History Sandbox

[huggerspook]

History Sandbox is part art project and part a writing exercise, updates will probably not come out consistently and there might be periods with none at all. I hope you'll enjoy this project nonetheless. Thank you.

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Welcome dear viewer, my name is Narrator, and we’re going to write a story together. Not just any story, but a history. What you’re looking at is my own personal universe, which I bought at a reasonable price. Truly the perfect blank canvas for the beautiful picture we’re about to draw. Like all things, this universe is destined to die at some point. We have some time before that happens though, so we’ll be sure to enjoy it while it lasts and cherish the memory.

With that out of the way, let's start writing our history. Well, in order to start writing we need something to write about, and it looks like there's nothing here yet.

hmm...

Oh wait, I forgot to start time. Sorry, I’ll fix that right now.

Much better, all we have to do now is wait for something to show up.






…


…


…


Just kidding, we’ll skip right to the point.

Perfect. In order to write a history we need a setting, and these bright things look very pretty. They’re called stars, you say? Sorry, I usually don’t bother with names, but I’ll try to in order to keep the narration more comprehensible to you. Anyway, I bet we could write an interesting history around one of those. This universe is quite vast, so it’s going to be easier for the both of us if we focus on just one. There’s quite a large variety, how about you pick one?

This one is very big, and also very hot. It’s burning remarkably fast so it probably won’t last as long as the others.

This one is even bigger, but colder. It’s also quite bright.






These two appear to be rotating around each other, interesting.








This one is extremely small and dim. I have the feeling it’s going to be around for a long while.






This one is somewhat in the middle, not too cold, not too hot.



So, which will it be?

[BreadProduct]

The latter most, let's call it the Goldilocks galaxy

[Eversor]

>BIG AND COLD, BIG AND COLD!

[dadger]

Big and cold

[PuntRocket]

Dual Star System

[thedudeguy]

Call me a sucker for a dual star system

[huggerspook]

I see you’re pretty torn about this. That’s ok. I found this one right here which I think is exactly like the one you’re looking for.

This is a great starting point. However, It would be extremely hard for us to set our history there (you’ll see why soon). Instead, I suggest we add something ourselves, I’m thinking some similarly-shaped objects that orbit around it. Planets I think they’re called. Yes, yes, and the light and heat coming from our two stars will make them perfect for later. Planets are a little bit more tricky than stars, since they can so varied. If I were to come up with them myself, they’d all look pretty boring… How about you design them? Describe them to me and I’ll try to make them as better as possible.

PLANET SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES


This is the first of the many user-submitting sections of History Sandbox, in which you, the viewer, can have your creations be part of this universe. For this first section the Narrator is asking you to design some planets. Only one is going to have life on it, which will be chosen later. For this first section there are only two rules:


- No planet must have life already on it

- Only one planet can be submitted per person


The planet you submit doesn't have to be realistic, not even plausible. The goal of this adventure is not to make a realistic simulation of what a real solar system might look like, it’s more of a collective world building experiment. To help with creating your submission, here’s an application form that you can fill out (if you feel like it you can completely ignore the form and write freehand).



PLANET SUBMISSION FORM


Big or Small? :

Close or far away from the sun? :

Terrestrial or gaseous? :

Water?:

Moons?:

Description:





EXAMPLE


Big or Small? : Small

Close or Far away from the sun? : Very close

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Terrestrial

Water?: No

Moons?: Two: A small blue one and a big red one.

Description: This planet's surface is almost entirely covered in a vast desert made out of colorful sand. The strong winds that blow on it constantly makes the sand shoot into the sky, creating rainbow-like sandstorms. At night, the sand turns light gray and sticks to ground. When it’s particularly hot, some of the sand melts into iridescent glass-like structures.

