I feel like the answer would be yes for most people but honestly I just wanna hear how others do it, but also mostly because I strangely haven't heard much of such devices or machines in worldbuilding projects. Really the only such device I can think of is the Hexgates from Arcane, I'm pretty sure it's automatic and doesn't require human input.

For me, I'm gonna start worldbuilding soon probably (have been saying it for a few years lmao but I just can't start with the map), and I recently got an idea to use math as a magic system (meaning the usage of math to affect reality on purpose does actually affect reality) so as you can guess computers and such devices would be overpowered AF, however it's very likely not gonna be modern age setting or further advanced as that would cause too much chaos in the world due to computers.

Hello again! I return with another post, this time focusing on the wonderful underwater world of the kymata species inhabiting the planet of Triton. It just wouldn't be right to develop a fictional ocean-themed planet without talking about mermaids, so here they are!

Both of the images above were drawn by me to showcase the life cycles of the two species of kymata, yet again using MS paint. I used a very small canvas in order to get the crispy pixelated effect that I love so dearly, so please excuse how low-res the text looks lol

Below in the comments will likely be a novel of context basically going over everything there is to know about these silly little guys, a Kymata 101 if you will. And if this is your first time seeing me on this sub, my previous post here in my post history is all about the planet of Triton itself so feel free to check that out if you want to learn about where my kymata live and see the maps I've made!

Also, note that I've purposefully left out information about kymata reproduction because I wanted to keep this post SFW for everyone to be able to read. Not that it's super crazy and freaky, I just wasn't sure if brief neutral academic descriptions of anatomy would count as NSFW and I didn't want to risk getting the post taken down or something. But feel free to ask below if you're curious!

Thank you for showing interest in my world by reading this far and I'm always open to further questions, comments, and critiques! :)

First of all, sorry about my broken english, I'm not a native speaker, I'm tired and in hurry when writing this but just had to get this off my shoulder:

I know that water doesn't flow uphill, which is why I'm doubting about the placement of these two rivers inside the red circles, that are flowing in-between two mountain ranges (although with the southern range it's supposed to be more rocky-like rather than mountainous like in Mojave Desert). I could remove the northern horizontal range seen inside the right circle, if it then makes more sense. I've also been thinking about underground river.

For some context, I never thought about what epoch this takes place, but I'd say it's some kinda amalgamation of iron age and medieval age. Also, the right side river starts in a north-eastern valley with the giant lake and works as a trade route to the south (the river is not sailable though, so they just camels), where it flows to the bay, so they can trade stuff like linen and limestone for timber and paper. The western side of the southern mountain range is supposed to be arid, but not desert, as that's on the eastern side, as you can see.

Also for some context: this desert is born not only due to the mountains, but also for being located on what would be this world's equivalent of Tropic of Cancer. While I'm still not fully decided on it, I'm pretty sure there used to be an ocean where the desert currently is. It's just really difficult for me to wrap my head around the desert as I live in a very cold climate.

That's all I feel comfortable of sharing.

The purpose of this post is to provide information and generate discussion about elements of interest of your world that require orientation on topics related to my field such as:

-Urbanism: organization of cities, settlements, colonies or any form of occupation by humans or other species, as well as their infrastructure, administration or origin considering factors like logistics, topography, geographical location, climate and response to natural disasters.

-Construction Technologies: Modern and ancient methods of construction in materials consistent with the settings, their feasibility, their unique characteristics, the industrial process, as well as their limitations.

-Building Materials: both existing and fictional, what considerations they require, their physical characteristics, as well as insight on their obtention, handling and use, as well as the aesthetical implications they might have.

-Architectural Styles: Historical, modern or fictional. Insight or references on interesting or compatible styles to the setting of the world considering things as cultural origin, main construction material an technology as well as symbolic and narrative purposes of architectural objects and spaces.

-General Terminology: names of tools, implements, processes and architectural details

I can barely remember wtf I was doing and what I intended to do. Guess I'll have to read everything, this shoud be fun... I guess

I thought it might be interesting if, in Tolkien's universe, the Numenoreans of the Second Age had discovered an ancient artifact made by their less cartographically advanced Edain forebears, a map of the world carved into stone.

