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Trying to visualise Alternate Earth Landscapes

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LizardOfAus (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1: Jan 19th 2020 at 1:58:50 PM

Lately, I've been preoccupied with a concept for a kind of fantasy multiverse, inspired by the likes of His Dark Materials and the Conduit CYOA. Half of the worlds it could comprise would essentially be variations of Earth, tweaked in such a way that it would be dominated by a particular kind of environment. For instance, the Sea Dimension would be a version of earth where the ocean level is so high that the only landmasses are island sized- so then, no larger than Greenland -while the Lake Dimension would have the ocean level low enough that there essentially ARE no oceans, only rivers and lakes no bigger than the Caspian Sea.

On the surface, these seem simple enough to map out. Just take a topographical map and trace the blobs, right? But where it starts to strain my brain is figuring out how this might affect the course of life in the world. Never mind the greater space for trees and wildlife to spread out and mingle, never mind the destinies of potential civilisations that would be altered in ways beyond imagining, but what about the conditions that would lead to such a world? Would Lake Dimension's earth have to be hotter? Colder? Would the restriction of water lead to more barren lands? Would the lakes still have to be saltwater?

These are the questions that keep me up. And that's not even getting into the OTHER potential parallel earth biomes. So I thought I might offload some of these questions onto you guys, see if you had any thoughts, or if you could at least point me to somewhere else these absurd questions might be better suited.

And a Strange Figure Emerges.
devak They call me.... Prophet Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
They call me.... Prophet
#2: Jan 20th 2020 at 11:31:43 PM

That is an incredibly complicated question to ask.

As to draining the oceans, there's an XKCD for that: https://what-if.xkcd.com/53/

As to how climate is affected by things, there's also an XKCD for that: https://what-if.xkcd.com/10/

LizardOfAus (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#3: Jan 21st 2020 at 12:29:41 AM

Sorry. I don't seem to ever come to this forum with easy questions. Thanks for the sources anyway.

And a Strange Figure Emerges.
devak They call me.... Prophet Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
They call me.... Prophet
#4: Jan 21st 2020 at 9:40:38 AM

Dont worry, you might not necessarily know how difficult a question is before you ask it.

But if you could reliably predict how the earth reacts to certain changes, you basically have a Nobel Prize. It's the one thing about climate change that's by far the hardest, unlike Global Warming (which is a relatively simple energy balance).

LizardOfAus (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#5: Jan 21st 2020 at 1:50:04 PM

Right. I'll try not to stress too much over it, then.

I'll probably start up another thread with my base ideas for this fantasy multiverse thing. Would be easier to get thoughts and opinions on overall.

And a Strange Figure Emerges.
AdmiralOllie Guild Navigator from Arrakis (Experienced Trainee) Relationship Status: I love you for psychological reasons
Guild Navigator
#6: Jan 23rd 2020 at 1:04:18 PM

Interesting! I’ll save this for later. smile

ollie // they/it // dragon enthusiast // cyberpunk
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