Let's do some worldbuilding exercises using Earths' ruddy neighbour planet. No rules, if you want to do hard sci-fi or fantasy, go for it.
Here's a starting point: Humans travel to Mars and build a city on the surface. They start to dig down into the planet, and discover something unexpected.
What do they find? What changes because of it?
I'll post some of my own stuff if nobody else is interested. Let's have some fun.
Fae catboys eating Mars bars.
>>46197322
>What do they find?
>>46197337
I'm very interested in your suggestion anon, feel free to go into more detail.
A race of insectoid aliens that live in vast underground cave complexes.
The only way them and humans can understand each other is through interpretive dance.
>>46197322
they break through the surface and make it to hollow mars
>>46197322
A viking longboat crashed into the side of a chinese treasure ship with a dome city built up around them populated by one of the lost jewish tribes.
>>46197607
>if Micheal Crichton hadn't died.
>What do they find? What changes because of it?
Soft sci-fi:
>Ruin of Martian civilisation with technology level roughly equivalent to our Industrial Revolution era. Cause of collapse unknown, but evidence hint at extra-martian source, specifically visit by "berserker" von Neumann machine dedicated to destroying potential space faring species, thus explaining the Fermi paradox.
Hard sci-fi:
>Discovery of ENORMOUS amount of water ice under the surface of Phobos, thus opening up the way for exploration into the rest of the Solar System by providing a nearly endless supply of cheap hydrogen and oxygen in orbit around Mars and Earth. Mars colonist would like to revolt and declare independence from Earth but lack phosphorus used in crop fertiliser which must be imported from Earth, thus ensuring Earth's iron grip on Mars.
>Phobos water mining operation is run by a neutral faction, ruled by His Excellency Elon Musk the Third. It's both a booming mining town and a pirate haven. Phobos is politically inclined towards Mars and their revolution, being a giant D-type asteroid Phobos also happens to contain vast amount of phosphorus ore that could make Mars independent. For this reason the government of Earth has placed multiple interplanetary missile silos in Low Earth Orbit as well as a large linear accelerator on Luna all aimed at Phobos with the warning "leave the phosphorus ore alone or be prepared to be turned into rubble pile".
>>46197322
Martian society is resentful of Earth because most of them only have contact with extreme sports fanatics who come to Mars for ADVENTURE!!
They hate to be called 'martians' that's our word. Not yours.
>>46197735
> hey you there boy!
> thats right martian im talkin to you
(Read this in a stereotypical redneck accent)
>>46197735
Yeah so in that kind of unstable political environment you can have all sorts of hijinks.
>Orbit Guard (a branch of Earth's space force) broadcast: Unauthorised orbital change for asteroid belt object detected, any rock rats found on site to be considered outlaws and Enemy of Earth. Bounty XXX space bucks per rock rat alive or dead, XXXX space bucks per asteroid engine destroyed.
>Mars is in perfect position for interception against the rock, you party's rust bucket will arrive weeks before Orbit Guard's high delta-V cruisers, but watch out for other bounty hunters!
>You arrive and fight your way into the small base set up on the asteroid. You find to your shock that it's a false flag operation by the government of Earth to cause an impact event and frame the Martian revolutionaries, thus providing the excuse for war! What do you do?
>Expose the deception to the entire solar system
>Kill everyone, let the asteroid continue on its collision course with Earth, write on the wall in blood "Viva la Revolution" and leave
>Join the plot, volunteer to waylay the other bounty hunters that will soon follow.
Okay:
So after decades of surveys and exploration of the surface, humanity confirms there's no life on Mars and decides to set up a colony there. They pick a large flat plateau near several mountains relatively close to the polar caps, and begin construction of a massive ringed city. The city is protected by the elements by a combination of energy and solid shells that cover the top and can also transfer heat and light from reactors throughout the colony. This system in place, the interior is greened with plants and structures, oxygen is generated, and the temperature rises. Within a few years a burgeoning population, eager to live in the hi-tech city of the future and take part in the outer system ore trade, had moved in.