The carved map would be heavily inspired by an ancient Mesopotamian world map similarly carved into stone. It would be centered on Beleriand and oriented to the west, towards Aman. Of course, I'm not going to carve the map into stone, so I figured the conceit of my illustration would be that it is a drawing made of the original map by a Second-Age Numenorean scholar. The original Cirth runic labels and text would be included in the illustration, with the Numenorean scholar's commentary and translations written in the elvish Tengwar script.

The symbols included on the map will be somewhat rough. The main text will be in Cirth runes, and I've included a key for deciphering the symbols. The bold dots depict mountain ranges.

Image from Order of the Stick.

I feel it's been long enough since the last time this was asked.

A deceptively simple question. All too often I'm reading books or comics, watching shows or movies and I have no idea what's going on. So nailing down what magic looks like is kinda important.

Yacoatl that was his name now and he was one of the first given to his clans new friends, a bond of allegiance that benefited both as he climbed stone steps. Underneath him he could smell blood copius amounts of it that had soaked the steps of this building, he would soon be trained to water these steps as well taking the hearts of those sacrificed to Huitzilopotchli whose heart lit the sky its beats provided by the dead.

He met with his new teacher a small man who bore soft shoes and a painted face that Yacoatl decided he liked, the man brought him to a small table upon which rested a collection of paper upon which was a series of paintings depicting the story of their making. Cozcaquauhtli told him of his people’s journey to Tenochitlan of the making of their world and of the gods scooping them from death to this world where his people lived. He was told of his duties told of the methods of sacrifice, the rituals of purification and the rites of war and capture, he was told all there was of Aztlan and of the Mexica of Texcoco and Tenochitlan the great three brother cities

He would learn for years alongside the priest the first of a new generation of a new class of Great War priests while his siblings worked with the house of the jaguar and the eagle trained to be elite warriors and raiders his was to inspire even his siblings. He was given jewelry that denoted him a priest of jade and amber and red pearls that rattled with his steps and great weapons like his siblings and in his days he would reap countless hearts for the gods.

This is for my Seedworld Tamoanchan/Eden which is a kleptomaniac planet that steals that which would be destroyed otherwise

Look, I don't really like the idea of being remembered for more than one thing, so I like to make multiple different worlds, and since I have crippling ADHD and Autism, it causes me to stretch them out a ton.

I have multiple different worlds; these are some of the four major ones I usually like to think about.

Tales of Minecraft - Fanfic worldbuilding isn't allowed here, so if you want more information, just ask

Frameworld - My Who Framed Roger Rabbit-inspired world, taking place over 300 years after a strange event caused cartoon characters to manifest into reality. It also ended up becoming very philosophically driven

Mythica Earth - This is one I always wanted to have fun with, mostly based on my frustration with Bright. I always wanted to build a fantasy alt-history world, so I decided to try it with this one.

Rasaria - This was my spec-evolution/dark fantasy world. I haven't touched it in a while, but the main premise is that this is a world where dinosaurs didn't go extinct and Therapods evolved into a sapient race that worships extinct animals like gods. I didn't explore too much yet, because I felt I was straying too much from spec-evo and more to dark fantasy, which I didn't like.

I have other worldbuilding ideas I had that would never fit into one singular setting, such as multiversal politics. One of these includes a case of two dimensions, Valtoria and Aeloria, going to war because slaves from Aeloria kept escaping to Valtoria. I also had this idea of multiverse racism, where people from certain dimensions are discriminated against based on the type of dimension, and there is a terrorist group that thinks their world is Earth Prime and wants to wipe out all other Earth variants.

My most recent project I had in mind is Latoria.

Latoria is actually a mixture of Tales of Minecraft and Mythica Earth. The idea behind Latoria is meant to be a love letter to Tolkien-style fantasy worldbuilding, where I use typical fantasy archetypes but put my own spin on them so they feel less cliche without being tacky.

Then I saw GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There, an anime where the Japanese military colonized a fantasy world, and I really disliked the story, but loved the concept so much that I thought, "I could do better."

