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What would a world where gravity is a weather condition look like? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Apologies if this doesn't fit here, not sure where else to post something like this on lemmy

I think having gravity act like weather might be an interesting concept for a fantasy world, where each country has its own gravity patterns, some tend to be heavier some tend to be lighter, some are all over the place

For a few examples, there could be a desert with gravity so high you can get dragged down into the sand

Could be a country with gravity so low everyone uses personal aircraft that work like bicycles instead of land vehicles

Animals in higher gravity areas would have less dense bones, more muscle, etc and lower gravity would have far larger animals because they can support more weight

In a really high gravity area people might need exoskeletons to prevent long term damage

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In real world terms it doesn't really make sense, so you'll need to dial up the "fantastic" when explaining/handwaving it. Ever read Sanderson? Because he does both "reasonably realistic except X" and "this wind is basically a God, whatever, fuck you" and makes both work pretty well.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh yeah I do like a good Sanderson book

My thinking was definitely not a realistic/ sci fi world where everything has an explanation, it was just "gravity is like this because it is" and leaving it at that

[–] jimmux 1 points 1 year ago

Just brainstorming a semi-plausible explanations here. What if the variation is due to massive portals/wormholes to other planets? If you're standing near one that goes to a place with much higher gravity when it opens up, it could cause you to be pulled toward it, or increase gravity around that area. If these portals are kept secret, the gravity fluctuations as they open and close might appear to be as random as weather patterns.

Could be an interesting plot point too, if your story includes races that have secretly come through these portals. Their existence could be discovered by triangulating the gravity changes during an event. Lots of interesting possibilities.