After a few decades more, the population and cityscape gets larger, and the city planners realize they need to get down deeper to construct storage facilities, sewers and water management and transport tunnels, as the surface-based water tanks are impractical and taking up space. They begin digging. Their site is well-selected, the Martian rock is sturdy and clean to cut through.
At first, there's no trouble, and near the surface underground warehouses, underground roads, and waterways spring up. The channeling of the polar water through the system is a success, and the miners start digging down to fill out large tank chambers. As they go deeper, the older tunnels nearer to the surface are reinforced and wired with steel and technology to make them into safe, useful work environments. After rumblings of war echo from Earth, the government decides to expand them into potential bomb shelters, and the underground network grows ever more expansive. Meanwhile, down on the lower levels, the miners and their excavation droids had started to uncover rare and interesting minerals and strange, scintillating crystals, but in a gradual wave of disappointment, they find no fossils or signs of long-extinct life.
(Cont'd)
>>46197322
Just watch Red Planet.
There is no better Mars setting than Red Planet
>>46198477
Eventually they reached the last scheduled level for their job, and began to cut out several storage tunnels for nuclear material and mining equipment. The mood in the mines was somber, as the companies had essentially been formed for this job and it had maintained them for a full half-century of work. Many of the miners were looking at an uncertain future, so the head architect, the foremen, and the chiefs of each section got together and decided to throw a party in the darkness. Beer, music, and games were brought down, and everyone had a good time. They only had to cut out the end of one final tunnel the next day, then they could step back and let the construction crews finish up.
The incident occurred at 3AM the following morning. A noted non-alcoholic, the section chief of the forward gang got together a few wide-eyed miners and decided to make a start on the dig, not exactly happy to go to sleep and think about his daughter's college fees. The men got their drills ready, marked out the four corners on the featureless, smooth underground stone, and flipped the switches. The sound of grinding stone filled the chamber, but it was suddenly followed by a whine and a blast of dust signifying empty air on the other side. Alarmed, the masked miners stood back as the wall crumbled in front of them, revealing a hollow, cut chamber...nearly identical in scale to the one they were standing in. At first thinking they'd stumbled upon a natural cavern as had happened a few times higher up, the confused and fearful miners soon realized the true enormity of their discovery. Everywhere they looked they saw perfectly-cut stone and the hand of an intelligent digger. This cave was artificial.
(cont'd)
>>46198486
In the months that followed Mars City was gripped by an existential crisis. Beneath the human-built tunnel network was a vast underground complex of unknown origin, carved from the rock and dirt of Mars' flesh in what seemed to be total darkness. Attempts to date the phenomena using scientific methods led to numbers of at least ten to fifty thousand years old, well in advance of the hypothesized Blue Mars period. The citizens of the city now found themselves greatly concerned that Mars might still be inhabited, and they might be trespassing. Unnervingly, the chambers the humans were now exploring on their toes were shockingly similar to the ones the miners had just spent years excavating. There were miles of tunnels, row upon row of flat storage chambers, and huge, towering underground tank-like rooms. But most uncomfortably of all, despite how hard the scientists, journalists, conspiracy theorists, tourists and local treasure-hunters searched, they simply could not find any trace of any artifact, marking, remains, or biological life of any kind. The complex was completely empty, containing nothing but still dust, some thin gases, and unyielding stone walls.
Years went by. Lights and an elevator were installed, and the "Martian Ruins" were fitted with camera surveillance to prevent vandalism. However there was nothing there were ruining, and the solar system's travellers soon grew bored with the strange enigma. Scientists called it definitive proof of alien life but could not do anything with it, resulting in the subject becoming a dead end. Soon, the complex was fenced off entirely by the city above, only to be broken into every so often by bored teenagers or occultists attempting a seance. Time moved on, and more cities sprouted upon Mars. Within the blink of an eye, two hundred years had passed.