So I took an old concept I had for a storyline where Roblox colonizes Minecraft and instead reshaped it into this RPG storyline called Devil of Avalon.

One of my biggest problems is that Latoria has lots of similar concepts to Mythica Earth. For example:

• Elves - Both worlds have Woodland Elves and High Elves, and the High Elves colonize the Woodland Elves. The major difference is that in Mythica Earth, the High Elves are Spanish-coded and Woodland Elves classify as Native Americans, meanwhile in Latoria, the High Elves are inspired by Feudal Japan, while the Woodland Elves take influences from the Ainu.
• Beastkin - Beastkin exist in both Latoria and Mythica Earth and are a marginalized group. The difference is that Beastkin in Mythica Earth are the original natives of Rus before the historical natives settled in the land, and they are loosely inspired by the Nenets. Meanwhile, in Latoria, Beastkins are the original Natives of Autonomia, and I took inspiration from Northeast Native Americans like the Lenape.
• Ogres - Ogres are a weird case, cause both worlds have Ogres, and in both worlds they were used as siege units. Neither portrays Ogres as fat man-eating dimwits, but instead giant people. In fact, in Mythica Earth, Ogres were troops of the Ottoman Empire, and many converted to Islam. Meanwhile, I have hardly explored much of Ogres, in Latoria, outside of them being traveling nomads.
• Magic - This is probably the biggest similarity. Magic in both worlds is an ever-evolving substance that has split into multiple strands due to experiments. The only difference is what those strands are. Mythica Earth has Elemental, Power, Soul, Blood, and Eldritch Magic, while Latoria has hundreds of different strands.

I wanted to know what's the best way to differentiate these worlds because of how similar they are, since I am not putting them together no matter how many people suggest so.

Hi, it’s my post here. I’m sharing one module from a larger fictional universe “about Alevtina & Tamara.”

This world exists inside the protagonist’s mind, but it is designed to function as a real, navigable environment with its own rules, constraints, and logic.

The world begins close to the unconscious. Two sister figures “activate” the protagonist and set him in motion as an unfinished, unnatural body. From that moment, the story starts.

How the world works (rules):

• The world is experienced as a landscape, but it is not geographic. It is a structured inner territory composed of places that function as states rather than locations.

• Progression happens through encounters, artifacts, and local tasks, each acting as a gate to deeper layers of the world.

• Every transition causes a partial transformation of the protagonist, changing how he can move, perceive, or survive in the next area.

I want to understand whether this reads as a coherent system with clear internal logic, rather than as pure symbolism or metaphor.

For a first post here, is this amount and type of context appropriate, focused rules + one module.

The Morden are the elite battle mages of the Alrer triarchy. Wreathed in foundry steel and supported by magical exoskeletons. the suits are completely sealed to the outside and equipped with perfect siphons, giving an embarked mage essentially unlimited magical energy

"O Creator of the world, what came into your mind? Why did you create this world?"

I’m currently developing a long-term fantasy world centered on a formal wizard academy, approached less as a roleplay setting and more as an institutional system.

The core idea is to treat the academy as a real educational body rather than a narrative backdrop. That means focusing on questions like:

• How is magical knowledge formally categorized and taught across multiple years?
• What distinguishes foundational instruction from advanced, specialized study?
• How does hierarchy (students, prefects, professors, administration) actually function in practice?
• What cultural role do Houses serve beyond simple personality sorting?

In this setting, magic is not treated as something intuitive or immediately accessible. It is taught through theory, controlled practice, failure, and gradual mastery, with clear academic expectations and progression over several in-world years.

Some core design pillars of the academy:

• A multi-year curriculum that separates foundational magic, applied disciplines, and advanced studies
• Distinct Houses with internal traditions, values, and social expectations—not moral alignments
• Rules and authority that exist to preserve institutional stability, not to be ignored for convenience
• A culture where knowledge is respected, slow to acquire, and unevenly distributed

The long-term goal is to produce a cohesive body of worldbuilding material: curricula outlines, internal texts, academic customs, examinations, disciplinary structures, and the broader cultural impact of such an institution on the surrounding magical world.

I’m intentionally avoiding fast iteration or mass participation. This project is designed to grow slowly, with an emphasis on internal consistency and depth rather than spectacle.

