Cycle Worldbuilding Info

[Alicorn]

The way I conceptualize it the pets aren't using intelligence at all. Pets can use instructions that distinguish between zero, one, and more than that. They can't do intellectual work or make judgments.

[Bluelantern]

Storks aren't pets?

[Alicorn]

Storks are golems.

[DanielH]

When you said “people in Cycle”, did you mean “people currently in this world”, or “people who are from Cycle”? The first seems like it would cause more confusion and mayhem overall, but I’m not sure if it’s the kind of confusion and mayhem you’d want to write about or not.

Can shines/shades change shape (but not size), such as a square shine turning into a circle of the same area? Could you have a shine and a shade in the same spot on the same surface, making them effectively invisible or nearly so? Can shines/shades communicate other than by seeing each other? Can they “merge” with similar shines/shades? Not-so-similar ones?

Also, do I remember correctly that this world is likely to be revisited in other glowfics?

[Alicorn]

People from Cycle.

Shines and shades don't change shape or size once formed. They can co-occupy a space but that's not how I envision them stacking. They cannot communicate other than by seeing each other. They do not merge.

I am happy to revisit this world in glowfics (although the local Bell in particular is especially tied up with their Adarin, so if a Bell is called for I'd have to do some finagling). I might also just write solo fiction about the place. Whenever I'm not in the middle of three novels or if I think of a short story plot.

[DanielH]

Golems in general can always move

What happens if you try to apply golemmaking techniques to something without joints? As far as I can tell, golemmaking involves carving instructions on objects with magic. If you do that to something which can’t move, what happens?

Also, do speaking golems accomplish this mechanically or magically? Does Charp have anything like lungs and vocal cords, or just a mouth-shaped thing? I suppose if it’s at all mechanical, then it would be useless (in the current state of Cyclical technology) to make an inanimate golem; this could only become useful after the invention of a lightbulb or similar.

[Alicorn]

Golems don't need joints per se. You could make a golem of a marble sculpture and it would be able to move. If you tried to make a golem out of, say, a solid cube of marble, nothing would happen, because you couldn't write into the instructions how it was supposed to activate.

Charp speaks magically, not mechanically.

[Bluelantern]

Golems don't need joints per se. You could make a golem of a marble sculpture and it would be able to move. If you tried to make a golem out of, say, a solid cube of marble, nothing would happen, because you couldn't write into the instructions how it was supposed to activate.

I am picturing a cube of marble wriggling like gelatin, let's not do that.

It is possible to "merge" golems? or have servants with interchangeable parts?

Charp speaks magically, not mechanically.

Similar, they should listen and see magically... can you make servant/golem that can see in a 360º field?

[DanielH]

Most automata have removable or interchangeable parts, like Sylvi’s horse. I assume pets, shines, and shades cannot have interchangeable parts or be merged, but shines and shades can overlap and communicate while doing so. I have no clue about golems, though.

[Bluelantern]

Most automata have removable or interchangeable parts, like Sylvi’s horse. I assume pets, shines, and shades cannot have interchangeable parts or be merged, but shines and shades can overlap and communicate while doing so. I have no clue about golems, though.

I was thinking of something like... extra arms, or arms ending with tools, or maybe wings.