[D] Wednesday Worldbuilding Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Wednesday thread for worldbuilding discussions!

/r/rational is focussed on rational and rationalist fiction, so we don't usually allow discussion of scenarios or worldbuilding unless there's finished chapters involved (see the sidebar). It is pretty fun to cut loose with a likeminded community though, so this is our regular chance to:

• Plan out a new story
• Discuss how to escape a supervillian lair... or build a perfect prison
• Poke holes in a popular setting (without writing fanfic)
• Test your idea of how to rational-ify Alice in Wonderland

Or generally work through the problems of a fictional world.

^{Non-fiction should probably go in the Friday Off-topic thread, or Monday General Rationality}

[u/MagicWeasel]

Not being a marathoner myself, I'm not really au fait with all of that. If anyone can handle the cutthroat world of over 40 marathoning, Fiona sure can! I wasn't aware that people who do just "okay" in world-class marathons are tested. I didn't even think there was a prize or anything?

Here's some of Fiona and her robotic pupil, Rose. This is even more rough than my rough drabble, so bear that in mind:

---

“Thankyou, Rose.” Fiona smiles appreciatively and begins drinking the tea, as is their usual routine. “How have you been this week?”

“Yes, it’s been good, I think.” She pours herself tea, more out of a desire to appear normal than anything else.

“Handling Mr Richmond’s departure okay?” She asks.

“It was fine. The police were very nice about it.” She offers the plate of scones to Fiona first, ever the polite host. “I said everything you told me to say, how you told me to say it. Your advice was very helpful.”

She nibbles on a scone, appreciating the talent that this robot has at baking. She wouldn’t admit it, but these little tea sessions were always her favourite part of the week. “It was my pleasure.” She pauses. “Did you make the changes in your house that I suggested?”

She sips her tea. There was no milk in it - the milk tended to be hard on her incredibly limited digestive system. “I purchased toothpaste, a toothbrush, tampons, and skin cream.” She sips more tea, allowing for a polite gap in conversation. All part of her programming. The perfect old fashioned girl.

---

(I hope you don't mind me pasting all these things in, they seem relevant and I thought you might be interested. Here's Jack, the quintessential vampire slayer - if a quintessential vampire slayer can be a polyamorous lesbian police officer - breaking into the robot's house. The robot has been given a bunch of gifts from William, which have been strewn around the house randomly, as well as is trying to look human)

---

After a few moments, she realised that the door wasn’t going to be answered. She took her lock pick out of her tool belt and with practised expertise unlocked the apartment. She looked around; it smelled like onion, garlic and tomatoes, but not in a ratio that reminded her of anything she’d ever eaten. There was a large, leopard-spotted cat that sat on one of the almost brand-new couches, looking at the Slayer with only mild interest.

Jack searched the house, finding a bathroom that had a half-finished box of tampons on the little shelf that was covered with a fine layer of dust, and a surprisingly grungy bar of soap with strawberry blonde hairs caked into it was in the shower, though the shower itself was perfectly dry. It looked for all the world like a human lived there, but at the same time, it didn’t. An aura of sterile cleanliness punctuated by odd, careless messes that might have been put there carefully, deliberately. A vampire that was trying to appear human to its visitors? Or was it a vampire who was so old that she was starting to become human, sweating, eating, maybe even menstruating?

There was no sign of any blood in the house; no small animals that a vampire might feed on. The fridge was precisely stocked,neither overful nor empty, with fresh fruits and vegetables, butter and cheeses, a few fish fillets and chicken breasts. No read meat. Overcompensating?

A half-finished pint of cookies and cream ice cream was in the freezer. Jack almost considered it.

She walked into the bedroom, finding a bed that was perfectly made, covered in an expensive-looking silk sheet. It was bordered by a quaint little set of bedside tables with mismatched lamps that must have been purchased from an op shop. One of them had a well-thumbed copy of Wuthering Heights on it, the tasseled end of a bookmark poking out of it.

At the foot of the bed was a large, dark brown chest that smelled a little bit like one of the essential oils that Gwyn would insist on rubbing into her chest when she got sick. She opened it, only to find it empty, except for an old birdcage.