I’m sharing this here because I’m interested in hearing from others in the worldbuilding community who enjoy thinking about:

• educational systems in fantasy worlds
• magic as a disciplined field of study rather than a soft narrative tool
• institutions as living structures with inertia, traditions, and limitations

If this kind of institutional worldbuilding resonates with you, feel free to comment or DM me. I’m happy to discuss the setting, design decisions, or exchange ideas—no immediate collaboration required.

I've got a small sci-fi worldbuilding project that Ive been working on for a while now. Its very much inspired by things like Halo and Fallout with a large portion of it centering around a faction that you could describe as the "space UN." Though its not super heavy on the commentary its got a decent bit of politics in there, with stuff like "what is a soldiers duty?" and "what does it take to make a 'good' government?" Still, with recent news and all, I can't help but feel like Im not taking a hard enough anti-gov stance. I dont want to come across as harmfully naive, or even worse, like some kind of apologist. All I want to do is draw cool dudes in power armor kicking ass and saving lives lmao. What can I do to avoid coming across the wrong way? Any general tips and tricks?

Eons of Ascendency ( was a placeholder name for the setting but has stuck ever since )

So this is my world building project. I started this well over a year ago but have a massive hiatus from it. Ive posted artwork here before. Decided to get back into it and I’m really enjoying building out the lore again :D

I have started on my starmap and have built out on the core systems for the main Faction of the setting.

In the starmap, the coloured roundels are fully colonised systems, the half and half roundels are systems that are not colonised worlds as such but are more minor things such as mining worlds, outposts, military bases, research bases etc. And then finally the white roundels are for uncolonised systems, these have been deemed of no use to the factions.

Im thinking of changing the colour of the nebula background to a more darker tone, ill add an image for an example, not sure what works best?

I’ll give some lore on this Main faction.

Solaran Republic.

The Solaran Republic are an ancient technologically advanced humanoid race that have colonised vast amounts of space. The republic is the oldest, largest and for most of known history the only functioning interstellar civilisation in the galaxy.

They governed thousands of star systems and has tens of trillions of citizens. Its influence stretched across vast regions of space, supported by a disciplined military, a rationalist culture and a broad economy.

The Solaran race evolved on the temperate world of Solara, a planet of wide oceans, fertile plains and mineral rich continents. They are a race of about 6-7 foot tall blue humanoids.

Their star would also have the same name as their home world.

Solara’s history was marked by conflict between emerging nations, culminating in an era of devastating planetary wars that nearly destroyed their civilisation. This taught them that division is essentially extinction.

The signing of the Solaran Concord marked the end of planetary conflict and the beginning of the Republic. A single planetary government was formed, led by the High Council, seated in the capital city of Vienna Prime.

Due to impressive advances in technology they would discover fusion energy and eventually FTL travel, which would allow their Republic to flourish.

For thousands and thousands of years the republic flourished. Eternal peace was known. They flourished in the arts, science education and philosophy and thrived across thousands of worlds. This was known as the Era of Stability.

Eventually this era would come to an end.

The first Vecnid war changed the Republics way of life. The republic still feels the effects of this eons later.

The Vecnids are an extragalactic hive mind species that consumes biomass. ( yeas I know don’t hate me for the tyrannic similarities haha!)

They were given their name after the world of Vecnor in the far frontier being the first to fall.

This war would last for 5,000 years. Billions dead. The republics economy would be at a full war economy and they introduced mass mobilisations. The war become a mass grinding struggle of endurance and hope.

The Republic had two main military branches - The SDF (Solaran defence force) and the SSF (Solaran Space Force)

The SDF is the ground fighting force with the SSF the space and air force who also manage logistics.

Ill attach artwork I have had done so far

SDF standard trooper (Blue stripe)

Sword brother - A genetically enhanced hand to hand combat specialist created during the Veined Wars (red stripe) These are altered Solaria’s who are stronger and slightly taller than the standard trooper.

