Legends of Dracora
NaNo Workshop
Errand 1: Setting
1 - Create a setting. This would be where it takes place, be it a school, a house, a city, an imaginary world, etc. We want you to be detailed in this. It needs to be 1000 words or more (you will thank us for this later).
Legends of Dracora: First Contact
This story has at least one primary setting, possibly three eventually. Where most of the story takes place is on a distant world far in the future and far from Earth in the vast reaches of space.
Dracora is the fourth planet in a solar system of seven (plus one asteroid belt) around a white, type F star. Slightly smaller than Earth, the world has nearly identical gravity, but the environment is closer to that of Mars, dry and arid. This mineral-rich world is covered in barren, rocky terrain consisting of hills, mountains, crevices, ravines, glaciers, and numerous impact craters. Because of high iron content, the planet also has a notable covering of rust, which forms red sand. There are volcanoes and six continents, but Dracora is less geologically active than Earth. The surface of the planet is covered in only 10% water, which is mostly inside one vast, frozen sea, covering an area of roughly 34,100 miles. The middle of this sea is near the equator, and it stretches into both the northern and southern hemispheres. Dracora’s atmospheric pressure is thick enough that humans would be able to walk around without a spacesuit if everything else about the planet wasn’t fatal. The temperature is consistently below freezing due to it being outside the star’s habitable zone, the air is nitrogen, and the planet’s magnetic field is so weak as to be nonexistent.
Light from the star casts sharp black shadows, but daylight is three times dimmer on Dracora than on Earth (I've been told it would be the same light level as Siberia in autumn), with its sun looking half the size of Earth’s sun from the planet’s surface. One day on Dracora lasts 20 hours, and one local year is 4.5 Earth years long. Nighttime is just as bright as it would be on Earth, thanks to Dracora’s two moons: The Drunken Dancer (usually just called Dancer), and Hunter (or Diver or Digger, depending on who you ask). One of Dracora's moons is generally visible in the sky, but to see both or neither is a rare thing. Dancer goes through rapid phases and has a round, retrograde orbit lasting nearly four local days, though it is only visible in the sky for two of those days. Dancer is smaller than Earth's moon but is so close that it looks four times larger. Hunter is twice as big as Earth's moon, looking two and half times bigger on average. It also has a thin nitrogen atmosphere. It gets its name because of an elliptical orbit, which causes long absences from the sky. Out of a 25 and a half-day cycle, it is only visible for five days at a time, appearing to shrink as it moves away until it matches the size of Earth's moon, then growing larger again in the sky until it matches Dancer's size at its closest approach.
There is one habitable zone on Dracora, located in the northern hemisphere and including a sizeable chunk of the sea. This zone is magical and slowly expands over time. It is covered by a massive dome of air on the surface, which extends downward through underground caves and aerated dirt. Storms are frequent along the outer rim of the habitable zone, while the native climate outside has slightly less weather activity than Earth. The air inside the dome is of the same oxygen-nitrogen mix as on Earth, but is thicker to the point where humans would find it "soupy." The inside of the habitable zone would typically have more weather than Earth, except that nature here is animistic. The classical elements making up the landscape (earth, air, fire, water) are controlled by spirits, who tend to keep things calm and reasonably pleasant when they're in a good mood. Every type of habitat can be found within the zone, spread out over the land in a seemingly random patchwork of environments. The spreading habitable zone seems to follow a few simple rules as it expands. The dome of air always extends outward first; the changes to the landscape never weather the planetary rock and instead layer soil, water, snow, sand, e.tc., over top of the existing stone; and finally, there is always a "buffer" habitat in between those of extreme heat (such as deserts), and extreme cold (such as tundras). The air thins and cools as one gets closer to the rim of the zone, much like climbing up a mountain and including a "timberline" beyond which no plants will grow, until it merges with the planet's native nitrogen atmosphere.
The lifeforms inside the habitable zone are noticeably not human, consisting of plants, animals, and mythological creatures that would be recognized from all over Earth. They, in fact, originally came from Earth as a colony by a magic portal to escape magically enhanced strains of plague during the infamous Black Death outbreaks in Europe and Asia. This origin has since been forgotten over the generations. All contact between Dracora and Earth was lost shortly after the colony's founding due to the portal inexplicably closing. Despite being Earth species, most of the plants have purple leaves, while others have yellow-green ones to cope with their white sun's light. Several completely new species have arisen over time as well. The majority of the animals are sentient and sapient, except for insects and fish. Most of the mythological creatures are sentient as well, although not all of them share this trait. Humanoid myths have been extinct for two millennia, with all knowledge of them now lost, and primates among the animals have isolated themselves on the largest islands in the sea, though their existence is still known to the other creatures. The myths are the size one would expect to see on Earth, but the animals are double their average size and also have doubled their standard lifespans. Plants, fungi, insects, and fish can grow even bigger than this, however, with many reaching truly gigantic proportions. This effect, along with the magical nature of the environment, is created and maintained by a powerful, but long lost artifact which was hidden deep underground sometime during a series of major wars in the colony's second millennium.
The animals currently outnumber the myths in population, having been brought initially as livestock, before later gaining their sentience and eventually earning their place as citizens in their own right. There have even been successful hybrids and entire bloodlines from myth/animal pairings since then. The current level of civilization among the Dracorians can best be described as "clockwork-based steampunk", with things being relatively peaceful among the various settlements--barring bandits, monster attacks, and migrating or angered elementals. Predators among the animals have domesticated and cultivated magical plant/animal hybrid creatures as a source of meat, along with hunting fish, insects, and non-sentient myths. Eating prey animals is a cultural taboo unless one is a carrion eater, who dispose of the dead and are highly respected for this role in society.
