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Plausible reason for a civilization to not explore their own planet and explore space instead
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A civilization of land-living humanoids occupies a patch of land on a continent (patch of land size: a few US States, let's say Montanas) and, without even exploring the continent fully, develops space travel and starts to explore space. Their home planet is similar to Earth, fully habitable, with a number of continents, oceans, etc. There are other races on the planet, some of them have civilizations, but they are much more primitive.
What I need is a reason, why exactly would they not explore their own homeworld, rather choosing to expand in space?
space-colonization civilization
edited Aug 25 at 20:51
Brythan
19.5k74182
asked Aug 25 at 10:36
Mranderson
366111
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up vote
5
down vote
favorite
A civilization of land-living humanoids occupies a patch of land on a continent (patch of land size: a few US States, let's say Montanas) and, without even exploring the continent fully, develops space travel and starts to explore space. Their home planet is similar to Earth, fully habitable, with a number of continents, oceans, etc. There are other races on the planet, some of them have civilizations, but they are much more primitive.
What I need is a reason, why exactly would they not explore their own homeworld, rather choosing to expand in space?
space-colonization civilization
edited Aug 25 at 20:51
Brythan
19.5k74182
asked Aug 25 at 10:36
Mranderson
366111
What do you mean by "races"? Why don't you just make those other "races" hostile? In a way, we don't explore certain areas because hostile natives live there here on Earth. Also, isn't that sort of the world of the Marvel Panther movie that came out like a year ago? Btw, you don't have to explore yourself if you share your knowledge with others. Uganda didn't have to explore Argentina first in order to know what's going on there, they can see it on Wikipedia
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 10:45
@Raditz_35 Other races as like diferrent fantasy-style races. The thing is, the main civilization is more advanced than others, and hostile civilizations could be dealt with. Good point about sharing knowledge, I intended them to be strongly isolated from the rest, but changing that to some limited contact could make things easier
– Mranderson
Aug 25 at 11:06
1
Well, we could also deal with hostile natives. We (by "we" I mean all people that are not considered natives today no matter where on Earth) certainly have in the past. But that doesn't mean we have to and it doesn't mean we always do it - especially if there is nothing to gain from it. In that case, the question becomes: "Why would they explore hostile territory?" because you need to establish a good reason for the opposite, why they don't just stay one isolated nation. If they are not humans but some "fantasy race", you can always argue that it's not in their nature.
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 11:09
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
favorite
up vote
5
down vote
favorite
A civilization of land-living humanoids occupies a patch of land on a continent (patch of land size: a few US States, let's say Montanas) and, without even exploring the continent fully, develops space travel and starts to explore space. Their home planet is similar to Earth, fully habitable, with a number of continents, oceans, etc. There are other races on the planet, some of them have civilizations, but they are much more primitive.
What I need is a reason, why exactly would they not explore their own homeworld, rather choosing to expand in space?
space-colonization civilization
edited Aug 25 at 20:51
Brythan
19.5k74182
asked Aug 25 at 10:36
Mranderson
366111
A civilization of land-living humanoids occupies a patch of land on a continent (patch of land size: a few US States, let's say Montanas) and, without even exploring the continent fully, develops space travel and starts to explore space. Their home planet is similar to Earth, fully habitable, with a number of continents, oceans, etc. There are other races on the planet, some of them have civilizations, but they are much more primitive.
What I need is a reason, why exactly would they not explore their own homeworld, rather choosing to expand in space?
space-colonization civilization
edited Aug 25 at 20:51
Brythan
19.5k74182
asked Aug 25 at 10:36
Mranderson
366111
edited Aug 25 at 20:51
Brythan
19.5k74182
edited Aug 25 at 20:51
Brythan
19.5k74182
edited Aug 25 at 20:51
Brythan
19.5k74182
19.5k74182
asked Aug 25 at 10:36
Mranderson
366111
asked Aug 25 at 10:36
Mranderson
366111
asked Aug 25 at 10:36
Mranderson
366111
366111
What do you mean by "races"? Why don't you just make those other "races" hostile? In a way, we don't explore certain areas because hostile natives live there here on Earth. Also, isn't that sort of the world of the Marvel Panther movie that came out like a year ago? Btw, you don't have to explore yourself if you share your knowledge with others. Uganda didn't have to explore Argentina first in order to know what's going on there, they can see it on Wikipedia
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 10:45
@Raditz_35 Other races as like diferrent fantasy-style races. The thing is, the main civilization is more advanced than others, and hostile civilizations could be dealt with. Good point about sharing knowledge, I intended them to be strongly isolated from the rest, but changing that to some limited contact could make things easier
– Mranderson
Aug 25 at 11:06
1
Well, we could also deal with hostile natives. We (by "we" I mean all people that are not considered natives today no matter where on Earth) certainly have in the past. But that doesn't mean we have to and it doesn't mean we always do it - especially if there is nothing to gain from it. In that case, the question becomes: "Why would they explore hostile territory?" because you need to establish a good reason for the opposite, why they don't just stay one isolated nation. If they are not humans but some "fantasy race", you can always argue that it's not in their nature.