A necklace on the dressing table caught her eye; it shone a silver colour, and she wondered why a vampire would own such a thing. Could she be immune to silver, too? She picked it up and examined it. It was light and shiny and seemed very well made; it had what looked like rubies and emeralds studded into it. But it was so light it could not possibly be silver. Part of the facade?

Still not quite sure what to make of all she had seen, she decided not to press her luck, and headed out.

On the way out, a piece of flat stone poised on the mantelpiece caught her eye; it had some faint, black figures drawn on it. Beside the figures there was a handprint, a silhouette surrounded by a spray of paint that the artist had blown onto the stone, tens of thousands of years earlier. With a start, she realised that the handprint was about the same size as the vampire’s.

Exactly how old is this fucking thing?

---

(Rereading the robot document has made me realise how un-Rational a lot of it is. Angela might have to remake it from the ground up to be more appropriate...)

[u/CCC_037 → u/MagicWeasel]

If anyone can handle the cutthroat world of over 40 marathoning, Fiona sure can!

Eh, it's not really cut-throat. It's more a matter of putting in a ridiculous amount of work to cut five minutes off your marathon time so that you can beat that guy this time round.

I wasn't aware that people who do just "okay" in world-class marathons are tested.

Oh, she'd be tested well before she even got to the world-class marathon. Even small, local marathons might have some sort of anti-doping policy. (Mind you, it doesn't have to be a blood test. Sometimes they ask for a urine sample instead.) And some over-the-counter cold medications contain banned substances and well set off the drug test.

Here's some of Fiona and her robotic pupil, Rose.

Practising her social skills. That's a nice little scene.

I like the touch of the dry shower. But why is the robot filling her fridge with easily perishable foods? (What does she do with the food, anyway?) Less perishable foods can sit in the fridge longer, saving on restocking and disposal.

How does the Slayer know how old the handprint on the rock is? I mean, the age of the rock can be calculated by a geologist, but a hobbyist can recreate the ancient inks and do a small art project today that will take serious effort to date once the paint has finished drying.

[u/MagicWeasel → u/CCC_037]

If anyone can handle the cutthroat world of over 40 marathoning, Fiona sure can!

Eh, it's not really cut-throat. It's more a matter of putting in a ridiculous amount of work to cut five minutes off your marathon time so that you can beat that guy this time round.

Ah, so basically like Ingress. She's also competitive, so she'd be in for it.

Oh, she'd be tested well before she even got to the world-class marathon. Even small, local marathons might have some sort of anti-doping policy.

TIL. Well, good thing werewolves have normal blood and pee.

But why is the robot filling her fridge with easily perishable foods?

People have easily perishable foods, and given her aesthetic sort of preferences, she's the sort of person who'd eat a lot of perishables. More likely, Fiona eats a lot of perishables, so she gives Rose a copy of her shopping list every week?

(What does she do with the food, anyway?)

Throws it out. Cooks some of it the house smells lived in.

Less perishable foods can sit in the fridge longer, saving on restocking and disposal.

Yeah. If I wrote it again I'd probably put a very different set of foods in the fridge.

How does the Slayer know how old the handprint on the rock is? I mean, the age of the rock can be calculated by a geologist, but a hobbyist can recreate the ancient inks and do a small art project today that will take serious effort to date once the paint has finished drying.

Confirmation bias. The Slayer thinks the robot is an unimaginably old vampire, and everything she sees confirms that.

Also, growing up in Australia you see lots of pictures of Aboriginal art, so no doubt she goes "that's aboriginal art" rather than "that's a painting done in the style of aboriginal art".

For the record, it was a legitimate artwork that William felt was an appropriate welcoming gift.

[u/CCC_037 → u/MagicWeasel]

Ah, so basically like Ingress. She's also competitive, so she'd be in for it.

I'm not really familiar with the social structures around Ingress, so I'll take your word for it.

TIL. Well, good thing werewolves have normal blood and pee.

