SFWA world-building exercise thingie for the 'ari world

[inventrix]

I figured it looked like fun and I haven't done any worldbuilding posts for a while, so I went through those SFWA world-building questions by Wrede that Lyn posted as well.

1. Basics

   
   
   • Are the laws of nature and physics actually different in this world, or are they the same as in real life? How does magic fit in? How do magical beasts fit in?
     
     They're essentially the same, although it does have magic. The sentient species - we'll call them "elves" - have some innate ability to manipulate energies in ways we would consider magic, which is passed down genetically. There are no magical beasts, so far as anyone knows.
   
   
   • Is this generally an earth-like world? Is it an “alternate Earth”?
     
     Haha, well... In a planetary sciences sense, yes, it is an earth-like world, in the sense that it is within an order of magnitude in size and gravity, resides within the habitable zone for its star, has an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and supports life-forms that resemble the types we have on Earth.
   
   
   • Are there different human races, whether or not there are non-humans like elves or dwarves? How does the cultural and ethnic diversity of this world compare to the real world?
     
     There are no humans at all: the sentient humanoid species is much more like elves than humans. There are, however, distinct elven races, with differences between their social, cultural and political rules. The diversity is not as great as with humans, due to all the races being descended from a single "dominant" race in the past after an Event combined with the available settled land mass being much, much smaller than on Earth.
   
   
   • How long have there been people on this world? Did they evolve, or did they migrate from somewhere/when else?
     
     Ooh, good question! They evolved there, but I don't actually have the geological or evolutionary eras determined.
   
   
   • How many people are there in this country? How does this compare with world population? What is considered a small town/large town/city in terms of number of people?
     
     Country? Wait, when did we start talking about a specific country?? ...I don't know what the numerical ranges are offhand, but the population density and distribution is roughly equivalent to, say... 17th century Europe?
   
   
   • Where does magic power come from: the gods, the “mana” of the world (as in Larry Niven’s “Warlock” stories), the personal willpower or life force of the magician, somewhere else? Is magic an exhaustible resource? If a magician must feed his spells with his own willpower, life-force, or sanity, what long-term effects will this have on the health and/or stability of the magician? Do different races/species have different sources for their magic, or does everybody use the same one?
     
     Wheeeee, magic system questions! :D I'm actually not entirely sure what the source of the magic power is, but I think the closest analogue is the caster's life-force. It's not exactly the same, though: it's more like a separate magical-energy pool. Like in an RPG, your MP and HP are entirely different energy pools. Different people have different quantities of innate magical energy.
     
     I haven't thought about the difficulty in "draining" one's reserves of magical energy, though. None of the typical levels of magical ability are particularly powerful, so doing anything major probably wipes out your energy reserve and makes you unable to use it for a while as you recover. (Very few people do.) It probably feels kind of like being "under the weather".
     
     The different races have the same basic process of using magic, but due to the genetic nature of magical abilities, each race has distinct types or flavors of magic which its members are capable of.
   
   




2. Not Earth at All

   
   
   • How does this world differ physically from earth? Is it the same size (same density, same gravity), same ratio of land/water, same atmosphere, etc.? Does it have more than one sun or moon? Rings? Are there spectacular constellations/comets, etc. visible at night or by day?
     
     LET ME COUNT THE WAYS... bwahahaha.
     
     The first, most notable difference between this world (I'm going to call it Aria for fun and this post) and Earth is that it is not actually a planet at all, but a moon. It orbits a gas giant, which itself is at the cold edge of the habitable zone of the system's star. The star is slightly cooler than the Sun; I forget what type it is, but it's one type "down" from the Sun. K, perhaps? As a result, the year length is comparable to that of Earth.
     
     Aria is slightly smaller than Mars, with a closer to Earth-like density than Mars and thus a gravity closer to half Earth's. The atmosphere is thicker, denser, and higher in oxygen than Earth's: flight is much easier, altitude differences are less climatically significant, and fire is much more dangerous. The overall planetary climate is similar to Earth - slightly warmer than it would be as a solo planet, as it receives some energy from the gas giant it orbits. It also undergoes tidal heating.
   
   
   • Are there non-human inhabitants of this planet (elves, dwarves, aliens)? If so, how numerous? How openly present? What areas do they occupy?
     
     Well I already mentioned why this doesn't strictly apply, but taking it contextually: no, the elves are the only sentient species.
   
   
   • How are the continents laid out? If there is more than one moon/sun, how does this affect winds, tides, and weather generally?
     
     There are two major continents: one facing the planet, and one facing away from the planet. The planetward-side is the only side which the elves occupy. They know very little about the far side continent, and due to the division by dangerous seas and past extinction events, most of the species which evolved there are significantly different. Many of the elf legendary and mythical monsters and creatures are distantly inspired by rare run-ins with rogue creatures from the far continent which happened to make it to the elven continent.
   
   
   • How much land is there, and how much of it is habitable?
     
     Much of the land is habitable, technically speaking. The desert areas are difficult to survive in but not impossible, and the same can be said most of the way to the snow cap.
     
     The total surface area of Aria is about 50 million square miles, and it is about 2/3 covered in water - comparable to Earth, but less. The planetside continent is 10% to 20% larger than the far side continent, and there are some smaller island clusters off the coasts and such.
   
   
   • Is the axial tilt and orbit the same — i.e., does the world have the same seasons and same length of year as Earth?
     
     Oh whoops, I already answered most of this, haha. The orbit and axial tilt are similar to Earth's, yes. However, due to the tidal lock to the gas giant, the rotational period and thus day length is determined by Aria's orbit around its planet, which is similar to Europa's and so approximately 4 Earth days.
     
     I don't know why this question didn't ask about day lengths! That seems like a major oversight.