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 11:09
add a comment |Â
What do you mean by "races"? Why don't you just make those other "races" hostile? In a way, we don't explore certain areas because hostile natives live there here on Earth. Also, isn't that sort of the world of the Marvel Panther movie that came out like a year ago? Btw, you don't have to explore yourself if you share your knowledge with others. Uganda didn't have to explore Argentina first in order to know what's going on there, they can see it on Wikipedia
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 10:45
@Raditz_35 Other races as like diferrent fantasy-style races. The thing is, the main civilization is more advanced than others, and hostile civilizations could be dealt with. Good point about sharing knowledge, I intended them to be strongly isolated from the rest, but changing that to some limited contact could make things easier
– Mranderson
Aug 25 at 11:06
1
Well, we could also deal with hostile natives. We (by "we" I mean all people that are not considered natives today no matter where on Earth) certainly have in the past. But that doesn't mean we have to and it doesn't mean we always do it - especially if there is nothing to gain from it. In that case, the question becomes: "Why would they explore hostile territory?" because you need to establish a good reason for the opposite, why they don't just stay one isolated nation. If they are not humans but some "fantasy race", you can always argue that it's not in their nature.
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 11:09
What do you mean by "races"? Why don't you just make those other "races" hostile? In a way, we don't explore certain areas because hostile natives live there here on Earth. Also, isn't that sort of the world of the Marvel Panther movie that came out like a year ago? Btw, you don't have to explore yourself if you share your knowledge with others. Uganda didn't have to explore Argentina first in order to know what's going on there, they can see it on Wikipedia
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 10:45
What do you mean by "races"? Why don't you just make those other "races" hostile? In a way, we don't explore certain areas because hostile natives live there here on Earth. Also, isn't that sort of the world of the Marvel Panther movie that came out like a year ago? Btw, you don't have to explore yourself if you share your knowledge with others. Uganda didn't have to explore Argentina first in order to know what's going on there, they can see it on Wikipedia
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 10:45
@Raditz_35 Other races as like diferrent fantasy-style races. The thing is, the main civilization is more advanced than others, and hostile civilizations could be dealt with. Good point about sharing knowledge, I intended them to be strongly isolated from the rest, but changing that to some limited contact could make things easier
– Mranderson
Aug 25 at 11:06
@Raditz_35 Other races as like diferrent fantasy-style races. The thing is, the main civilization is more advanced than others, and hostile civilizations could be dealt with. Good point about sharing knowledge, I intended them to be strongly isolated from the rest, but changing that to some limited contact could make things easier
– Mranderson
Aug 25 at 11:06
1
1
Well, we could also deal with hostile natives. We (by "we" I mean all people that are not considered natives today no matter where on Earth) certainly have in the past. But that doesn't mean we have to and it doesn't mean we always do it - especially if there is nothing to gain from it. In that case, the question becomes: "Why would they explore hostile territory?" because you need to establish a good reason for the opposite, why they don't just stay one isolated nation. If they are not humans but some "fantasy race", you can always argue that it's not in their nature.
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 11:09
Well, we could also deal with hostile natives. We (by "we" I mean all people that are not considered natives today no matter where on Earth) certainly have in the past. But that doesn't mean we have to and it doesn't mean we always do it - especially if there is nothing to gain from it. In that case, the question becomes: "Why would they explore hostile territory?" because you need to establish a good reason for the opposite, why they don't just stay one isolated nation. If they are not humans but some "fantasy race", you can always argue that it's not in their nature.
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 11:09
add a comment |Â
5 Answers
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I want to ask for caution, before presenting a possible scenario: Space travel is not something a civilisation would develop in short time. This likely requires centuries for a single civilisation, if not millennia (and several cultures and civilisations), as it did on Earth. During that time, your people will likely not sit still, focusing on developing astrophysics and quantum mechanics, while they could use ships or later airplanes (which are a reasonable intermediate step between land and space travel) to reach other continents far more easily than reaching space.
However, humanity as we know has developed space travel, while vast amounts of our planet's surface are still undiscovered and a mystery namely the ones covered by oceans. This is not just the Mariana Trench, which is basically still out of reach for humans, even though we have already set foot on the moon forty-nine (49) years ago.
High pressure is much harder to overcome than low pressure and there is simply not enough to gain from investing into such technology to drive its development as much as space travel. Thus, possible scenarios would be that your alternative races are descended from organisms, such as earthly archaeobacteria and thus adapted to either high pressure living far beneath the surface of the oceans or extreme heat and lack of oxygen, living within hot springs, liquid lava or whatever you like. Investing into a technology to move through lava streams, when you have the whole of outer space, has been clear decision for our scientific community and society and could also be so for your fictive society.
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
2
You might "want to ask for cautupn", but I want to ask what is cautupn? If it's acronym or an abbreviation, please don't assume everyone knows what it is. Too often posters here use acronyms or abbreviations in a social niche they are familiar with, forgetting not everyone knows of it. Thank you for any clarification.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 12:57
2
@a4android isn't it just a simple misspelling of "caution"?
– pregunton
Aug 25 at 13:21
1
@pregunton That's a sensible possibility. It's hard to know with certainty. If so, I hope the poster fixes it. I'm afraid my tolerance for obscure acronyms evaporated after encountering too many of them.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 13:41
1
I am sorry for the misspelling. "caution" was what I meant.
– alex2006
Aug 25 at 15:48
1
I am still going to ask.
– Willk
Aug 25 at 18:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
2
down vote
They want satellites.
These folks are not much for showing up in person. They are fond of their neighbors, but as you get farther out of town stuff gets weirder. Folks smell like strange spices and look at you funny. And the outside world is full of one eyed cannibal people and giant spiders and is not a place for civilized peaceable folk. These people are homebodies.
