This civilization us about comparable to the Age of Sail with widely available magitech. This civilization can, with enough trained mages, construct viable spacecraft. These spacecraft are capable of operating within the solar system, but not advanced enough to leave it.
Within the solar system, there is a second habitable planet aside from the one this civilization is from. This planet has life (plants and aberrations), but no sentient life. This civilization is going to put colonies on the planet.
My problem is, why? I know why I want the colonies to exist (to cover a theme I want to cover badly, but lack room for on the civilization's home planet do to other themes I'm covering there), but I can't think of a logical reason for the civilization to want to go through the difficulty, expense, and danger of colonizing another planet. Does anyone have any ideas for what motivations I could give my civilization?
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Because it's there.
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Same reason they did on our world. To prove they could, thus proving that they're better than the damn dirty [insert alternative racail or policitcal group here].
Also, colonizsing nother planet may be simpler than trying to fight similarly developed neighbours.
But I'd go for national pride and hubris being the most likely.
EDIT: Exotic resources on the planet that aren't as available on their home region? I mean, we are talking about mining asteroids in the real world so that motivation is viable.
Spreading the glory of [insert major God] to the heathens? That's caused immense amounts of colonisation in the real world. Caused a lot of trouble, too, of course, but where's the adventure without trouble?
Same reason they did on our world. To prove they could, thus proving that they're better than the damn dirty [insert alternative racail or policitcal group here].
Maybe that could work.
Also, colonizsing nother planet may be simpler than trying to fight similarly developed neighbours.
With the limited size of colonies (spaceships can only carry so much), and the damage an aberration is capable of doing in a fight combined with a general lack of fear of humans, not really. Add in a general tendency to shoot at foreign rivals' colonies, and it gets even more dangerous.
But I'd go for national pride and hubris being the most likely.
I do have a few nations this could work for.
EDIT: Exotic resources on the planet that aren't as available on their home region? I mean, we are talking about mining asteroids in the real world so that motivation is viable.
This could work. Probably something combined to magitech, but what should it do?
Spreading the glory of [insert major God] to the heathens? That's caused immense amounts of colonisation in the real world. Caused a lot of trouble, too, of course, but where's the adventure without trouble?
No sentient races on the new planet. Humans also lost access to divine magic specifically because of acting like that during the colonial period on their home world, so they likely wouldn't try that again.
The other obvious choice is that there is something there worth bringing back. Some kind of magical resource? Adamantium mines? Expensive to get there, but the investment will pay itself back in time.
Tempting, but not sure I want a metal. Something magical would be cool if it were useful enough.
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Kelsey,
Again, the real world offers a simple reason: To beat the other guy. If you have two or more nations who could colonise the other planet, then there will be a race for who gets there first, just like there was when the Americas were discovered. At the time, crossing the ocean was about as dangerous as crossing space is turning out to be. New resources to exploit are vital for any empire, especially one that's now beign constrained. You get to send all the people who haven't got jobs/homes off to start a new life in the stars and conveniently get them out of your coutnry where thery'd otherwise cause trouble.
Plus you get to prove that your nation is better than nation X because you succeeded first. I'd imagine a lot of sabotage to make sure you did. Once one nation's got there, every other nation would want to get there to prove they're one of the 'big boys', just like today with the Indian and Chinese space programs.
Kelsey,
Again, the real world offers a simple reason: To beat the other guy. If you have two or more nations who could colonise the other planet, then there will be a race for who gets there first, just like there was when the Americas were discovered. At the time, crossing the ocean was about as dangerous as crossing space is turning out to be. New resources to exploit are vital for any empire, especially one that's now beign constrained. You get to send all the people who haven't got jobs/homes off to start a new life in the stars and conveniently get them out of your coutnry where thery'd otherwise cause trouble.Plus you get to prove that your nation is better than nation X because you succeeded first. I'd imagine a lot of sabotage to make sure you did. Once one nation's got there, every other nation would want to get there to prove they're one of the 'big boys', just like today with the Indian and Chinese space programs.
I like this. It would be nice to throw in a magitech thing to solidify it, but it should work on it's own.
If they're worried about losing a serious war, having a refuge that the other country can't reach would be a good thing. Even if it's just for the elites.
They want a colony there ahead of time so that there will be civilization when the higher-ups arrive. They don't want to have to work in the fields.
They could justify one colony, with competition/unobtanium the others.
If I did go for a metal, what would you use Adamantium or Mithril for other than weapons or armor, assuming an 18th century tech level? Using Mithril to strengthen ship hulls comes to mind quickly, but that'll get rid of my precious wooden sailing ships.
I can think of a number of reasons.
