This may come off as nit picky, which is not my intention, but how does gravity work in the High Wilderness? As I understand it, the Judgments set the laws so the laws in one area (on earth, for example) are not necessarily the laws in another area (the reach, let’s say). But how does gravity work? I understand mechanically it needs to be top down, but you have cities and towns and trains floating in the skies, but I haven’t found any lore snippets talking about people within cities, towns, or trains floating of flying around. Does anyone else find this a little inconsistent? Its only a minor problem, and honestly I don’t mind if some things remain behind a veil of mystery.
[color=#6666ff]Hey Ludovide,[/color]
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[color=#6666ff]It’s not nit picky at all, though I’m glad you don’t mind the veil of mystery and you’ll soon see why. I’ve spoken to our Narrative Director about this recently, and while our content team have various thoughts about how the laws work within the Reach and other regions, we’ve not sat down and written an exact system of hypothetical physics. I think elements like this will eventually be touched on and revealed through the content, but even then we’d want to deliver that information with an air of mystery and suggestion which will give room for a little interpretation from your wild imaginations, rather than lay down strict rues. [/color]
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[color=#6666ff]So with that in mind, I don’t want to spoil anything. Suffice to say London has a method to impose familiar gravity inside its locomotives and Gravity works at ports. Perhaps the ground remembers which way everything’s supposed to go. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I guess your Captain will eventually find out as they explore the High Wilderness.[/color]
I can’t believe I missed this, I’d been really wondering! Thanks for the answer. Long irc-conversations came up with theories such as “gravity is normal but has an extremely short range” and “trains are built bottom-heavy to pull the crew that way”. Still, I can’t wait to see whether an opportunity will arise to, say, try walking on the bottom of an island.
Another thing I’d definitely not mind some in-depth exploration in the game is how the trains work, exactly - propulsion / jet engine / steam / combustion etc, and how they for example replenish the water shot out as steam on long voyages. Not to say this needs to be covered, but I’ll personally drain every piece of Spacetrain Engineering info like a sponge.
This may or may not be intentional, but the presence of gravity seems to only occur in the presence of a breathable atmosphere. Maybe locomotives have airlocks akin to zubmarines’, and/or carry tanks of compressed air to compensate for any air lost when opening the doors. Docking rails could also be elevators of a sort, with locomotives docking in the outer atmosphere and being carried safely down with no need to steer a falling locomotive. It would explain why we need to find a dock rail instead of just setting the engine down anywhere.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that the direction of gravity always aligns with the local plant life’s direction of growth. Perhaps this is because plants polarize the gravitational force as they interact with the atmosphere via respiration. It would explain why Titania has a consistent “down” towards its roots, rather than inwards towards its center of mass. This doesn’t apply to the bodies on which the plants are growing because, um, reasons, just go with it.
Also, I don’t think too much of the information about gravity in the Wilderness should be especially hidden. Surely a locomotive pilot would need to have some basic understanding of at least where and how their locomotive will be subject to gravity. And I know I wouldn’t want to move someplace until i felt sure that my house wouldn’t fall off into the open void.
There’s air in the high wilderness. S’just cold.
Thanks for your answers! I’m glad that you guys are thinking about it while still leaving the world open to interpretation. I’m sure you’ll strike the right balance between broad strokes and little details when it comes to world building. I guess i’d rather have a strange and mysterious world than have some sort of detailed and convoluted explanation of physics.
edited by Ludovide on 11/10/2017
Honestly, I just assumed it was the buoys. They look a lot like scaled-down Dawn Machines, so maybe London’s been deploying a bunch of tiny not-Judgements that can only enforce one or two Laws, like ‘this place is inhabitable’ or something.