Planet X, for lack of a better name

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reizoukin
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Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

So I started a new conworld project, which will NOT be scrapped. I'm going to be starting with the time before sentient life, and moving forward in time. It WILL include magic, but hopefully it's different than the traditional kind; the whole planet is different. There will be five different, isolated species of sentient life which I will be creating, and if I can there will be conlangs for each (many conlangs--starting with proto-langs and making daughter langs). I'm having fun with it so far, which is pretty uncommon for me.

Anyway, it can be found here:
http://reizoukin.net84.net/1_5_Historical-People-X.html

After noticing some similarities with Veris' Bluestar, I decided to PM him just to make sure he didn't think it was too similar. I'm still awaiting a reply, and if he says there are some features too similar then I will change them.
Veris is a "he" right?

I'll use this thread to update on progress. So far there is a description of the way the planet works, the way magic works, and what one of the land masses was like before sentient life. Currently none of the sentient life has been described.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by xijlwya »

Unfortunately, I cannot open the link. It says "website under review". Sounds good if you don't have to force yourself. I'd like to see some of it, because 'Bluestar' is very creative and if you world resembles some of it - especially in the open-mindedness - I'm looking forward to it.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by Ainuke »

Pretty cool. Very interesting Magic system :D

Will there be any humanly intelligent animals, or just animals? :3
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

Unfortunately, I cannot open the link. It says "website under review". Sounds good if you don't have to force yourself. I'd like to see some of it, because 'Bluestar' is very creative and if you world resembles some of it - especially in the open-mindedness - I'm looking forward to it.
I must've had the admin panel open when you clicked the link. Try again? Tell me if there are any more problems.

If that still doesn't work, here are the basics:
  • The world is a large collection of gas, much like jupiter, but mostly composed of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and a magical substance called aether (along with it's counterform).
  • At the center of this ball of gas is a core.
  • Orbiting the core are six land masses, heated by the core. Each one has different plants and animals, and is almost like a biome.
  • Aether is inhaled by each species through a hole in the back of the neck, transferred to the species' "core", and transferred around the body. The body uses the aether to create magic. There are different types of magic, conscious and passive magic. There's a lot more to it.
  • The land mass farthest from the core is a tundra-like biome. It includes plants and animals similar to earth (often with six legs, though), each with different magic. There's a species of ermine that has a horn coming out of its forehead, and a plant which grows orbs on the end instead of flowers. There are also wolves, which will eventually evolve into sentient creatures.
Of course, that's really scaled down.
Pretty cool. Very interesting Magic system :D

Will there be any humanly intelligent animals, or just animals? :3
Thanks! I wanted the magic system to be interesting, so I have succeeded. To answer your question, yes. As I said, there will be fine unique intelligent species, each evolving from animals, much the same way humans evolved from apes. I plan on making different conlangs for each and outlining the history from proto-times to modern-times.

Also, I asked this question in the Q&A thread, but I'll ask it here too. What kind of sounds can a wolf pronounce, a stag pronounce, and a lizard pronounce? All different sounds, I assume, but I'll be creating different langs for these types of creatures so I wanted to be sure I wasn't including any sounds that would be impossible.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by Micamo »

Is there any way for creatures to travel between landmasses?

Also I seriously hope you aren't going to try to invent a language for animals with their phonetic anatomy unmodified...
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

Micamo wrote:Is there any way for creatures to travel between landmasses?

Also I seriously hope you aren't going to try to invent a language for animals with their phonetic anatomy unmodified...
Eventually, yes. I'm not sure how; I know that there will definitely be beasts traveling from mass A to mass B, because they are dragons and there will be a flying, intelligent species evolved from dragons. Different beasts will also be traveling between masses C1 and C2, because they're so close together and some kind of gravitational pull will allow them to. I'm not sure about the others so far.

Also, I will be changing the mouth structure of the intelligent species, but I don't want to change it too much. Don't humans and apes have an almost identical vocal range? Or am I mistaken in that? I'm not entirely sure. The main thing here is that with a species like the one evolving from wolves/foxes, I know that they may not be able to produce the same kinds of sounds. Look at the catlang thread, for example. I want to get an idea for what's very likely and what's very unlikely.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by Micamo »

reizoukin wrote:Eventually, yes. I'm not sure how; I know that there will definitely be beasts traveling from mass A to mass B, because they are dragons and there will be a flying, intelligent species evolved from dragons. Different beasts will also be traveling between masses C1 and C2, because they're so close together and some kind of gravitational pull will allow them to. I'm not sure about the others so far.
D-d-d-dragons!? :O
Also, I will be changing the mouth structure of the intelligent species, but I don't want to change it too much. Don't humans and apes have an almost identical vocal range? Or am I mistaken in that? I'm not entirely sure. The main thing here is that with a species like the one evolving from wolves/foxes, I know that they may not be able to produce the same kinds of sounds. Look at the catlang thread, for example. I want to get an idea for what's very likely and what's very unlikely.
Apes can't produce anywhere near the range of different sounds humans can. Still, if you're going to allow for evolved changes to occur to allow for language you can basically take this anywhere you want. One thing I can think of is canines have a longer hard palate than we do; Perhaps they'll be capable of producing more types of palatals and alveo-palatals?
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

D-d-d-dragons!? :O
THEY WILL BURN YOUR SOU--

Err...yes. Dragons. Or, more accurately, reptilian animals with wings that live on Mass A, but also have interesting toes which allow them to slide across the dessert.