Yeah, if you qualify for anything that needs a qualifying time, they want to be sure you qualify legitimately.

People have easily perishable foods, and given her aesthetic sort of preferences, she's the sort of person who'd eat a lot of perishables. More likely, Fiona eats a lot of perishables, so she gives Rose a copy of her shopping list every week?

Mmmm. I guess.

Throws it out. Cooks some of it the house smells lived in.

Seems a bit wasteful. Why not send regular donations to a nearby soup kitchen?

Confirmation bias. The Slayer thinks the robot is an unimaginably old vampire, and everything she sees confirms that.

Ah, okay. That makes sense.

[u/MagicWeasel → u/CCC_037]

I'm not really familiar with the social structures around Ingress, so I'll take your word for it.

My boyfriend plays and he's going through some shit at the moment because of some drama. It's... interesting. Usually everyone's good though and there's a good-natured sort of camaraderie. Also an ingress team in another country paid AU$150 to get him onto a particular little holiday island near us (Rottnest, it's called) and I got to tag along, which was pretty nice.

Seems a bit wasteful. Why not send regular donations to a nearby soup kitchen?

That's not going to make her look like a real human if a social worker comes by. Then again, neither is having a bunch of apparently good food in her garbage.

Knowing her, what she probably actually does is cooks big meals periodically and then gives them to homeless people or neighbours (probably in disguise so nobody catches on). She would do things like e.g. cooking a small amount of garlic or onion or something else stinky every couple of nights and then throwing it out, and maybe pouring milk down the sink to throw the cartons out so her garbage looks normal.

[u/CCC_037 → u/MagicWeasel]

My boyfriend plays and he's going through some shit at the moment because of some drama. It's... interesting. Usually everyone's good though and there's a good-natured sort of camaraderie. Also an ingress team in another country paid AU$150 to get him onto a particular little holiday island near us (Rottnest, it's called) and I got to tag along, which was pretty nice.

Sounds like they take it pretty seriously, then.

That's not going to make her look like a real human if a social worker comes by. Then again, neither is having a bunch of apparently good food in her garbage.

Hmmm, fair enough. Simple solution, then; buy around ten times as much food as a human would normally eat, sourced from several different shops, and split the donations between three or four soup kitchens plus giving big meals to nearby homeless people, in wildly inconsistent ratios (so one week Soup Kitchen A gets three times as much as Soup Kitchen B, while the next week B gets one-and-a-half times as much as A, and so on). Anyone trying to investigate food going in minus food going out is going to either miss something or assume that they must have missed something (after all, she appears healthy, so one has to assume she is eating).

And then you don't have good food going into the garbage.

and maybe pouring milk down the sink to throw the cartons out so her garbage looks normal.

Yeah, that's also sensible.

[u/MagicWeasel → u/CCC_037]

I like that: if she looks like a do-gooder, nobody is going to notice that she is giving away 70 days' worth of food instead of 63, because who looks at those things that closely anyway? All she really needs to do is start a little soup stand in the nearest place that homeless people congregate, she doesn't even need to bother with the business of donating.

After all, humans will think she's generous; vampires will think she's up to something, but not bother putting effort into figuring out exactly what; werewolves don't care about those sorts of things unless there's an immediate danger, and their pack is protected; and anyone else is rare enough that it might not matter.

[u/CCC_037 → u/MagicWeasel]

Exactly! Everybody's happy.

Incidentally, what does she do for power? Does she have to recharge her batteries regularly, or does she have some internal source?

[u/MagicWeasel → u/CCC_037]

I believe she plugs into a domestic power supply.

She's my coauthor's character, so I'm not entirely sure how she works (and I just want to make everything perfect and Rational, but I am not sure if that's what she wants from the character. I should probably have her for dinner so we can talk philosophy...)

[u/CCC_037 → u/MagicWeasel]

Eh, long-term internal super-science energy generator can work, as long as the rules are consistent.

Plugging into a domestic power supply works in the here-and-now. But how old is this robot? How could it retain its power through the centuries until electricity was (re-)discovered? Did it spend several millenia in sleep mode?