But they very much like their shows and being in virtual touch with one another! Radio towers have their limitations and balloon towers get blown down by storms. A geostationary satellite or two would be above the weather and do very well covering their land with broadcast shows and satellite phone.
Once they get a satellite up there with camera capability it confirms their fears about the neighboring countries - chock full of monsters and maniacs. But they start to wonder - are there some places farther out that might lack scary stuff and fierce people? Maybe the moon? Maybe a satellite around the moon could check it out remotely. So it begins.
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
85.7k21170373
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Your humanoids are the indigenous species of a planet which was colonized by aliens prior to your own industrial and technological revolutions. Imagine if alien traders had landed on Earth during the Middle Ages, prior to the European discovery of the American continents. If those traders were not governed by a Prime Directive, King Henry IV (no relation) might have found himself in possession of an FTL space ship to complement his fleet of wooden-masted sailing vessels.
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
41.6k764150
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Primitive doesn't mean they're not dangerous. The other races may be a match for yours, despite the massive technological advantage, because they have evolved a body which is better for such combat.
A classic example would be the Eldar vs. Orc in Warhamer 40k. The Eldar and Orc are evenly matched because the Eldar are physically frail but have great technology. There are also issues with the small number of Eldar remaining, vs the Orcs which reproduce like... well... they make rabbits look lazy.
Or your opponents simply could have studied war better than you. Consider the case of the finale of V for Vendetta, which includes one of my favorite lines:
Creedy: Bollocks. Whatchya gonna do, huh? We've swept this place. You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.
V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
There are plenty of reasons to need to respect a primitive adversary. Even the Marines and the SEALS respect the snake, and take care to ensure they don't disturb one. A cottonmouth can kill, even with all our technologies.
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
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1
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This question keeps me thinking. Logically your species fulfills all premises for a sucessful colonization of your planet:
- Your planet is habitable, which means cliamte and temperature won't hinder exploration
- Your planet has enough land to settle on (so not an ocean planet with a single, small island)
- The other species aren't as highly developed, so it should be easy to 'dispose of them'
- your species is in the era of space-flight, which means they should able to travel easily around the planet
- Since they try to explore space they have to have at least some kind of curiosity.
But the hardest argument against having a "not fully explored planet" is probably
- if they have space-travel-technology, they are also able to build sattelites, which would make it quite easy to explore the planet from space.
I've thought about a few reasons they might've chosen not to explore their planet
The nations of your species are constantly at war. Even though there are only primitives, putting aside valuable resources and manpower to expand on the own planet can break the balance between the warring nations.
Your species is pacifist, even though they'd like to expand, they just can't hurt any of the primitives, while they have no problem hurting them. So they look for an unhabitated planet somehwere else
religious or personal believes have stopped your species from expanding on their own planet. Guess it won't be some kind of "we'll fall off the edge of the world" logic, but maybe they fear of going to hell if they die outside of the 'holy land' (although I didn't find a valuable explanation why spacetravel would be ok tho), or don't want to interfere in the eco-system.
economic reasons. Our world is overpopulated and global warming is an immnent thread. Maybe your civilization tries to reduce the damage they do on their own planet by restricting their habitat to a minimum.
They depend on a plant, which grows only in very specific conditions. Since you said your whole planet is habitable this plant shouldn't be food, but maybe a quite powerful drug. Withdrawal will drive you crazy or even kill you.
Its just not worth it. It is hard to come up with reasons, why settling on habitable ground with very little resistance shouldn't be 'worth it', but maybe your planet has a lot of seismic activity and your people live on the only tectonic plate, that's spared of constant earthquakes. Your species might live in a different altitude (in a hole or on a mountain range like himalaya), so breathing on 'ground level' isn't really possible. Maybe your species isn't as advanced in any other sector as in space flight. They have no ships, no cars, maybe no medicine to handle all the different illnesses in other places.
Conclusion
I can come up with quite a few reasons why they didn't settle anywhere else, but it is quite hard to explain why they shouldn't have explored their planet at least to the same extend we have, when they are able to build sattelites.
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
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5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
I want to ask for caution, before presenting a possible scenario: Space travel is not something a civilisation would develop in short time. This likely requires centuries for a single civilisation, if not millennia (and several cultures and civilisations), as it did on Earth. During that time, your people will likely not sit still, focusing on developing astrophysics and quantum mechanics, while they could use ships or later airplanes (which are a reasonable intermediate step between land and space travel) to reach other continents far more easily than reaching space.
However, humanity as we know has developed space travel, while vast amounts of our planet's surface are still undiscovered and a mystery namely the ones covered by oceans. This is not just the Mariana Trench, which is basically still out of reach for humans, even though we have already set foot on the moon forty-nine (49) years ago.
High pressure is much harder to overcome than low pressure and there is simply not enough to gain from investing into such technology to drive its development as much as space travel. Thus, possible scenarios would be that your alternative races are descended from organisms, such as earthly archaeobacteria and thus adapted to either high pressure living far beneath the surface of the oceans or extreme heat and lack of oxygen, living within hot springs, liquid lava or whatever you like. Investing into a technology to move through lava streams, when you have the whole of outer space, has been clear decision for our scientific community and society and could also be so for your fictive society.
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
2
You might "want to ask for cautupn", but I want to ask what is cautupn? If it's acronym or an abbreviation, please don't assume everyone knows what it is. Too often posters here use acronyms or abbreviations in a social niche they are familiar with, forgetting not everyone knows of it. Thank you for any clarification.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 12:57
2
@a4android isn't it just a simple misspelling of "caution"?