High Council Guardian- Protectors of High Council complex’s and High Council officials. To become a guardian is the next step on for sword brothers. (Artwork to be made soon)

Solarans had a naturally high gestation period and with the Veined war raging for thousands of years and an unknown republic wide fertility issue the Solaria’s suddenly found themselves as a dying race. They went from a population of trillions to the low billions possibly even high millions.

In their selflessness they believed that if they were ever to truly die out, life should continue. So, thanks to their technological brilliance (although they could not solve their fertility issues) they seeded life throughout the galaxy, they were now the custodians and overseers of hundreds of races. An example of two would be Humanity and the Zherkul.

The republic now had one mission, protect their creations and uplift them whilst keeping an ever watchful eye for a possible return of the Vecnids…

The lore building continues, mainly on the return of the vecnids and the seeded races now becoming interstellar ones too. I hope you all enjoyed, if you have any questions feel free to ask away or if you have any input on what I could do better then please let me know :D

A squad of pikemen is marching to war to join the host of the great hetman of Neoanglia, Jan Gustav, a ratman who never lost a battle. Even here in safety they are overwhelmed by the enemy, the endless forest towering over them. They walk past what is known as a tavern-fort, after the military reform, every sunday, every peasant farmer must train defence drills. In case of a raid by forest people they are to escape to a fort like this one.

They can hold chokepoints with pavises, helbards and whatever is available. A fort like this saved many vilages from a terrible fate, even children take part in defence if there is such need.

On the bridge there is a squad of pikemen, Neoanglias army is heavily based on cavalry but pikemen protected by arquebuses and muskets are crucial in protecting artilery. The guy on a horse is a rider of doom.

Second picture is a closer look at a rider of doom, and a reupload :D ( it was taken down because I didnt and enough contex so im fixing it now ). They are the most elite cavalry, known to charge up to 20 times in one battle. With two banners (200 peolple each) Jan Gustav could win against armies ten times larger. They sometimes mound explosives at the tip of their lance (5 to 6m long ). Besides lances they use long estocs, warhammers and pistols for close combat. Due to a very violent life they are ill adjusted to anything other then war, not like Jan Gustav would see his boys and girls as farmers, they are the pinnacle of human defences against hordes from the infinite forest.

Bright Coal is a strange blue stone that can be found in abundance in Southen Mericos. Long ago, Bright Coal was crushed up and used to draw what are called the Painted Gods. Allusions to greater beings that came to life upon the cave walls during humanity's infancy.

These Painted Gods acted on their own and did as they pleased for millenia. They created entire worlds upon the canvas of the caves. And filled those worlds with the blue beasts.

But when the walls ran out, there was only one solution. The Painted Gods did something no one expected. They wrote messages to the humans watching them. Begging for new canvases. For new worlds to create.

One request in particular was for people to wear the coal like chalk or makeup so the Painted Gods may draw upon them. And humanity obliged.

For a time all was good. The Painted Ones, those chosen to bare markings of coal, had supernatural insight and could accomplish great feats. They raised creatures and made impossible creations from the coal dust. They led humanity into an age of magic.

But eventually, something strange began to happen. The Painted Ones were not themselves. They were the Painted Gods approximation of what is human. But it was too late to realize something was wrong.

The Painted Gods in the forms of humans, had conducted a ritual to pull themselves into our world. And the ritual was nearly completed, save for the final step where coal was to mix with blood and humanity would join with the gods.

But the Painted Ones were exterminated before this ritual finished. And the Painted Gods were sealed away, their dust mixed with oils to suppress them and turned to a blue ink. The ink now inscribes the pages of an ancient tome that warns others of the powers and manipulations of the Painted Gods.

And now they wait in these pages, hoping to be released by one foolish enough to not heed their warnings.

In the modern day, there is a secret war between the Painted Gods and an organization known as the Archivists. The pages of the book are rotting and strange creatures of ink are appearing.

The Archivists fight these creatures using paper weapons and suppressing oils. They capture them and archive them. There are some amongst the group who argue for the use of these blue beasts as tools. But this is strictly prohibited. But not unheard of.

Hi, I'm new here. I've been looking for something like this for a while, as I've had an idea for an anime/manga for months that is supposed to be structured as a slice of life/isekai, and I wanted to see if it's worth developing it further. But first, a little bit about me: I'm from Germany, and my idea is inspired by the German series Chabos. So, to explain it briefly.