If only they'd known.
(cont'd)
>>46198477
>>46198486
>Expecting anyone will read this
>>46198502
As Mars' human population grew, a greater load was placed on the planet's ice reserves. Transporting massive blocks the poles and shipping them via train led to Mars City One becoming the distribution point for the equatorial satellite settlements. Already having expanded beyond its original mighty walls, City One had become a sprawling metropolis, and thanks to several orbital manufacturing facilities a regional power. Martian warships patrolled the entire inner system, and Earth's military were wary. A wayward faction within them had already begun to see the red planet as a threat, and sent a lone scout to examine their weaknesses. That cyborg reported back several months later that the polar water supply would be a good target for disruption. The Earth-based rogues gave their assent to a no-traces field test, and sent their agent in for some sabotage. After studying the raised mag-lev train pylons on the main water route, the cyborg damaged the track near a craggy gorge and waited. That night, a shipment carrying thousands of tons of frozen water careened into the depths, shredding the train and raining icy chunks all over the landscape. Initially pleased with his work, the agent walked up to one of the fallen ice shards, but noticed too late something black protruding out of it. By the time his handler arrived hidden within the Martian emergency response team, there was nothing left but a few damaged implants. The second agent quietly picked up the memory chips from the crime scene unnoticed, and ran them through his feed. His superiors on Earth saw the whole footage and immediately grew pale. They could warn Mars. The excavation of the ice caps must have only just reached...this layer. They had a chance to prevent things from going out of control.
Of course, they let it happen.
(cont'd)
>>46198512
Despite the loss of the shipment, and the subsequent disappearance of the handler as he went for a walk near the crash site, City One was able to get itself back on track with a second delivery. The massive blocks of dirty ice were taken to the thawing and filtering facility, and left in a largely-automated process that cleaned out the water from the other detritus. The on-duty technician was reading his favourite blog when the alarms went off. Confused, he shut down the heat-crusher and flicked on the cameras, but couldn't see much through the steam. Donning a special treatment suit the guy called his boss and then went to check it out from the catwalk. His boss arrived twenty minutes later to see why he'd not reported in. Security and several employees followed when neither emerged. Only one screaming, terrified man escaped as gunfire and shouts rang out of the filtering plant into the arms of police, who asked him what was going on. All he could say was the word "flesh" over and over, chewing his own lips to the point of tearing them off.
What followed was best described as a massacre, and at worst described as the utter violation of City One. The population locked themselves indoors and the army rolled out the heavy weaponry, blocking off districts and setting up checkpoints. The industrial district was the first to become infested by the Fleshies, as they became known, with men, women, children and animals swept up in the wrinkling, bulbous, glossy black sacs that zeroed in on organic matter like mosquitoes to blood. The security forces, police and army found themselves in a losing battle, perforating the enemy with bullets and spilling their bag-like bodies' liquid contents all over the street. However the surrounding Fleshies simply squirted their own juices into their wounded companions, sewing them back up to full, virulent life.
(cont'd)
>>46198526
The bouncing, flopping blobs kept coming, even when APCs and police cruisers attempted to run them down- the Fleshies plopped on top and leaked their consuming juices into the gaps, smothering the terrified drivers. The resulting running battle continued to the edge of the main residential district before several helicopter attack runs broke the flood of Fleshies, and the humans initially thought that the worst was over. Then they saw the second wave.
The Fleshies weren't just content to consume life, no. They merged with it and reshaped it, transforming it into material like its own. The humans who had been overrun, the scared secretaries and tired workers and frightened children- they were still "alive" in a matter of speaking. Their bodies contorted, twisted and expanded, the Fleshied inhabitants of City One wailed and moaned as they stumbled and slid onwards covered in bulbous orboid joints and slick black skin. Their eyes replaced by obsidian mirrors and their puckered lips emitting throbbing, suckered tubes, the Fleshied humans could only lust for organic company, eager to cure their lonely existence by making the rest of the population just like them. So hungry, they cried. So thirsty. So alone.