– pregunton
Aug 25 at 13:21
1
@pregunton That's a sensible possibility. It's hard to know with certainty. If so, I hope the poster fixes it. I'm afraid my tolerance for obscure acronyms evaporated after encountering too many of them.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 13:41
1
I am sorry for the misspelling. "caution" was what I meant.
– alex2006
Aug 25 at 15:48
1
I am still going to ask.
– Willk
Aug 25 at 18:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
5
down vote
I want to ask for caution, before presenting a possible scenario: Space travel is not something a civilisation would develop in short time. This likely requires centuries for a single civilisation, if not millennia (and several cultures and civilisations), as it did on Earth. During that time, your people will likely not sit still, focusing on developing astrophysics and quantum mechanics, while they could use ships or later airplanes (which are a reasonable intermediate step between land and space travel) to reach other continents far more easily than reaching space.
However, humanity as we know has developed space travel, while vast amounts of our planet's surface are still undiscovered and a mystery namely the ones covered by oceans. This is not just the Mariana Trench, which is basically still out of reach for humans, even though we have already set foot on the moon forty-nine (49) years ago.
High pressure is much harder to overcome than low pressure and there is simply not enough to gain from investing into such technology to drive its development as much as space travel. Thus, possible scenarios would be that your alternative races are descended from organisms, such as earthly archaeobacteria and thus adapted to either high pressure living far beneath the surface of the oceans or extreme heat and lack of oxygen, living within hot springs, liquid lava or whatever you like. Investing into a technology to move through lava streams, when you have the whole of outer space, has been clear decision for our scientific community and society and could also be so for your fictive society.
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
2
You might "want to ask for cautupn", but I want to ask what is cautupn? If it's acronym or an abbreviation, please don't assume everyone knows what it is. Too often posters here use acronyms or abbreviations in a social niche they are familiar with, forgetting not everyone knows of it. Thank you for any clarification.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 12:57
2
@a4android isn't it just a simple misspelling of "caution"?
– pregunton
Aug 25 at 13:21
1
@pregunton That's a sensible possibility. It's hard to know with certainty. If so, I hope the poster fixes it. I'm afraid my tolerance for obscure acronyms evaporated after encountering too many of them.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 13:41
1
I am sorry for the misspelling. "caution" was what I meant.
– alex2006
Aug 25 at 15:48
1
I am still going to ask.
– Willk
Aug 25 at 18:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
I want to ask for caution, before presenting a possible scenario: Space travel is not something a civilisation would develop in short time. This likely requires centuries for a single civilisation, if not millennia (and several cultures and civilisations), as it did on Earth. During that time, your people will likely not sit still, focusing on developing astrophysics and quantum mechanics, while they could use ships or later airplanes (which are a reasonable intermediate step between land and space travel) to reach other continents far more easily than reaching space.
However, humanity as we know has developed space travel, while vast amounts of our planet's surface are still undiscovered and a mystery namely the ones covered by oceans. This is not just the Mariana Trench, which is basically still out of reach for humans, even though we have already set foot on the moon forty-nine (49) years ago.
High pressure is much harder to overcome than low pressure and there is simply not enough to gain from investing into such technology to drive its development as much as space travel. Thus, possible scenarios would be that your alternative races are descended from organisms, such as earthly archaeobacteria and thus adapted to either high pressure living far beneath the surface of the oceans or extreme heat and lack of oxygen, living within hot springs, liquid lava or whatever you like. Investing into a technology to move through lava streams, when you have the whole of outer space, has been clear decision for our scientific community and society and could also be so for your fictive society.
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
I want to ask for caution, before presenting a possible scenario: Space travel is not something a civilisation would develop in short time. This likely requires centuries for a single civilisation, if not millennia (and several cultures and civilisations), as it did on Earth. During that time, your people will likely not sit still, focusing on developing astrophysics and quantum mechanics, while they could use ships or later airplanes (which are a reasonable intermediate step between land and space travel) to reach other continents far more easily than reaching space.
However, humanity as we know has developed space travel, while vast amounts of our planet's surface are still undiscovered and a mystery namely the ones covered by oceans. This is not just the Mariana Trench, which is basically still out of reach for humans, even though we have already set foot on the moon forty-nine (49) years ago.
High pressure is much harder to overcome than low pressure and there is simply not enough to gain from investing into such technology to drive its development as much as space travel. Thus, possible scenarios would be that your alternative races are descended from organisms, such as earthly archaeobacteria and thus adapted to either high pressure living far beneath the surface of the oceans or extreme heat and lack of oxygen, living within hot springs, liquid lava or whatever you like. Investing into a technology to move through lava streams, when you have the whole of outer space, has been clear decision for our scientific community and society and could also be so for your fictive society.
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
edited Aug 25 at 15:46
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
answered Aug 25 at 12:10
alex2006
1,973717
1,973717
2
You might "want to ask for cautupn", but I want to ask what is cautupn? If it's acronym or an abbreviation, please don't assume everyone knows what it is. Too often posters here use acronyms or abbreviations in a social niche they are familiar with, forgetting not everyone knows of it. Thank you for any clarification.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 12:57
2
@a4android isn't it just a simple misspelling of "caution"?