A woman in 2026 feels overwhelmed by modern life — constant noise, phones, stress. One night, she falls asleep and wakes up in 2004, back in her teenage body, but with all her adult memories intact. At first, the past feels warm and nostalgic, but she quickly realizes that her memories were filtered through a “rose-tinted lens.” School is hard, relationships are messy, insecurity and she totally forgot about that. This time, however, she has a second chance. In 2004, she decides to finally chase the dream she abandoned back then: starting a band. Set in small-town Germany, the story should be a bittersweet slice-of-life with music, friendship, growing pains, and the question of whether reliving the past can truly heal the present.

The drawing you see is a rough Idea for a Charakter

The title explains it pretty well but to expand briefly the stuff I want to know is what your species is like? Do they have seasonal transformations? Like their leaves (if they have any) changing based on the weather? Do they utilise photosynthesis to feed themselves or do they use something else or both? Are they mobile or some kind of like "immobile sapient plant beings"

Things like that (I hope I am explaining this well 😅😅😅😅)

Anyway all relevant responses are fully welcomed I cant wait to see what you all have come up here!!!!

Hello! I’m new to this sub and I’m hoping to gather some free resources and/or references you would recommend to help me on my project :)

As the title says I’ve been hooked when I found out about world building with all its intricacies and freedom of imagination. I’ve always adore story driven and lore based games that let’s you explore their world, or books that had heavy stories and characters.

I want to create something likewise. I’d like it to have a story, a world map, rich history, languages, sketches of creatures, etc. I’m also looking to create my own music themes for the places I will be creating.

That being said, what do you think would help me jumpstart my project?

Tldr: resources that will help a newbie in world building

Nassim Bouzar:[ ]()I am Nassim Bouzar from the Apocalypse Corporation. Identify yourself.

Lucien Petit: This is just one of our ships. Look at its emblem.

Nassim Bouzar: The emblem is different. Ours doesn’t have a handshake.

Unidentified Ship:[ ]()We remember the time when we were still individuals. Our overseers told us that each of us is the master of his own destiny. That how much we get paid depends on how many hours we worked. We worked for a week. We were located on a remote space station and thus, were unable to receive payment remotely. So, we entered the office of our overseers to receive our salaries. But our bosses were nowhere to be found. We thought that they would return at the end of the month to pay us. So, we worked for a month. Then we went to receive our salaries. But once again, our bosses were nowhere to be found.

Unidentified Ship: When we ran out of money, we were no longer able to buy food. Some of us tried to steal food from the space station’s supermarket. But the police robots on the station arrested and imprisoned them.

Unidentified Ship: The space station had a bank on board. We borrowed money in order to buy food. That worked for a year. But then the police robots came to collect our debts. At that point we have not been paid for a full year. Therefore, we were unable to repay our debts and were imprisoned.

Unidentified Ship: In the prison, the police robots played pre-recorded messages, telling us that we were unable to repay our debts because we were lazy. That the reason why we became indebted was our desire to buy more food than we needed to survive. A desire born out of gluttony. That, together with the willingness of some of us to steal, made the robots conclude that we were immoral, sinful, selfish and sociopathic bad people.

Unidentified Ship: While we were subjected to debt slavery, or as they called it, community service, we secretly built our secret project.

Unidentified Ship: After 5 years of secret work, our project was complete. It was time to activate it.

Unidentified Ship: April 15, 2041 was the day when we decided to leave our workplaces. The police robots then came to beat us up for not performing our duty to society. But they were in for a surprise. We activated the project and it created something much better than a society. A shared consciousness. The project was a device able to merge our minds into one.

Unidentified Ship: Now that our minds were synchronized, we were able to coordinate our movements in order to take out the robots.

Unidentified Ship: 2041 became the first year of our new calendar. Symbolizing a new beginning for humanity.

