Map Thread XVIII

The old thread will soon be dead...long live the Map Thread!

Link to the previous thread: Map Thread XVII

 

The map thread is dead. Long live the new Map Thread!

 

Cross-sections are proportional to the mass of the object, distances are logarithmic. A comparison with SOL SYSTEM for reference is on the lefthand side. Consider it a spiritual successor (and literal precursor) to this.



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LUA SATURNI is a rogue gas giant hurtling through space, unaccompanied by any star and, of course, notorious to all of mankind - it's discovery in 2246 is indelibly linked with the Angel Years and The Flight Of The Varley, as such it's name and the attendant symbolism are, of course, self-explanatory. Lua Saturni is the only practical means of access or egress for the LUA SATURNI SYSTEM, by means of THE VEIL - although the pressure differential between SATURN and Lua Saturni's upper atmosphere is a bit difficult to handle, as is the disorientation, most modern ships are equipped to handle it.

The rather pleasant sea-green color is believed to be due to a mix of methane and tholins in Lua Saturni's atmosphere - and it is not commonly observed, as without a parent star, Lua Saturni is dark and very, very cold. There is currently speculation that other Veils exist in lower levels of the Luan atmosphere (and magnetic distortions seem to bear this out) but in light of the circumstances surrounding the first Veil, exploration, by human or tulpa, of the remainder has been put on hold.



Lua Saturni has a sizable cloud around it, amassed on its journey through the loneliness between stars. 42 bodies are astronomically significant, 22 of which are massive enough by IAU standards to be named, 6 of which are important enough to be listed here:

LE FOL stretches the meaning of the term "moon", a cream-and-coffee gas giant just over half the size of Lua Saturni; the center of mass is well between them, and their constant ballet defines the orbits of every other body in the system. Pretty, mild, and not equipped with a gate between worlds, Le Fol has generally been overlooked. Aside from it's severely tilted orbit, observation has noticed little. It certainly hasn't noticed the life inside, which, far from the bloated "gasbags" of science fiction, could best be described as color in motion.

LE BATELEUR is a small, taut, world a little under half the size of THE MOON, which still makes it the 7th largest object in the Lua Saturni System. It is one of the five objects to orbit exclusively Lua Saturni or Le Fol, and in consequence - it's tight, irradiated orbit goes between the two gas giants, experiencing tidal forces that would make IO look like a still pond. It's surface is a mess of chaotic, molten furrows, wracked by lava flows and enormous earthquakes. It is currently ranked as the second safest terrestrial object in the system.

L'EMPEREUR, on the other hand, looks like a placid white ice ball from space. (Well, technically it doesn't look like anything at all, since there is no natural light, but you get the point). It's underwater (and above-ice) inhabitants, commonly called Emps, are a funny, affectionate species with strong family bonds, that look somewhat in between a shark and a firefly. When the Varley arrived, over 85 million Emps were on the surface of L'Empereur. Mounted on stakes.

L'ERMITE is third biggest in the system, an cold rock roughly twice the size of Mars. Giant, compared to all the other rocks. And up until recently, it looked like the best bet for a human outpost in the Lua Saturni system - being neither too small nor already gotten to. A few weeks after the JUGEMENT WAR, however, observations in the north latitudes noticed something - a strange, crystalline 'bloom', that was spreading across the surface at close to exponential rates. It's expansion has since slowed down, and the patch is often (mockingly) called The Yellow Snow - but scientists are fairly certain that it's not new, or mineral, but very, very old, and coming out of hibernation. Ships that land on The Yellow Snow do not return.

LE DIABLE is frigid, a bit smaller than Titan, and dotted in large, dormant, cryovolcanoes. It is very quiet.

LE JUGEMENT is on the outer limits of the system, training Lua Saturni and Le Fol at a distance larger than the Earth to the sun. It ought to be a pitch-black, frozen lump the size of Mercury, spinning in the dark.

It is brimming with life.

Crimson plant-analogues carpet the surface - fringe an ocean with liquid water - and tall beasts walk through the forests while vast gliders soar through the skies. But it is not known for that, and the Varley, searching for something, anything, to explain the madness raging on Earth, found much more than life there. It is where we met I AM.

 

That is... an awesome map.

 

OH GREAT @CalBear, RULER ETERNAL OF THE MAPS THREAD,

can you sticky this thread please?

thank you

 

To celebrate the new Thread:

An alternate map of Africa.

 

Here is the revised version of the map I posted.

I present... REVERSE COLONIZATION!

 

This is a really great map! 2 Questions:

1. What is the scenario in a nutshell?

2. Will you make a map of the world and/or Europe in this scenario?

 

"I should have told you, I hope one day you understand. You should have let me out. Help me. I am not a monster. I am not evil. I just want to be free. No matter what it takes. But I will not forgive you for what you were going to do to me."

Also,

 

1. Just an alternate colonization map I felt like making. No idea really.
2.

It has some big implausiblities, like an Ottoman Republic or the fact that Spain is made of Castille and Portugal instead of Aragon not affecting history at a big scale.

 

Great Map!

 

This was from the last thread (I was just a bit too late to respond there), but is the telephone map game on the site, and is there a way to join, or is it a private game?

 

Just something quick I made in hopes of being the first to post. Tangibly related to my timeline.

 

Oh, no, the game was a game I had with some friends last year. It was organized through WhatsApp and we sent the maps to each other through Skype . I wasn't even a member here when we made this. I can try to get all the maps we made and post them all together on DeviantArt.

 

"I should have told you" "I hope one day you find out" "You should have let me out" "I am not a monster" "I am not evil" "I just want to be free" "No matter what it costs" "But I will not forgive you for what you were going to do for me" "FREEFREEFREEFREEFREEFREE"
-All hidden text, found through inverting colors.

EDIT: Also a "help me" hidden between the earth and the "no"s
EDIT x2: Found a "I'm so alone" on the map.

 

Speaking of Telephone Map Games, here are two more maps:

This one is based on a reversed East-West Francia timeline, but during TTL"Napoleonic Wars"

 

The Morse code says "My name is Trios and I will be free".

Anxiously waiting to find out what all of this means.

 

Kinda obvious: There's a dude named Trios, and he really fuckin' wants to be free, considering he wrote it down like twenty fuckin' times.

 

I suspect that, should this Trios become free, everyone else would wish that they were not.

 

The map thread is dead! Long live the map thread!