[rjhjkm1]

Big or Small? : Big
Close or Far away from the sun? : Average distance
Terrestrial or gaseous? : Terrestrial
Water?: Very much
Moons?: Two: One is white(the standard earth moon) and the other is black because of the large amount of metal in its rock.
Description: 90% of the planet is covered with water except for the poles and the equatorial mountain range that divides the planetary ocean into 2 seas in which there are many small islands. The wind, together with the impact of 2 moons on the ocean, creates bizarre pictures of sea waves often floating on top of each other. Despite the large amount of water, many places do not exceed 3 meters in depth. Rare islands can be considered seamounts with flat tops. The highest mountain range is considered to be the equatorial one although each mountain in the belt has a different size it is almost impossible to meet 2 mountains of the same height next to each other. Due to the large amount of water the poles along with the infernal cold are continuously exposed to an ice storm. (not too much, I hope ? For any inaccuracies, strange descriptions, lack of semantic/grammatical integrity, blame Google Translate)

[Eversor]

Big or Small? : Big

Close or far away from the sun? : Far

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Terrestrial

Water?: Yes

Moons?: One

Description: A nearly frozen world, inimical to life except for small pockets of livable landmasses. The bleak mountains that scatter the world provide warmth in the way of volcanic activity. The planet has a wide elliptical pattern around the stars. This makes for erratic seasons of fire and ice that the living creatures have had to adapt to.

[braininaplate]

Big or Small? :Very big

Close or far away from the sun? :Close

Terrestrial or gaseous? :Gaseous

Water?:little

Moons?:Several small ones

Description:The core of this planet is made of extremely diverse components in a constant state of chemical reactions which creates the atmosphere. Looking at the planet from a afar it is like staring at a colourful spectacle that is further enhanced by the reflective surface of many of the small planetoids created by this colorful giant

[Brutuz]

Big or Small? : Small

Close or far away from the sun? : Somewhat far

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Terrestrial

Water?: Abundant, mostly frozen

Moons?: Surrounded by an asteroid ring

Description: A mostly frozen world surrounded by an asteroid ring. These asteroids are composed of a strange glass substance that refracts the light of the sun in short powerful bursts on the planet. These rays give small sections of the world a temperate and livable climate in the winter months, but become flaming UV death lasers in the summer months.

[BreadProduct]

Medium Sized.
Close enough to be warm but not so close as to be crispy.
Terrestrial
Abundant in water and many other wacky fluids.
Moon: There isn't one. YET!
A wacky colorful planet that from space looks vaguely like a smiling clown. The oceans are filled with varying densities of impurities some of which are highly toxic while others are safe and even tasty. These densities preventing mixing resulting in a multitude of colorful biomes on both land and sea. When the wind blows through the mountains it faintly sounds like 'Hooonnk.'

[huggerspook]

The deadline for planet submissions has been set to March 28th

[thedudeguy]

Big or Small? : Big

Close or far away from the sun? : Far

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Mainly Gaseous

Water?: Some

Moons?:Many

Description: A gas giant that can best be described as having a bad case of indigestion. The moons around it have erratic orbits and as such it leads to a cycle in which moons and asteroids are pulled into the planet proper. The moons and asteroids are shredded by the pressure and gravity deep in the giant and the pressure cause by this causes jets of debris to be jettisoned out like a volcanic eruption.
The material that gets flung out far enough will either add to the rings around the planet, or start new moons. Some errant chunks end up floating on the dense gas of the planet and form float terrestrial masses around the planet that are eventually pulled in.

[huggerspook]

Big or Small? : Big

Close or Far away from the sun? : Average distance

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Terrestrial

Water?: Very much

Moons?: Two: One is white(the standard earth moon) and the other is black because of the large amount of metal in its rock.

Description: 90% of the planet is covered with water except for the poles and the equatorial mountain range that divides the planetary ocean into 2 seas in which there are many small islands. The wind, together with the impact of 2 moons on the ocean, creates bizarre pictures of sea waves often floating on top of each other. Despite the large amount of water, many places do not exceed 3 meters in depth. Rare islands can be considered seamounts with flat tops. The highest mountain range is considered to be the equatorial one although each mountain in the belt has a different size it is almost impossible to meet 2 mountains of the same height next to each other. Due to the large amount of water the poles along with the infernal cold are continuously exposed to an ice storm.

It’s been a good while since last time I made a planet, that's why I'm so glad you're here to help me. 


You want to take a look? Sure.

Woah! Did you see that? I would have never made something like this if weren’t for you. Your creativity and my powers combined have the power to make something truly beautiful.

But remember that we’re still looking for something that can work as a setting for our history, and I’m not too keen on this one. Let’s move on.

