Quote from: catty_big;648672Clash, this is FANTASTIC stuff!! It's far more detailed than a lot of setting writers would bother with, well-thought through and definitely makes me want to play any game set in the universe.

Thank you! In order for this game to work properly, it has to be self-consistent and rigorously followed through.  

QuoteInteresting article. One thing puzzles me though: towards the end, mention is made of the fact that it would be difficult to impossible for any colonists or voyagers to return to Earth after a while. First I saw the bit about the effects of 38% gravity, which made sense, but then I read this:

"To return, they would need a fully assembled and fuelled rocket capable of escaping the gravitational field of Mars, on-board life support systems capable of up to a seven-month voyage and the capacity either to dock with a space station orbiting Earth or perform a safe re-entry and landing."

Ok, but then how did they get there in the first place?!!

They got there in a lander, but there would be no fuel left. They would be living inside the lander, at least initially. They would have to raise their own crops because supplies from Earth would not be coming. Also, the lander would not be capable of escaping Mars gravity. It would use aerobraking and parachutes to land, not rockets.

-clash

Quote from: jibbajibba;648611Actually since it's a one way trip they are actually inviting older folks (like yourself )

From what I can see the whole thing is a PR exercise to launch another Big Brother on us but the blurb basically says the first people will build the infrastructure.

Courser the whole idea is hokem.

They should build a habitat in the south china sea first, then on the dark side of the moon and the whole process is better off being done by more advanced robots using quantum communication, if they can develop it, but where would we be without the dreamers of dreams.

But I don't want to live in the South China Sea, I want Mars!

They don't want old people. Old people need pills. Old people can't have children. Old people need afternoon naps. it would never fly!

-clash

Quote from: catty_big;648672Interesting article. One thing puzzles me though: towards the end, mention is made of the fact that it would be difficult to impossible for any colonists or voyagers to return to Earth after a while. First I saw the bit about the effects of 38% gravity, which made sense, but then I read this:

"To return, they would need a fully assembled and fuelled rocket capable of escaping the gravitational field of Mars, on-board life support systems capable of up to a seven-month voyage and the capacity either to dock with a space station orbiting Earth or perform a safe re-entry and landing."

Ok, but then how did they get there in the first place?!!

The ship they have has the ability to make it there but not back. No fuel, no supplies, no ability to exit martial gravity well or atmosphere etc etc

Specific adaptations of the Mars Humans to breathing thinner air:

• Larger lung capacity with more surface area to exchange oxygen.


• Higher amounts of hemoglobin to carry oxygen


• Faster breathing cycle to exchange oxygen faster


• Larger, more mobile ears to hear better in thin air


• Larger noses with greater sinus surface area

The Martians had failed colonies in two areas of the Earth. Tibet, and the Altiplano of Chile, Peru, Equador, and Bolivia. Both failed because Martians could not adapt to the higher gravity. Pregnancies did not come to term, so children were not born to carry the new genes forward, thus evolution failed. The duty was painful, and thought of as a punishment. After a hundred years or so, both colonies were given up as failures. The ruins were discovered early in the 20th century, but were not understood until much later.

The Dinos of Venus

In Lowell Was Right!, Venus was explored and developed by the Martians. Using mostly trained Humans from Earth, along with a few Martians and Mars humans in exo-skeletons, the Martian Great Houses scoured Venus for resources to exploit. Oil, vegetation, and animals - and particularly various pharmaceutical plants which grew only in the equatorial jungles - were extracted and used all over the inner Solar system.

Among the Venusian animals used by the Martians and their Human slaves was a bright dinosaur of the bipedal carnivore type called Kraat by the Martians. They associated themselves gradually with the exploring bands, living on the edges of their settlements, where they could sometimes be seen aping what the Humans or Martians did. The bands thought their antics amusing, and they were very useful to the bands, being set to do simple and repetitive tasks. Unfortunately, no one realized just how bright they were.

These Kraat were learning from the Humans and Martians, and when the time was right, they rebelled simultaneously, all over Venus. Many exploration bands were wiped out. Others survived, but at the cost of living a feral existence in the jungles, while the Martians abandoned their programs of exploration. In time, most Humans retreated to the more temperate polar areas and highlands which the cold-blooded _Kraat_ disliked.

The Kraat have built up a civilization in the tropical lowlands of Venus, while the humans tend to stay in the highlands and polar areas. The Humans have degenerated technologically as the _Kraat_ advanced, so that both are roughly at a medieval technology. The Martians on Venus' surface have either left or died out, so that there are none left today.

The Kraat  - or Dinos as the Earth Humans call them - are  roughly Human-sized. Derived from dinosaurs similar to the Troodons, they are smaller and far stronger than Martians or Mars Humans, they eat mostly meat with their terrible sharp teeth. Their arms are short in proportion to  their legs and bodies, but not nearly to the extreme of Earth's T-Rex. They have two clawed fingers and a thumb pad - a ridge of muscle, skin, and callous along the bases of their palms - which gives them a strong and versatile grip.

Kraat have a long and narrow head, and a long, muscular neck. Their tails are short and thick, and help balance their heavy tops. Their legs are lithe and muscular, and bear three toes forward and one behind, like many birds. They are not great runners, but instead live in trees, being very adept and climbing and leaping. They stand fairly erect on their two legs, though not as straight as Humans or Martians, but are comfortable moving on all fours in the trees.

They have an excellent sense of smell, poor but binocular eyesight, and superb hearing. _Kraat_ use echolocation like bats to find their way in the dark and tangled jungles. They are very social creatures, and communicate vast distances  with their ultrasonic language.

Kraat are egg-layers, but they defend and tend their nests with a deep fanaticism. There is no real difference in size between males and females, though they are different in coloring, and they mix easily in work or hunting. Once every three Venus years or so the females go into estrus  - luckily for the _Kraal_ about a third of the females at a time - and wander out into the jungle, to be followed by males interested in them. There is a sort of trial wandering, and the last male standing gets to mate, whereupon  they return to their tree-village. Both parents guard and raise the clutch.

Clutchmates grow up together, and are the core of Kraat social structures. They form hunting parties and scouting groups, and work together very cooperatively. Other clutches associate on a secondary level, and still others on a tertiary level. Dominance within the clutch forms alphas and betas, and between clutches sorts out which clutches are in charge. These contest almost never involve bloodletting, instead focusing on tactical maneuvering in social ways.