– pregunton
Aug 25 at 13:21
1
@pregunton That's a sensible possibility. It's hard to know with certainty. If so, I hope the poster fixes it. I'm afraid my tolerance for obscure acronyms evaporated after encountering too many of them.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 13:41
1
I am sorry for the misspelling. "caution" was what I meant.
– alex2006
Aug 25 at 15:48
1
I am still going to ask.
– Willk
Aug 25 at 18:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
2
You might "want to ask for cautupn", but I want to ask what is cautupn? If it's acronym or an abbreviation, please don't assume everyone knows what it is. Too often posters here use acronyms or abbreviations in a social niche they are familiar with, forgetting not everyone knows of it. Thank you for any clarification.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 12:57
2
@a4android isn't it just a simple misspelling of "caution"?
– pregunton
Aug 25 at 13:21
1
@pregunton That's a sensible possibility. It's hard to know with certainty. If so, I hope the poster fixes it. I'm afraid my tolerance for obscure acronyms evaporated after encountering too many of them.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 13:41
1
I am sorry for the misspelling. "caution" was what I meant.
– alex2006
Aug 25 at 15:48
1
I am still going to ask.
– Willk
Aug 25 at 18:10
2
2
You might "want to ask for cautupn", but I want to ask what is cautupn? If it's acronym or an abbreviation, please don't assume everyone knows what it is. Too often posters here use acronyms or abbreviations in a social niche they are familiar with, forgetting not everyone knows of it. Thank you for any clarification.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 12:57
You might "want to ask for cautupn", but I want to ask what is cautupn? If it's acronym or an abbreviation, please don't assume everyone knows what it is. Too often posters here use acronyms or abbreviations in a social niche they are familiar with, forgetting not everyone knows of it. Thank you for any clarification.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 12:57
2
2
@a4android isn't it just a simple misspelling of "caution"?
– pregunton
Aug 25 at 13:21
@a4android isn't it just a simple misspelling of "caution"?
– pregunton
Aug 25 at 13:21
1
1
@pregunton That's a sensible possibility. It's hard to know with certainty. If so, I hope the poster fixes it. I'm afraid my tolerance for obscure acronyms evaporated after encountering too many of them.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 13:41
@pregunton That's a sensible possibility. It's hard to know with certainty. If so, I hope the poster fixes it. I'm afraid my tolerance for obscure acronyms evaporated after encountering too many of them.
– a4android
Aug 25 at 13:41
1
1
I am sorry for the misspelling. "caution" was what I meant.
– alex2006
Aug 25 at 15:48
I am sorry for the misspelling. "caution" was what I meant.
– alex2006
Aug 25 at 15:48
1
1
I am still going to ask.
– Willk
Aug 25 at 18:10
I am still going to ask.
– Willk
Aug 25 at 18:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
2
down vote
They want satellites.
These folks are not much for showing up in person. They are fond of their neighbors, but as you get farther out of town stuff gets weirder. Folks smell like strange spices and look at you funny. And the outside world is full of one eyed cannibal people and giant spiders and is not a place for civilized peaceable folk. These people are homebodies.
But they very much like their shows and being in virtual touch with one another! Radio towers have their limitations and balloon towers get blown down by storms. A geostationary satellite or two would be above the weather and do very well covering their land with broadcast shows and satellite phone.
Once they get a satellite up there with camera capability it confirms their fears about the neighboring countries - chock full of monsters and maniacs. But they start to wonder - are there some places farther out that might lack scary stuff and fierce people? Maybe the moon? Maybe a satellite around the moon could check it out remotely. So it begins.
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
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They want satellites.
These folks are not much for showing up in person. They are fond of their neighbors, but as you get farther out of town stuff gets weirder. Folks smell like strange spices and look at you funny. And the outside world is full of one eyed cannibal people and giant spiders and is not a place for civilized peaceable folk. These people are homebodies.
But they very much like their shows and being in virtual touch with one another! Radio towers have their limitations and balloon towers get blown down by storms. A geostationary satellite or two would be above the weather and do very well covering their land with broadcast shows and satellite phone.
Once they get a satellite up there with camera capability it confirms their fears about the neighboring countries - chock full of monsters and maniacs. But they start to wonder - are there some places farther out that might lack scary stuff and fierce people? Maybe the moon? Maybe a satellite around the moon could check it out remotely. So it begins.
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
85.7k21170373
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
They want satellites.
These folks are not much for showing up in person. They are fond of their neighbors, but as you get farther out of town stuff gets weirder. Folks smell like strange spices and look at you funny. And the outside world is full of one eyed cannibal people and giant spiders and is not a place for civilized peaceable folk. These people are homebodies.
But they very much like their shows and being in virtual touch with one another! Radio towers have their limitations and balloon towers get blown down by storms. A geostationary satellite or two would be above the weather and do very well covering their land with broadcast shows and satellite phone.
Once they get a satellite up there with camera capability it confirms their fears about the neighboring countries - chock full of monsters and maniacs. But they start to wonder - are there some places farther out that might lack scary stuff and fierce people? Maybe the moon? Maybe a satellite around the moon could check it out remotely. So it begins.
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
85.7k21170373
They want satellites.
These folks are not much for showing up in person. They are fond of their neighbors, but as you get farther out of town stuff gets weirder. Folks smell like strange spices and look at you funny. And the outside world is full of one eyed cannibal people and giant spiders and is not a place for civilized peaceable folk. These people are homebodies.