Big or Small? : Big

Close or far away from the sun? : Far

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Terrestrial

Water?: Yes

Moons?: One

Description: A nearly frozen world, inimical to life except for small pockets of livable landmasses. The bleak mountains that scatter the world provide warmth in the way of volcanic activity. The planet has a wide elliptical pattern around the stars. This makes for erratic seasons of fire and ice that the living creatures have had to adapt to.

Ah, you seem to enjoy water a fair bit, yes? I like the concept, viewer, of a planet’s conditions changing drastically depending on its position relative to the stars.

You want to see that happen? Alright.















Looks like a completely different planet, huh? Still, doesn’t feel like the right one to me. What else do you have in mind?

Big or Small? :Very big

Close or far away from the sun? :Close

Terrestrial or gaseous? :Gaseous

Water?:little

Moons?:Several small ones

Description: The core of this planet is made of extremely diverse components in a constant state of chemical reactions which creates the atmosphere. Looking at the planet from a afar it is like staring at a colourful spectacle that is further enhanced by the reflective surface of many of the small planetoids created by this colorful giant

This one will certainly not be the setting of our history, but it sure does look dazzling.




Yes, a fine addition to our little system.

Big or Small? : Small

Close or far away from the sun? : Somewhat far

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Terrestrial

Water?: Abundant, mostly frozen

Moons?: Surrounded by an asteroid ring

Description: A mostly frozen world surrounded by an asteroid ring. These asteroids are composed of a strange glass substance that refracts the light of the sun in short powerful bursts on the planet. These rays give small sections of the world a temperate and livable climate in the winter months, but become flaming UV death lasers in the summer months.

 Interesting concept, viewer. I do quite like the aesthetic we’re going for here, perhaps this one could be the main focus of our history?






Mmh. A bit featureless maybe, but not impossible t-




Oh, never mind. Anything else?

Big or Small? : Big

Close or far away from the sun? : Far

Terrestrial or gaseous? : Mainly Gaseous

Water?: Some

Moons?:Many

Description: A gas giant that can best be described as having a bad case of indigestion. The moons around it have erratic orbits and as such it leads to a cycle in which moons and asteroids are pulled into the planet proper. The moons and asteroids are shredded by the pressure and gravity deep in the giant and the pressure cause by this causes jets of debris to be jettisoned out like a volcanic eruption.

The material that gets flung out far enough will either add to the rings around the planet, or start new moons. Some errant chunks end up floating on the dense gas of the planet and form float terrestrial masses around the planet that are eventually pulled in.

This planet is extremely dangerous, certainly not fit to be a setting. Impressive still. Let’s hope that this thing won’t cause any problems in the future.


You want to look at it more closely? No problem. 

Medium Sized

Close enough to be warm but not so close as to be crispy.

Terrestrial

Abundant in water and many other wacky fluids.

Moon: There isn't one. YET!

A wacky colorful planet that from space looks vaguely like a smiling clown. The oceans are filled with varying densities of impurities some of which are highly toxic while others are safe and even tasty. These densities preventing mixing resulting in a multitude of colorful biomes on both land and sea. When the wind blows through the mountains it faintly sounds like 'Hooonnk.'

I only have the vaguest idea of what a “clown” looks like: is this what you had in mind? It does look pretty funny, and I believe clowns are supposed to be funny.

This planet is varied, I like that.

This appears to be some kind of desert, but what is that substance? It’s thick… and yellow. It looks yellow to us, at least, who knows what other colors this universe is hiding.

Anyway, I’d guess this substance has a good deal of salt in it. Don't ask me how I now, I just do.





What about this one? It bet it’s disgustingly sugary, but it’s so sparkly… If I had a body I wouldn’t mind giving it a taste.





Orange... It might be a bit too spicy for my liking. Yes, spicy and savory. 

Green is definitely toxic. … Or is it? What does “toxic” even mean? What is toxic to something might not be for another thing, I guess that’s how that works. If I'd be able to drink it, it would probably taste somewhat sour.

Puzzling, this one is. I could only describe it as fresh. Not cold, just fresh. It’s not transparent like water, as it has a light blue hue. It's probably extremely bitter.

Strangely enough, out of all the planets you have described to me, this one looks like it’s the most apt to be our main focus. Yes, I think this could be an excellent setting.

All we need now is a little something.

Something special.

...

Ok, I’ve got this. Yes, give me a moment-

Perfect. Come see.