Yeah.
Apes can't produce anywhere near the range of different sounds humans can.
That's actually great news, because it means I can worry less.
Still, if you're going to allow for evolved changes to occur to allow for language you can basically take this anywhere you want. One thing I can think of is canines have a longer hard palate than we do; Perhaps they'll be capable of producing more types of palatals and alveo-palatals?
That's an awesome idea! I hope you don't mind if I steal it. Something like Alveo-palatals, Palatals, Back Palatals, and Velar-Palatals?

I'm really worried about canines and bilabial plosives--canine lips look really...floppy.

EDIT: Site updated. Entry Three is now up: Description of Pre-Sentient Land Mass D.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by Micamo »

reizoukin wrote:That's an awesome idea! I hope you don't mind if I steal it. Something like Alveo-palatals, Palatals, Back Palatals, and Velar-Palatals?
Of course not. It's an idea, after all. It's not like I own it.
I'm really worried about canines and bilabial plosives--canine lips look really...floppy.
A few human languages lack bilabials; I don't see why a canine one couldn't do without them. But if you really want them you could always have them evolve the ability.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by Trailsend »

I've been needing to answer the wolf-vocal-apparatus question for Feayran for some time, but I haven't really put the research in yet.

One thing to keep in mind: Canine tongues may not be as dextrous as human ones, which could cut down on a lot of possibilities; also, the lips may not be as effective for blocking airflow, such that bilabial/labiodental plosives and rounding effects may not work. The different shape of the mouth and nasal cavity should also effect vowel formants, yes?
任何事物的发展都是物极必反,否极泰来。
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

Trailsend wrote:I've been needing to answer the wolf-vocal-apparatus question for Feayran for some time, but I haven't really put the research in yet.

One thing to keep in mind: Canine tongues may not be as dextrous as human ones, which could cut down on a lot of possibilities; also, the lips may not be as effective for blocking airflow, such that bilabial/labiodental plosives and rounding effects may not work. The different shape of the mouth and nasal cavity should also effect vowel formants, yes?
Is Feayran spoken by wolf people?

They aren't as dextrous? Hm. That does propose impossibilities. All I know is that I've seen a lot of dogs yawn, and when they do their tongue goes all retroflex.
I can imagine, though, that evolution and need for language would allow for a more flexible tongue, though. Our tongues are essential to our speech.

I do like the idea of the lacking of bilabials, and I had already imagined that it would also knock out more rounded vowels. [w] is a semivowel, and if that's impossible, wouldn't [o] be impossible too?
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by Trailsend »

It is! (See in particular this post)

True, true--canine tongues are by no means useless for speech. But I'm unsure, for example, whether they would be able to produce sibilants, or what velars would look like.

I'd imagine [o] wouldn't work out mostly because of the rounding involved, but a close approximation might be manageable via other mechanisms.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

@Micamo: Thanks! I think I'll go without bilabials.

@Trailsend: Ooh, interesting! Also, I can't imagine a language without sibilants...hmm. Velars I think they CAN pronounce, though. Or at least uvulars.

I got Entry 4 up today, after a long wait. It's about Land Masses C1 and C2. This has to be my favorite one out of all of them--grasslands. And the sentient beings will evolve from elk. :D

EDIT: And no, I don't know how to get the grey highlight off. :/
DOUBLE-EDIT: Got the grey highlight off, and now there's a comment box. :D
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

Sorry for the double post.

Entry Five is up! This one explains Mass B, the rainforest land mass. It's pretty cool. Any questions, comments, or criticism are welcome.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by Micamo »

Not to be belittling, but it feels like you're treading into Lucas-esque planet design. A planet of ice! A planet of water! A planet of desert! A planet of forests!

Real planets, even non-earthlike ones, are very highly diverse places. Your landmasses should be designed the same way.
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Re: Planet X, for lack of a better name

Post by reizoukin »

Micamo wrote:A planet of ice! A planet of water! A planet of desert! A planet of forests!
Truth be told, I think this is what I was aiming for. :oops: Each mass is about the size of Australia...which DOES have diversity, but not as much as, say, Europe or Africa. I was also taking into account that weather doesn't really exist much here, except for rain which doesn't move in currents like on Earth. Even with all that, there would be diversity.

I think in truth I was trying to make them different from each other but homogenous across themselves, making them easily organizable...I'm no master on geology or weather, and I'm not entirely sure how to make them diverse and still realistic. That's no excuse, of course, but it's the only one I have. I can certainly try to make it more diverse, but I'm not sure I can--and not sure I want to. My last conworld was very earthlike, and this one...isn't. :P

So I'll certainly think of ways to make them better, and if I do indeed like them, I'll implement them. But please excuse me if, for now, they remain unchanged...:)
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