Errand 1: Setting
1 - Create a setting. This would be where it takes place, be it a school, a house, a city, an imaginary world, etc. We want you to be detailed in this. It needs to be 1000 words or more (you will thank us for this later).
Legends of Dracora: First Contact
This story has at least one primary setting, possibly three eventually. Where most of the story takes place is on a distant world far in the future and far from Earth in the vast reaches of space.
Dracora is the fourth planet in a solar system of seven (plus one asteroid belt) around a white, type F star. Slightly smaller than Earth, the world has nearly identical gravity, but the environment is closer to that of Mars, dry and arid. This mineral-rich world is covered in barren, rocky terrain consisting of hills, mountains, crevices, ravines, glaciers, and numerous impact craters. Because of high iron content, the planet also has a notable covering of rust, which forms red sand. There are volcanoes and six continents, but Dracora is less geologically active than Earth. The surface of the planet is covered in only 10% water, which is mostly inside one vast, frozen sea, covering an area of roughly 34,100 miles. The middle of this sea is near the equator, and it stretches into both the northern and southern hemispheres. Dracora’s atmospheric pressure is thick enough that humans would be able to walk around without a spacesuit if everything else about the planet wasn’t fatal. The temperature is consistently below freezing due to it being outside the star’s habitable zone, the air is nitrogen, and the planet’s magnetic field is so weak as to be nonexistent.
Light from the star casts sharp black shadows, but daylight is three times dimmer on Dracora than on Earth (I've been told it would be the same light level as Siberia in autumn), with its sun looking half the size of Earth’s sun from the planet’s surface. One day on Dracora lasts 20 hours, and one local year is 4.5 Earth years long. Nighttime is just as bright as it would be on Earth, thanks to Dracora’s two moons: The Drunken Dancer (usually just called Dancer), and Hunter (or Diver or Digger, depending on who you ask). One of Dracora's moons is generally visible in the sky, but to see both or neither is a rare thing. Dancer goes through rapid phases and has a round, retrograde orbit lasting nearly four local days, though it is only visible in the sky for two of those days. Dancer is smaller than Earth's moon but is so close that it looks four times larger. Hunter is twice as big as Earth's moon, looking two and half times bigger on average. It also has a thin nitrogen atmosphere. It gets its name because of an elliptical orbit, which causes long absences from the sky. Out of a 25 and a half-day cycle, it is only visible for five days at a time, appearing to shrink as it moves away until it matches the size of Earth's moon, then growing larger again in the sky until it matches Dancer's size at its closest approach.
There is one habitable zone on Dracora, located in the northern hemisphere and including a sizeable chunk of the sea. This zone is magical and slowly expands over time. It is covered by a massive dome of air on the surface, which extends downward through underground caves and aerated dirt. Storms are frequent along the outer rim of the habitable zone, while the native climate outside has slightly less weather activity than Earth. The air inside the dome is of the same oxygen-nitrogen mix as on Earth, but is thicker to the point where humans would find it "soupy." The inside of the habitable zone would typically have more weather than Earth, except that nature here is animistic. The classical elements making up the landscape (earth, air, fire, water) are controlled by spirits, who tend to keep things calm and reasonably pleasant when they're in a good mood. Every type of habitat can be found within the zone, spread out over the land in a seemingly random patchwork of environments. The spreading habitable zone seems to follow a few simple rules as it expands. The dome of air always extends outward first; the changes to the landscape never weather the planetary rock and instead layer soil, water, snow, sand, e.tc., over top of the existing stone; and finally, there is always a "buffer" habitat in between those of extreme heat (such as deserts), and extreme cold (such as tundras). The air thins and cools as one gets closer to the rim of the zone, much like climbing up a mountain and including a "timberline" beyond which no plants will grow, until it merges with the planet's native nitrogen atmosphere.
The lifeforms inside the habitable zone are noticeably not human, consisting of plants, animals, and mythological creatures that would be recognized from all over Earth. They, in fact, originally came from Earth as a colony by a magic portal to escape magically enhanced strains of plague during the infamous Black Death outbreaks in Europe and Asia. This origin has since been forgotten over the generations. All contact between Dracora and Earth was lost shortly after the colony's founding due to the portal inexplicably closing. Despite being Earth species, most of the plants have purple leaves, while others have yellow-green ones to cope with their white sun's light. Several completely new species have arisen over time as well. The majority of the animals are sentient and sapient, except for insects and fish. Most of the mythological creatures are sentient as well, although not all of them share this trait. Humanoid myths have been extinct for two millennia, with all knowledge of them now lost, and primates among the animals have isolated themselves on the largest islands in the sea, though their existence is still known to the other creatures. The myths are the size one would expect to see on Earth, but the animals are double their average size and also have doubled their standard lifespans. Plants, fungi, insects, and fish can grow even bigger than this, however, with many reaching truly gigantic proportions. This effect, along with the magical nature of the environment, is created and maintained by a powerful, but long lost artifact which was hidden deep underground sometime during a series of major wars in the colony's second millennium.
The animals currently outnumber the myths in population, having been brought initially as livestock, before later gaining their sentience and eventually earning their place as citizens in their own right. There have even been successful hybrids and entire bloodlines from myth/animal pairings since then. The current level of civilization among the Dracorians can best be described as "clockwork-based steampunk", with things being relatively peaceful among the various settlements--barring bandits, monster attacks, and migrating or angered elementals. Predators among the animals have domesticated and cultivated magical plant/animal hybrid creatures as a source of meat, along with hunting fish, insects, and non-sentient myths. Eating prey animals is a cultural taboo unless one is a carrion eater, who dispose of the dead and are highly respected for this role in society.
Failed 1st Year at Hogwarts at age 11. Is repeating 1st Year classes.