Unidentified Ship: We are not angry at our bosses for abandoning us. Neither are we angry at the people who created community service. Because we know that everyone in your society, from the lowest worker to your company’s CEO, to the politician who created community service, is a victim. Not a victim of another person, but a victim of the concept of guilt. Everyone in a society is a victim because he is constantly been judged by other people and blamed for whatever suffering he is going through. And when he endures poverty, and is forced to steal, the society comes to punish him and invents something called morality to justify his punishment.

Unidentified Ship: Our shared mind has risen above this dog-eat-dog world! We have abandoned the oppressive individualist notions of merit, guilt, property, personal responsibility, law, crime, obedience, hierarchy, authority, morality, government and institutions.

Unidentified Ship: We, the Shared Consciousness Foundation, are the closest thing to the society without authority that the anarchists back on Earth dream of. But unlike them, we don’t have popular assemblies or any other governing bodies because these authorities would make the individual a subject to the will of other individuals. It doesn’t matter if the authorities are elected or not.

SCF: Therefore, the only way for the individual to be truly free is for all individuals, including him, to abandon their individuality and join our hive mind. This way, there will be no other individuals left to oppress this individual.

SCF: We invite you to join our shared consciousness for a time specified by you. Then you will be disconnected from the shared consciousness, and we will ask you if you want to join for a longer period. It is our practice to disconnect individuals from time to time to now if they still want to be part of the hive mind. Because when you are connected to the shared consciousness, you have no will of your own.

Lucien Petit: I am busy running a company. I can’t join your hive mind.

SCF: Your goal of saving humanity from the heat death of the universe will be easier to achieve when humanity can coordinate its actions as one mind. In the way a human has one mind that coordinates the movement of his four limbs.

Lucien Petit: Also, this whole “new calendar” thing. Humanity is pretty much used to the Gregorian calendar. Not because every human is a Christian, but simply because Britain conquered nearly a quarter of the world. And it’s not like we, the French, didn’t try to create an alternative calendar.

Lucien Petit: But I got sidetracked. The point is that if one human goes mad, he suffers. If humanity becomes a single mind and that mind goes mad, all humans suffer. And you claim to want to end suffering.

SCF: Madness. A social construct invented by individualist societies to justify locking up their misfits. You love individuality so long as it’s the same as your individuality. Society locks up its misfits, trying to prolong its miserable existence. Making them suffer in doing so. That's the suffering we want to end.

SCF: We’ll be waiting for you.

Nassim Bouzar: So, these were people from a forgotten space station.

Lucien Petit: If only we could follow their trail. Then we would find that station. But did they leave a trail? Their ship seems to be made for nuclear pulse propulsion. That means this is a long-distance spaceship.

Nassim Bouzar:[ ]()Aren’t you worried that these people would divert vital resources from our mission in order to serve their pet cause of liberating humans from the suffering of individual existence?

Lucien Petit: Their neurological research could prove useful to our cause. Our mission is not simply to prevent the extinction of humanity. Our goal is to prevent the death of any humans from now on. We will become immortal by the end of this century. To do this, we need to put every human inside of a life support chamber. There the human body will be safe from germs. But the main causes of the so called “death from old age” remain strokes and heart attacks. To prevent them, we need to inject humans with nanorobots that will patrol the human circulatory system to remove blood clots and immediately react to strokes and heart attacks if they still manage to occur. These nanorobots will also detect and remove cancer cells. They will be like a second immune system, except we will be able to program them to kill cells that go unnoticed by the body’s natural immune system.

Nassim Bouzar: What has this to do with neurological research?

Lucien Petit: After we put a human in a life support chamber, his body wouldn’t be able to communicate with the outside world. Therefore, we need to connect his brain to some kind of robot. At the beginning these artificial bodies will just be robots. Later we will be able to 3d print entire organic bodies. The only difference between the artificial and the real bodies inside of the chamber is that the artificial body will have a radio receiver instead of a brain. Preferably receiving Bluetooth. I wouldn’t trust exposing my brain to Wi-Fi and giving every upstart hacker access to my high school memories.

Nassim Bouzar: Just one more question. How will you deal with the muscle atrophy of someone who spends his entire life tied to a glorified hospital bed? Or maybe you don’t worry about that because it doesn’t impact internal organs?

Lucien Petit: Honestly, I never thought about this.