But they very much like their shows and being in virtual touch with one another! Radio towers have their limitations and balloon towers get blown down by storms. A geostationary satellite or two would be above the weather and do very well covering their land with broadcast shows and satellite phone.
Once they get a satellite up there with camera capability it confirms their fears about the neighboring countries - chock full of monsters and maniacs. But they start to wonder - are there some places farther out that might lack scary stuff and fierce people? Maybe the moon? Maybe a satellite around the moon could check it out remotely. So it begins.
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
85.7k21170373
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
85.7k21170373
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
85.7k21170373
answered Aug 25 at 18:17
Willk
85.7k21170373
85.7k21170373
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Your humanoids are the indigenous species of a planet which was colonized by aliens prior to your own industrial and technological revolutions. Imagine if alien traders had landed on Earth during the Middle Ages, prior to the European discovery of the American continents. If those traders were not governed by a Prime Directive, King Henry IV (no relation) might have found himself in possession of an FTL space ship to complement his fleet of wooden-masted sailing vessels.
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
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Your humanoids are the indigenous species of a planet which was colonized by aliens prior to your own industrial and technological revolutions. Imagine if alien traders had landed on Earth during the Middle Ages, prior to the European discovery of the American continents. If those traders were not governed by a Prime Directive, King Henry IV (no relation) might have found himself in possession of an FTL space ship to complement his fleet of wooden-masted sailing vessels.
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
41.6k764150
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up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Your humanoids are the indigenous species of a planet which was colonized by aliens prior to your own industrial and technological revolutions. Imagine if alien traders had landed on Earth during the Middle Ages, prior to the European discovery of the American continents. If those traders were not governed by a Prime Directive, King Henry IV (no relation) might have found himself in possession of an FTL space ship to complement his fleet of wooden-masted sailing vessels.
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
41.6k764150
Your humanoids are the indigenous species of a planet which was colonized by aliens prior to your own industrial and technological revolutions. Imagine if alien traders had landed on Earth during the Middle Ages, prior to the European discovery of the American continents. If those traders were not governed by a Prime Directive, King Henry IV (no relation) might have found himself in possession of an FTL space ship to complement his fleet of wooden-masted sailing vessels.
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
41.6k764150
edited Aug 25 at 19:52
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
41.6k764150
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
41.6k764150
answered Aug 25 at 16:46
Henry Taylor
41.6k764150
41.6k764150
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add a comment |Â
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2
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Primitive doesn't mean they're not dangerous. The other races may be a match for yours, despite the massive technological advantage, because they have evolved a body which is better for such combat.
A classic example would be the Eldar vs. Orc in Warhamer 40k. The Eldar and Orc are evenly matched because the Eldar are physically frail but have great technology. There are also issues with the small number of Eldar remaining, vs the Orcs which reproduce like... well... they make rabbits look lazy.
Or your opponents simply could have studied war better than you. Consider the case of the finale of V for Vendetta, which includes one of my favorite lines:
Creedy: Bollocks. Whatchya gonna do, huh? We've swept this place. You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.
V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
There are plenty of reasons to need to respect a primitive adversary. Even the Marines and the SEALS respect the snake, and take care to ensure they don't disturb one. A cottonmouth can kill, even with all our technologies.
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
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up vote
2
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Primitive doesn't mean they're not dangerous. The other races may be a match for yours, despite the massive technological advantage, because they have evolved a body which is better for such combat.
A classic example would be the Eldar vs. Orc in Warhamer 40k. The Eldar and Orc are evenly matched because the Eldar are physically frail but have great technology. There are also issues with the small number of Eldar remaining, vs the Orcs which reproduce like... well... they make rabbits look lazy.
Or your opponents simply could have studied war better than you. Consider the case of the finale of V for Vendetta, which includes one of my favorite lines:
Creedy: Bollocks. Whatchya gonna do, huh? We've swept this place. You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.
V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
There are plenty of reasons to need to respect a primitive adversary. Even the Marines and the SEALS respect the snake, and take care to ensure they don't disturb one. A cottonmouth can kill, even with all our technologies.
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Primitive doesn't mean they're not dangerous. The other races may be a match for yours, despite the massive technological advantage, because they have evolved a body which is better for such combat.
A classic example would be the Eldar vs. Orc in Warhamer 40k. The Eldar and Orc are evenly matched because the Eldar are physically frail but have great technology. There are also issues with the small number of Eldar remaining, vs the Orcs which reproduce like... well... they make rabbits look lazy.
Or your opponents simply could have studied war better than you. Consider the case of the finale of V for Vendetta, which includes one of my favorite lines:
Creedy: Bollocks. Whatchya gonna do, huh? We've swept this place. You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.
V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
There are plenty of reasons to need to respect a primitive adversary. Even the Marines and the SEALS respect the snake, and take care to ensure they don't disturb one. A cottonmouth can kill, even with all our technologies.
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
Primitive doesn't mean they're not dangerous. The other races may be a match for yours, despite the massive technological advantage, because they have evolved a body which is better for such combat.
A classic example would be the Eldar vs. Orc in Warhamer 40k. The Eldar and Orc are evenly matched because the Eldar are physically frail but have great technology. There are also issues with the small number of Eldar remaining, vs the Orcs which reproduce like... well... they make rabbits look lazy.
Or your opponents simply could have studied war better than you. Consider the case of the finale of V for Vendetta, which includes one of my favorite lines:
Creedy: Bollocks. Whatchya gonna do, huh? We've swept this place. You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.
