Actually, stopping to think about the worldbuilding stuff is the main thing that's slowing me down! That's why I started this thread inviting people to, in effect, brainstorm with me.
I figure they have wind and solar power that's more developed than ours, and steel--too many things need steel. Though I suppose they could have a bacteria-grown polymer to use for some of the things we'd use steel for. Or even a spider-silk related substance...I could go for lots more types of spiders than in this world.
Oh--and they do have alcohol.
I don't think I'll ever need to explain the lack of fossil fuels--to them, it's an imaginary substance, the stuff of speculative fiction and not a subject of scientific inquiry--but my current theory is that they have common bacteria that happily eat that stuff. Hmm...If they could have factories that produce it, or something like it, they might be able to use it right there, in a sealed factory environment, before it all got eaten up.
But carting it around to millions of gas stations and having it sit in automobile engines until someone wants to drive somewhere, --that's right out.
Now, trains--it would be good to figure out if there's a way to make trains work in this world, and are they primarily expensive passenger things, or can they carry heavy freight? I am imagining Chicago as a big city, and the groceries have to get there somehow...
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Date: 2010-11-06 05:04 pm (UTC)I figure they have wind and solar power that's more developed than ours, and steel--too many things need steel. Though I suppose they could have a bacteria-grown polymer to use for some of the things we'd use steel for. Or even a spider-silk related substance...I could go for lots more types of spiders than in this world.
Oh--and they do have alcohol.
I don't think I'll ever need to explain the lack of fossil fuels--to them, it's an imaginary substance, the stuff of speculative fiction and not a subject of scientific inquiry--but my current theory is that they have common bacteria that happily eat that stuff. Hmm...If they could have factories that produce it, or something like it, they might be able to use it right there, in a sealed factory environment, before it all got eaten up.
But carting it around to millions of gas stations and having it sit in automobile engines until someone wants to drive somewhere, --that's right out.
Now, trains--it would be good to figure out if there's a way to make trains work in this world, and are they primarily expensive passenger things, or can they carry heavy freight? I am imagining Chicago as a big city, and the groceries have to get there somehow...