Do you see them? Look more closely.

There they are!

This is the only method I know for getting life to sprout on a planet. There are probably other methods too, but I don’t bother with them.

What’s important is that, unlike anything that has existed until now, these things are alive.

They might look boring right now, but would you believe me if I said that one day they’ll become the main characters of our history? Sounds impossible: how can these minuscule things become our heroes and villains? You’ll see, viewer.

What I’m going to ask you to do now is very important, so listen closely: I want you to decide what these little guys will turn into.

They’ll not only turn into our characters, but also enrich our setting and make our planet more diverse. I am aware that the task of designing an entire ecosystem might be a little daunting, so I’ll help you this time. Tell me the things you want to make and I’ll fill in the gaps with some of my own creations.

I’ll try my best, but let’s just say there’s a reason why I’m asking you to do it.

FLORA AND FAUNA SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

For this next submission Narrator is asking you to design some plants and animals. During the course of this adventure some of these species might evolve, go extinct, or even become sentient. (for this reason, no creature submitted should already be sentient).

If you want your creations to survive for as long as possible, try to give it features that might increase their chance of survival on this particular planet.

Remember that history is unpredictable, and that events out of your control may cause your species to go extinct. This is why, unlike the previous section, submissions of plants and animals will be accepted throughout the adventure.

This means at any point during this adventure you can submit a plant or an animal and it will be accepted. Also, unlike the previous section, there is no limit as to how many species you can submit.

Here's the forms, you can fill them out or write freehand.

FAUNA SUBMISSION FORM

Diet:

Habitat:

Description:

Special traits:

Behavior:

Reproductive cycle:

EXAMPLE:

Diet: Herbivorous

Habitat: Boreal forest

Description: A large, fur covered creature with two eyes, a large mouth hidden under its thick beard, and two long and floppy ears. The fur on its body ranges from gray to reddish brown and is so long that is covers most of its legs. Its two stocky legs are unfitted to run for large distances. It can live for considerably long.

Special traits: This creature’s fur is covered in moss which attracts a particular species of winged insects. They feed on the moss and any pest or parasite that might attack the creature they’re living on. This insect relies on the existence of this creature in order to survive and cannot reproduce in any environment other than the warm fur of this creature. These insects secrete a substance that makes the fur of this creature smell remarkably bad, so that most predators will likely avoid it.

Behavior: Despite its large size, this creature is largely innocuous. When threatened, this creature will run away causing the insects on its fur to quickly disperse in the air, scaring the potential threat. When cornered it is able to use its powerful hidden mouth to bite its attacker. This creature is generally not curious nor smart. They don’t move much and its completely plausible for them to remain near the place of their birth their entire lives.

Reproductive cycle: This creature lives in solitary and only meets up with others of its species to mate. During mating season, the insects on the creatures back will go searching for a mate for its host. When one is found, the insects will guide the possible mate to their host, and the two will start a courting ritual which will cause both of the creature’s insects to dance in the air. If the ritual is successful, the two will reproduce and both of them will remain pregnant of a single cub. The two will immediately part in search for a safe place to give birth. Sometime after conception a chunk of the guardian’s insects will transfer onto the cub’s fur. The creature will stay by its offspring’s side until it is old enough to fend for itself, at which point they will permanently separate.

FLORA SUBMISSION FORM

(Note: the word plant is being used loosely here, even though it is not correct, fungi and lichens also count as plants in this context)

Habitat:

Description:

Special traits:

Possible uses:

EXAMPLE:

Habitat: Woodland

Description: A tree which can grow extremely tall. It has dark purple leaves with pink tips that turn white once dead. Its trunk is bleach white and it emits a faint light. Its leaves are star-shaped and are very small and fragile. It requires large amounts of sunlight to survive and will die in cold climates.

Special traits: Its roots are always visible from above ground and are capable of covering large stretches of terrain. New saplings sprout directly from these roots, meaning that a single tree can give birth to an entire forest. The wood of this tree is soft to the touch and if detached from the plant can dissolve in water. This species is very invasive and if not contained can result in the death of other plants and trees.

Possible uses: All parts of this tree are mildly toxic. However, the light emitting from this tree at night attracts bugs and small animals meaning it can be a good hunting ground. The bark of this tree can be used as a light source at night, although it will stop glowing after a few days.