V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
There are plenty of reasons to need to respect a primitive adversary. Even the Marines and the SEALS respect the snake, and take care to ensure they don't disturb one. A cottonmouth can kill, even with all our technologies.
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
answered Aug 25 at 20:49
Cort Ammon
98.4k15175351
98.4k15175351
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
This question keeps me thinking. Logically your species fulfills all premises for a sucessful colonization of your planet:
- Your planet is habitable, which means cliamte and temperature won't hinder exploration
- Your planet has enough land to settle on (so not an ocean planet with a single, small island)
- The other species aren't as highly developed, so it should be easy to 'dispose of them'
- your species is in the era of space-flight, which means they should able to travel easily around the planet
- Since they try to explore space they have to have at least some kind of curiosity.
But the hardest argument against having a "not fully explored planet" is probably
- if they have space-travel-technology, they are also able to build sattelites, which would make it quite easy to explore the planet from space.
I've thought about a few reasons they might've chosen not to explore their planet
The nations of your species are constantly at war. Even though there are only primitives, putting aside valuable resources and manpower to expand on the own planet can break the balance between the warring nations.
Your species is pacifist, even though they'd like to expand, they just can't hurt any of the primitives, while they have no problem hurting them. So they look for an unhabitated planet somehwere else
religious or personal believes have stopped your species from expanding on their own planet. Guess it won't be some kind of "we'll fall off the edge of the world" logic, but maybe they fear of going to hell if they die outside of the 'holy land' (although I didn't find a valuable explanation why spacetravel would be ok tho), or don't want to interfere in the eco-system.
economic reasons. Our world is overpopulated and global warming is an immnent thread. Maybe your civilization tries to reduce the damage they do on their own planet by restricting their habitat to a minimum.
They depend on a plant, which grows only in very specific conditions. Since you said your whole planet is habitable this plant shouldn't be food, but maybe a quite powerful drug. Withdrawal will drive you crazy or even kill you.
Its just not worth it. It is hard to come up with reasons, why settling on habitable ground with very little resistance shouldn't be 'worth it', but maybe your planet has a lot of seismic activity and your people live on the only tectonic plate, that's spared of constant earthquakes. Your species might live in a different altitude (in a hole or on a mountain range like himalaya), so breathing on 'ground level' isn't really possible. Maybe your species isn't as advanced in any other sector as in space flight. They have no ships, no cars, maybe no medicine to handle all the different illnesses in other places.
Conclusion
I can come up with quite a few reasons why they didn't settle anywhere else, but it is quite hard to explain why they shouldn't have explored their planet at least to the same extend we have, when they are able to build sattelites.
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
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up vote
1
down vote
This question keeps me thinking. Logically your species fulfills all premises for a sucessful colonization of your planet:
- Your planet is habitable, which means cliamte and temperature won't hinder exploration
- Your planet has enough land to settle on (so not an ocean planet with a single, small island)
- The other species aren't as highly developed, so it should be easy to 'dispose of them'
- your species is in the era of space-flight, which means they should able to travel easily around the planet
- Since they try to explore space they have to have at least some kind of curiosity.
But the hardest argument against having a "not fully explored planet" is probably
- if they have space-travel-technology, they are also able to build sattelites, which would make it quite easy to explore the planet from space.
I've thought about a few reasons they might've chosen not to explore their planet
The nations of your species are constantly at war. Even though there are only primitives, putting aside valuable resources and manpower to expand on the own planet can break the balance between the warring nations.
Your species is pacifist, even though they'd like to expand, they just can't hurt any of the primitives, while they have no problem hurting them. So they look for an unhabitated planet somehwere else
religious or personal believes have stopped your species from expanding on their own planet. Guess it won't be some kind of "we'll fall off the edge of the world" logic, but maybe they fear of going to hell if they die outside of the 'holy land' (although I didn't find a valuable explanation why spacetravel would be ok tho), or don't want to interfere in the eco-system.
economic reasons. Our world is overpopulated and global warming is an immnent thread. Maybe your civilization tries to reduce the damage they do on their own planet by restricting their habitat to a minimum.
They depend on a plant, which grows only in very specific conditions. Since you said your whole planet is habitable this plant shouldn't be food, but maybe a quite powerful drug. Withdrawal will drive you crazy or even kill you.
Its just not worth it. It is hard to come up with reasons, why settling on habitable ground with very little resistance shouldn't be 'worth it', but maybe your planet has a lot of seismic activity and your people live on the only tectonic plate, that's spared of constant earthquakes. Your species might live in a different altitude (in a hole or on a mountain range like himalaya), so breathing on 'ground level' isn't really possible. Maybe your species isn't as advanced in any other sector as in space flight. They have no ships, no cars, maybe no medicine to handle all the different illnesses in other places.
Conclusion
I can come up with quite a few reasons why they didn't settle anywhere else, but it is quite hard to explain why they shouldn't have explored their planet at least to the same extend we have, when they are able to build sattelites.
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
This question keeps me thinking. Logically your species fulfills all premises for a sucessful colonization of your planet:
- Your planet is habitable, which means cliamte and temperature won't hinder exploration
- Your planet has enough land to settle on (so not an ocean planet with a single, small island)
- The other species aren't as highly developed, so it should be easy to 'dispose of them'
- your species is in the era of space-flight, which means they should able to travel easily around the planet
- Since they try to explore space they have to have at least some kind of curiosity.