1. Perhaps the world has gone to hell in a hand basket and the people who went forth into space are escaping something.
2. To get away from religious persecution.
3. those that left are worshipers of the aberrations on the other planets and they hope to become closer to their gods.
4. To mine asteroids for the cold Iron it can yield.
5. Just because they can.
6. Originally only the worlds most dangerous felons were sent into space however now they have developed their own civilization and it is one worth trading with...
7. Perhaps the other world is a dead zone to Magic/gods/death/illness/ or has curative properties.
8. The population of the world is descended from the other world and has only recently discovered that it has alien roots... now the question becomes why did they all leave.
Well firstly, they wouldn't colonize.
They'd send an expedition to see if its worth a colony.
Is the stuff there minable? is it worth the expense? Is there something else there worth the bother? (sentient life, maybe just nice clean land that no one is currently fighting over, or something like that).
But without knowing whats there? No civilization would colonize it at all. There are just too many unknowns. Explore. Find profit. *then* colonize.
:)
-S
Expansion. Be it for new lands, resources, or just a place for their own freedoms.
Trade. What's out there and can you turn a buck on it.
Just look at historical accounts that led to exploration of the worls and apply them to fantasy space.
Well firstly, they wouldn't colonize.
They'd send an expedition to see if its worth a colony.
Is the stuff there minable? is it worth the expense? Is there something else there worth the bother? (sentient life, maybe just nice clean land that no one is currently fighting over, or something like that).
But without knowing whats there? No civilization would colonize it at all. There are just too many unknowns. Explore. Find profit. *then* colonize.
:)
-S
That's what I want to answer. I have decided to make colonies, and I want to be able to explain why the decision to do this was made.
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A small but well-funded group of religious dissidents wants to establish a better society, far away from the corruption, sin and decadence of their old country. (The rulers of their old country want to get rid of them without civil war.)
Because they believe there's great resources there that will be easy to exploit.
To get there before the rival nation does.
High-powered individuals or groups like a mages' guild want an out-of-the-way location to pursue research far away from prying eyes.
To research the new world; studying it might lead to a magical breakthrough.
Because the gods command it. They sent visions to the high priest and everything. He wouldn't lie about that.
Because vanquishing hostile aberrations is ethically unproblematic, while "making room" by genociding humanoid races is trickier.
As a long-term insurance: spread their race/civilization among many planets so that a single planetary catastrophe can't cause its extinction. ("Earth is to fragile a basket to keep all our eggs in." - paraphrased)
Colonize it before hostile aliens secretly use it as a staging ground to invade our planet. If we don't get there first we won't be warned when They come.
Ooh! I have an idea. You know the Ironwood spell? What if Ironwood grew naturally on this planet? If harvested, it could build excellent warships, resilient buildings (forts that can withstand prolonged cannon fire), durable weapons, and a ton of other things. Of course, being Ironwood, it's not easy to harvest or mill, so a large infrastructure is necessary. Such a substance would have much demand, so there would be a reason to form more and more colonies. Add in the desire to colonize for simple national prestige, and I've got a logical space race.
Ooh! I have an idea. You know the Ironwood spell? What if Ironwood grew naturally on this planet? If harvested, it could build excellent warships, resilient buildings (forts that can withstand prolonged cannon fire), durable weapons, and a ton of other things. Of course, being Ironwood, it's not easy to harvest or mill, so a large infrastructure is necessary. Such a substance would have much demand, so there would be a reason to form more and more colonies. Add in the desire to colonize for simple national prestige, and I've got a logical space race.Ironwood is a real thing.
When I say Ironwood, I mean the stuff the Druid spell creates that is quite literally as strong as steel, if not stronger. If that stuff were real, there'd be a million reasons to want it.
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Ooh! I have an idea. You know the Ironwood spell? What if Ironwood grew naturally on this planet? If harvested, it could build excellent warships, resilient buildings (forts that can withstand prolonged cannon fire), durable weapons, and a ton of other things. Of course, being Ironwood, it's not easy to harvest or mill, so a large infrastructure is necessary. Such a substance would have much demand, so there would be a reason to form more and more colonies. Add in the desire to colonize for simple national prestige, and I've got a logical space race.
I wouldn't worry too much about the details. The real world space race was a pissing contest between two superpowers over who had the bigger national manhood. As long as you've got something more coherent than that, you'll be fine.