(cont'd)
>>46198535
At first, the men and women soldiers were too disgusted and horrified to open fire. One of them even tried to talk to the approaching Fleshie horde. As he was torn down and engulfed by the oozing skin of two Fleshie girls, the rest gritted their teeth and started shooting. Hundreds of converted humans fell...but then they got right back up again. Unable to destroy the Fleshies with bullets the soldiers managed to cage one and escape into the CBD with as many civilians as they could. With the centre of City One locked down behind massive blast shields and the great city walls locked up tight, all the survivors within could do was watch as the Fleshies gleefully infested the rest of the city's districts, corrupting and transforming every human left outside of the CBD. The army divisions on the walls watched as well, and took matters into their own hands and used special charges to collapse every opening in the ring of the city, completely sealing City One off from the world. In the end, they abandoned the wall and sent radio transmissions to the other settlements, warning them to leave the ice be. As the footage of the Fleshies in action spread the rest of the Martian colonies fled the planet in blind panic, leading to the utter collapse of the orbital facilities and the abandonment of Mars. Unfortunately for the people still hiding in City One, the destruction of the wall's structure had caused several systems to go haywire, and the reactors were still funneling energy into the atmospheric shells on overdrive, creating turbulence and energy shockwaves that brought down any ships trying to approach the survivors. The only way to disable the bursts was to stop the reactors, buried deep in the heart of Fleshie-held territory. With solemn, dutiful smiles the remaining soldiers ventured out into danger, to save their charges.
(cont'd)
>>46198541
Months passed, and they never returned. From the high towers the surviving humans watched in morbid fascination as City One changed form. The strange glossy, black rubber-like substance began to cover buildings and change their shapes, and the once normal vegetation had grown into bizarre, horrifying bulbous forms. Among this nightmare the Fleshied humans wandered in calm, thoughtful paths, talking to one another in sibilant, wet voices and even trying to get their lives back to normal. It was only when they detected untransformed organics did their true nature emerge. Some of the survivors, convinced that being Fleshied would be better than remaining in this limbo, even fled into the city and were converted willingly, leaving only a handful of people left. There were a few scientists, a few workers, a pair of politicians, and a handful of families. Only one soldier was left, standing guard over the capsule containing the captured Fleshie from the skirmish. Without any options, one of the men suggested the old Martian Ruin complex beneath the city as a potential hideout. Suddenly, it was like a light had been switched on. Aliens from the poles, a virus, an ancient network of tunnels...it had to be a shelter! Gathering their meager supplies and weapons, the group of survivors set out through the sewers and storage wells beneath City One, leaving the nightmarish surface behind. Though they had a few encounters with lost Fleshies in the upper tunnels and suffered some casualties, the ragged band of humans made it to the lowest level and shut down the elevator, sealing themselves off. This was it.
(cont'd a little more)
>>46198555
With sensors, metal detectors, and fingers they sifted the dust and searched the walls of the abandoned tunnels, looking, hoping for some clue. Days turned to weeks, and supplies ran low. Nobody could believe that this was truly a dead end. The scientists went frail, the politicians swore, and the people cried. All they could find was dust. Dry, horrible dust. They breathed it, spat it out, and lay cold amongst it.
Finally, someone put two and two together, as he watched the caged Fleshie recoil at the very air. He knew why this place had been sealed up. Fleshies could live for centuries, the scientists had already proved it with scalpel and sample. Their cells weren't like our cells. All they needed was water and life. The people before them, the old Martians? They'd had a choice. Eternal encasement in the Flesh, or the purity of death. They'd dug out a dry, airless tomb and let themselves become the dust itself, the true antithesis of Flesh. And now, thousands of years later, the humans would have to make their own choice.
Would they wrap themselves in the immortal folds, or cast life aside in hope of immutable death?
Fate does not record their answer.
/end, who cares if nobody will read it, I had fun.
>>46198568
It's shit.