But the hardest argument against having a "not fully explored planet" is probably
- if they have space-travel-technology, they are also able to build sattelites, which would make it quite easy to explore the planet from space.
I've thought about a few reasons they might've chosen not to explore their planet
The nations of your species are constantly at war. Even though there are only primitives, putting aside valuable resources and manpower to expand on the own planet can break the balance between the warring nations.
Your species is pacifist, even though they'd like to expand, they just can't hurt any of the primitives, while they have no problem hurting them. So they look for an unhabitated planet somehwere else
religious or personal believes have stopped your species from expanding on their own planet. Guess it won't be some kind of "we'll fall off the edge of the world" logic, but maybe they fear of going to hell if they die outside of the 'holy land' (although I didn't find a valuable explanation why spacetravel would be ok tho), or don't want to interfere in the eco-system.
economic reasons. Our world is overpopulated and global warming is an immnent thread. Maybe your civilization tries to reduce the damage they do on their own planet by restricting their habitat to a minimum.
They depend on a plant, which grows only in very specific conditions. Since you said your whole planet is habitable this plant shouldn't be food, but maybe a quite powerful drug. Withdrawal will drive you crazy or even kill you.
Its just not worth it. It is hard to come up with reasons, why settling on habitable ground with very little resistance shouldn't be 'worth it', but maybe your planet has a lot of seismic activity and your people live on the only tectonic plate, that's spared of constant earthquakes. Your species might live in a different altitude (in a hole or on a mountain range like himalaya), so breathing on 'ground level' isn't really possible. Maybe your species isn't as advanced in any other sector as in space flight. They have no ships, no cars, maybe no medicine to handle all the different illnesses in other places.
Conclusion
I can come up with quite a few reasons why they didn't settle anywhere else, but it is quite hard to explain why they shouldn't have explored their planet at least to the same extend we have, when they are able to build sattelites.
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
This question keeps me thinking. Logically your species fulfills all premises for a sucessful colonization of your planet:
- Your planet is habitable, which means cliamte and temperature won't hinder exploration
- Your planet has enough land to settle on (so not an ocean planet with a single, small island)
- The other species aren't as highly developed, so it should be easy to 'dispose of them'
- your species is in the era of space-flight, which means they should able to travel easily around the planet
- Since they try to explore space they have to have at least some kind of curiosity.
But the hardest argument against having a "not fully explored planet" is probably
- if they have space-travel-technology, they are also able to build sattelites, which would make it quite easy to explore the planet from space.
I've thought about a few reasons they might've chosen not to explore their planet
The nations of your species are constantly at war. Even though there are only primitives, putting aside valuable resources and manpower to expand on the own planet can break the balance between the warring nations.
Your species is pacifist, even though they'd like to expand, they just can't hurt any of the primitives, while they have no problem hurting them. So they look for an unhabitated planet somehwere else
religious or personal believes have stopped your species from expanding on their own planet. Guess it won't be some kind of "we'll fall off the edge of the world" logic, but maybe they fear of going to hell if they die outside of the 'holy land' (although I didn't find a valuable explanation why spacetravel would be ok tho), or don't want to interfere in the eco-system.
economic reasons. Our world is overpopulated and global warming is an immnent thread. Maybe your civilization tries to reduce the damage they do on their own planet by restricting their habitat to a minimum.
They depend on a plant, which grows only in very specific conditions. Since you said your whole planet is habitable this plant shouldn't be food, but maybe a quite powerful drug. Withdrawal will drive you crazy or even kill you.
Its just not worth it. It is hard to come up with reasons, why settling on habitable ground with very little resistance shouldn't be 'worth it', but maybe your planet has a lot of seismic activity and your people live on the only tectonic plate, that's spared of constant earthquakes. Your species might live in a different altitude (in a hole or on a mountain range like himalaya), so breathing on 'ground level' isn't really possible. Maybe your species isn't as advanced in any other sector as in space flight. They have no ships, no cars, maybe no medicine to handle all the different illnesses in other places.
Conclusion
I can come up with quite a few reasons why they didn't settle anywhere else, but it is quite hard to explain why they shouldn't have explored their planet at least to the same extend we have, when they are able to build sattelites.
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
answered Aug 25 at 16:08
Azzarrel
315
315
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What do you mean by "races"? Why don't you just make those other "races" hostile? In a way, we don't explore certain areas because hostile natives live there here on Earth. Also, isn't that sort of the world of the Marvel Panther movie that came out like a year ago? Btw, you don't have to explore yourself if you share your knowledge with others. Uganda didn't have to explore Argentina first in order to know what's going on there, they can see it on Wikipedia
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 10:45
@Raditz_35 Other races as like diferrent fantasy-style races. The thing is, the main civilization is more advanced than others, and hostile civilizations could be dealt with. Good point about sharing knowledge, I intended them to be strongly isolated from the rest, but changing that to some limited contact could make things easier
– Mranderson
Aug 25 at 11:06
1
Well, we could also deal with hostile natives. We (by "we" I mean all people that are not considered natives today no matter where on Earth) certainly have in the past. But that doesn't mean we have to and it doesn't mean we always do it - especially if there is nothing to gain from it. In that case, the question becomes: "Why would they explore hostile territory?" because you need to establish a good reason for the opposite, why they don't just stay one isolated nation. If they are not humans but some "fantasy race", you can always argue that it's not in their nature.
– Raditz_35
Aug 25 at 11:09