Ooh! I have an idea. You know the Ironwood spell? What if Ironwood grew naturally on this planet? If harvested, it could build excellent warships, resilient buildings (forts that can withstand prolonged cannon fire), durable weapons, and a ton of other things. Of course, being Ironwood, it's not easy to harvest or mill, so a large infrastructure is necessary. Such a substance would have much demand, so there would be a reason to form more and more colonies. Add in the desire to colonize for simple national prestige, and I've got a logical space race.I wouldn't worry too much about the details. The real world space race was a pissing contest between two superpowers over who had the bigger national manhood. As long as you've got something more coherent than that, you'll be fine.
Well, the existence of such a pissing contest and of this Ironwood are not mutually incompatible things. Both can be involved in the reasons for the colonies.
This civilization us about comparable to the Age of Sail with widely available magitech. This civilization can, with enough trained mages, construct viable spacecraft. These spacecraft are capable of operating within the solar system, but not advanced enough to leave it.
Within the solar system, there is a second habitable planet aside from the one this civilization is from. This planet has life (plants and aberrations), but no sentient life. This civilization is going to put colonies on the planet.
My problem is, why? I know why I want the colonies to exist (to cover a theme I want to cover badly, but lack room for on the civilization's home planet do to other themes I'm covering there), but I can't think of a logical reason for the civilization to want to go through the difficulty, expense, and danger of colonizing another planet. Does anyone have any ideas for what motivations I could give my civilization?
There's arguably no good reason for us, now, in the real world to expend resources colonizing anything outside the Earth. No other world has anything close to a hospitable environment, and terraforming would require almost inconceivable technology and economic resources. Maybe in the distant future… But I doubt it. The safe bet is that humans will never live off-planet in significant numbers. Space colonization may turn out to be one of those charming 20th Century fancies that is never going to happen.
Are the other planets in your fantasy solar system habitable? If so, that’s a huge difference from the lifeless and hostile worlds of our real solar system.Throw in some unique resources, factors like distance from enemies, ancient ruins worth exploring, etc. and fantasy space colonization seems plausible. You aren’t writing hard sci fi. It doesn’t have to be rigorous. It just needs to make sense in the context of the game. The players have to buy it.
This is all just IMO. YMMV, as always.
Despite the "lack of good reasons" space race still goes strong, chinese and japanese and even indian governments try to catch up and surpass existing space programs, US and EU programs focus more on Mars and Titan now, meanwhile the International station is built slowly but steadily, and the first serious talks about a moon base begun. While current missions aren't part of a propaganda machine as in the Cold War they still are important, if for nothing else than to use accidentally developed and researched things for average life usage
Even if the moon is just a dustball, with current missile and other techs, the nation that can actually manage to build a base on the moon would be at immense advantage, now think about such situation in a fantasy world, a base on the moon can easily turn into a colony, with druidic magic a dustball can become a paradise for nobility too, and of course colonial independence wars always add more flavor to the whole. Give it a few centuries and the independent moon nation could turn into an empire that invades the planet now and then to dictates its own ideals and image of a peaceful and properly policed society.
Joriandrake—
Since you placed ''good reasons'' in quotation marks, I suspect that you were making some reference to my post. I’m not sure if I made my meaning clear to you. Allow me to elaborate. I'm not suggesting that there will be zero economic exploitation of extraterrestrial resources, or no further scientific or technological advances in space-related industries or research. A "base" isn't a self-sustaining, viable colony. Robots aren't human settlers. Spin-off technology does not equal terraforming. The things that I am suggesting are very unlikely to come to pass are terraforming, full-fledged colonies, large human populations living permanently off the Earth, etc.I like your idea about druid magic transforming a dust-ball into a garden. Given D&D /PF rules, this is likely going to take a whole lot of druids over a long period of time. Of course, it depends on how high-magic the setting happens to be.
OP-
Have you looked at Spelljammer?
I've heard of it, but it isn't what I want to do here. I'm creating space travel that is not capable of exiting the solar system, with only one colonizeable planet.
Why would everyone have to go initially? A high powered mage with some really high powered divinations could find a new kingdom. He could then use a wish or interplanetary teleport to move himself and a large number of others to the planet.
Fight for land with varying enemies at the doorstep, or move all of his people to a place where others can't get them. It'd be utopia-ish.
I've heard of it, but it isn't what I want to do here. I'm creating space travel that is not capable of exiting the solar system, with only one colonizeable planet.Then just say it is. Just say that everytime someone has tried to go farther, none of them ever came back.
Or don't even use spaceships. Just use gates.
Or get your spaceships from Flash Gordon serials. Can't go wrong with those.
Those are all good ideas.
She could also simply rule that there is nothing within reach beyond the solar system. Everything else is just too far away. If the magic ships cannot fly faster than light, and distances are roughly similar to the real universe, she doesn't need to worry about extra solar colonies and such. Either they explorers/colonist cannot ever reach any of those places, or else going to another system would be a one way trip that might takes centuries.
