this one's hiding from me. >:/ )

Blue's planet (moon) sounds really interesting and kinda scary actually. Though I did find the part about how the mafia gives better benefits to it's... employees than the corperations very amusing. Same with how governments have an official Family affiliation.

Arun's planet, while not as developed seems very interesting as well. Though I do wonder, on a planet that values knowledge and prides itself on being a jewel, what about the people who just aren't very smart?

^__________^ thanks! *pets Blue's planet*

well...

joisbishmyoga: I considered asking that, but then I figured that every planet needs janitors, stall-muckers, and -- especially university areas -- bartenders. Bird-doo-scrubbers for bridges, monuments, and fancy buildings...

XD; There's probably some tension and resentment there, because they'd see academia as being THE glamorous and noble and inspiring career choice, but of course lots of them aren't gonna cut it. HMM. They have great education systems, but it's not possible for that system to fit on every kid. Actually I think they might have several methods and if one doesn't fit, the kid's moved to the next... but same thing, some kids just never get into it or just can't manage it.

It occurs to me that in an effort to cut resentment among people who can't make it as academics (or just aren't interested -- they prefer working with their hands, etc.), there may be a deliberately cultivated ethic of service. Which would go along with being a planet/culture specifically created to preserve species as a service to the entire human race.

So Arun could have a strong impulse to be useful, because that's what people are supposed to do. And if he's naturally impulsive and maybe a bit self-centered, that could set up an interesting tension between what he wants to do and what he thinks he ought to want to do. And maybe that would explain how he and Krish justify continuing their survey without their third partner -- they're already so close to the planet, and it would be such a waste (of time, of fuel, of money) to go home without accomplishing something useful.

Hope you don't mind me posting a comment. ^^;;

I love all your ideas, they're really so cool and detailed. detailer = <3333 *____* *loves research* Especially the parts about Blue's planet, which sounds totally coooollll... especially <3 the part about the bare hands being so sexy. Love when culture makes different bodyparts sexier than other places would. Mm.. bare hands are hot come to think of it.

As for Arun's planet... for bad things it could be hiding.. you did state that they are very tough on immigrants, so wouldn't it serve for them also to be very tough on their natural born citizens to be the height of perfection? If anyone falls short of that, it could make life very hard for them as far as with family/friends, jobs, etc. Also you said that they have very high levels of animal/human treatment... well if the focus is on animals specifically, maybe there's a devaluing of human life compared to animal life... like someone would sacrifice their life for the sake of an animal's safety and own life?

Just some random thoughts. I hope you post some of this awesome story up. ^___^

Or, playing up the 'school planet' angle the way Lee and Miller's Fledgling (http://www.korval.com/fledgling/) did?

Thanks for the link, but I'd rather not write something that's "the way someone else did it." Also I'm not going to read a whole book just to have an idea of what you meant. Besides, it's a zoo garden planet first.

Noo, anyone can post comments. I'd friendslock it if I minded. ^__^

#^____^# heheh. I like the hands part too~ 'course by now he's a little desensitized, since not everyone on his ship was from his planet, but it doesn't mean he'll take off his own gloves anytime soon.

Hmm, I like your idea that they might focus more on animals than humans! I bet some people would be very angry at that, because humans are smarter and dominant and it's really ridiculous that animals are given better care and for free, and out of their taxes! and then there would be the people who feel responsible for the animals and think it's humanity's duty to care for them since they can't care for themselves and it's really low and selfish to neglect them even a little bit... heeee. *__*

Thank you for the comment, it was helpful. ^______^

Just a thought, but Arun's planet sounds like a place with a very small human population, simply due to the fact that they've got so many parks and such. Also, if they had many more, given their extremely green lifestyle, it becomes difficult to support lots of people at a high quality of life. I would imagine cars are a kind of exorbitant luxury for such a planet. Maybe the planet's entire population is pushed into several large Arcologies, that have their own self-contained ecosystems. That might be extreme, but I can't see lots of little sub-urbs scattered around supporting universities and research centers.

And a bonus question: where do they grow food on this planet if so much of it is supposed to emulate Earth in a natural state?

Mermaids... IN SPACE.

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