Maybe use the Numeria, City of the Gods, and Expedition to Barrier Peaks idea? The spaceships they have are based off adaptations of ruins they discovered in their own world. They left world with these temporary low level vessels and create a colony on the world next to it, a Primeval World of evolution. The things on this planet could include the variants of star metal, the aberrations are mutations among the native fauna due to exposure to the mutagenic natures of some of the metal. While the metal has a mutagenic effect when lingering in a area for X where X is the time it takes to become stable, these metals have magical properties so that could play in as well.
Going to a place devoid of higher authorities means the chance to create your prefered style of government and civilisation. This place could be a haven for communists, fascists, hippies, theocrats, deposed monarchs, mind control wizards and anarchists.
Also if your setting has ever suffered a disaster that nearly ended the world, people might want to spread civilisation beyond it to make sure something survives.
A material like ironwood would help, because selling it back to the main planet gives people something do do on the new one. It brings in the money once you're there.
Regardless of why they are going, I think halflings would make the perfect slave race for the new colony. They're small and the colonizing race could pack twice the number of them onto a colony ship.
Just my thoughts for a little sub-plot.
The local flora and fauna on the new planet are going to be truly exotic. Spices, lumber, fruits and "plant derived pharmaceuticals" are just the start. Gold may be much more readily available. Exploration preceeds colonization, the explorers becoming historically important in future generations. The explorers return with exotic goods (spices, the equivalents of tobacco and cocoa, "red gold") that the explorer's sponsors recognize the potential of.
Personally, I'd be all over exploration and/or the subsequent colonization...
I can think of a number of reasons.
1. Perhaps the world has gone to hell in a hand basket and the people who went forth into space are escaping something.
2. To get away from religious persecution.
Thank you, and my pilgrim ancestors thank you.
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Pretty much every setting that has organized study of magic has its share of wizards who operate huge telescopes, orreries, and other Stonehenge-reminiscent setups and track the movements of stars, under the belief that Fate itself is written in their movements, or that they are the source of all magic, or whatnot.
Honestly, I always found it a bit of an oversight that they never got the idea to travel to the stars via magic, instead of just charting them.
If your setting can support the idea of a star chart, or a mystic lunar calendar, or the very notion that anything in the night sky is in any way magical, it can support the idea of space travel.
People who dont fit in and want a place where they can live in peace.For example good aligned Drow and Tieflings , tired of everyone thinking they are serial killers waiting for a chance to commit mass murder , might go there to live in peace And evil Elves and Haflings might flee there one step ahead of a lynch mob.
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Living on another planet would also be a boon for said astronomer-wizards; whole new possibilities for huge telescopes aimed at different parts of the universe.
Maybe there's a prophecy that the original homeworld is going to be destroyed*, and some people want to escape to the new world?
* This is a fantasy setting. What are the odds?
could be a prison colony
because they can, is a good reason
to find kindred races
to find rare minerals
to find slaves
because the world they're living in is crappy
because rulers need to compensate and thus want more land, unoccupied land is easier to get
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Depends on the civilization making that choice.
In Golarion, Taldor already has a long history of radical exploration (even having crossed the world to set up a colony in faux-Asia).
Cheliax also has colonies in Varisia and the Mwangi Expanse, and serves a powerful diety of magic.
Geb and Nex both have the capability and motivation to set up shop on other worlds. Geb, in particular, has 'natives' (shadows, spectres, wraiths, ghosts) who could fly to another planet under their own power. It's not like the vacuum of space is gonna slow them down. Their biggest danger is getting bored halfway there...
The Lirgini (sp?) astronomer-priests are believed to have all committed ritual suicide after divining something about the death of Aroden / formation of the Eye of Abendago. Maybe they didn't just kill themselves, but actually had to leave their worldly bodies behind to reincarnate on a new world, safe from the Eye of Abendago that was destroying their home on Golarion? "Where we're going, we won't need flesh..."
Elves already have a history of space colonization, and Dwarves could logically progress from a 'Quest for Sky' to a new 'Quest for Space.'
Numerian techno-mages might figure out how to activate 'escape pods' or 'evacuation shuttles' in the Starmount, and seek out the source of their bounty. A whole new world to plunder would likely please the Black Sovereign.
Any number of cultures or races, existing in a world that has dragons, aberrations, green mold infestations, vegepymies/russet mold, shadows, spectres, wraiths, spawn of Rovagug, etc., etc. might be eager to travel to a world that doesn't have any of that stuff (although it will likely have *other* stuff...). The grass is always greener, and there will always those who will seek to find a better place for themselves and their children.