Hey guys.
Whilst reading through topics about sauropods and the square/cube law it got me to thinking most creatures of golarion (those of ogre size or more) would be quite impractical (not including magic as a factor of course) if you go by the square/cube law. For example a storm giant or even a measly hill giant would most likey be crushed by its own weight.
Granted I know its fantasy and its ment to stretch the fields of belief but still I'm curious if Golarion has different laws of physics that allow it to better support gargantuan life. Again not including magic as a factor.
Well the current consensus is that physics operates in roughly the same way as elsewhere in the universe, with the exception of magic. Golarion has no special physical properties beyond magic. Most geologic features are formed by plate tectonics and volcanic activity. Gravity and electromagnetism function as expected. Thermodynamics behaves as it should, except when taken out behind the shed and spanked silly by conjuration and evocation spells.
The solar system has 11 planets that orbit a sun and space can be navigated by magic or technology if a species has the capabilities to build spacecrafts.
As for huge and gargantuan creatures, perhaps their bones are made of carbon-nanotubes? Or, more likely, a wizard did it.
Giants also are distant descendents of outsiders, so I would just rule that the "outsider" aspect allow them to maintain a human form even though bio-mechanically it wouldn't work.
Although I would be interested if any fantasy author did try to create a race of bipedal giants that did make sense without resorting to magic.
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Giants also are distant descendents of outsiders, so I would just rule that the "outsider" aspect allow them to maintain a human form even though bio-mechanically it wouldn't work.
Although I would be interested if any fantasy author did try to create a race of bipedal giants that did make sense without resorting to magic.
As I recall, in the Pern novels, the Dragons of Pern and their firelizard relatives have bones that are made up of calcium and boron. They are supposed to be stronger than our bones. So, perhaps giants and dragons have bones that are not just made out of calcium?
The dinosaurs managed it
The dinosaurs managed it by being shaped differently than humans. Look at the big bipedal dinosaurs; their legs are bigger in proportion.
In older editions the biggest giants (cloud and storm) could levitate. My fig leaf for how giants beat the square-cube law was that all of them lessened their effective weight by a continuous low-grade levitation effect. The cloud and storm giants were just so good at this that they could do more with it.
The dinosaurs managed it
So do elephants but neither of those groups are humanoid. Most aren't even bipedal. Their bone structures are, in most cases, either honeycombed or hollow. This also means the weren't as dense as we are so their weight-ratios were also different.
And, in many cases, dinosaurs, elephants, and other megafauna were more fragile. If they fell over they could (and can, in the case of elephants) break bones much more easier than smaller creatures.
Giants don't have any of these problems. Their bones can't be hollow or honeycombed either because their average weights (as listed in the bestiary) indicate that they're at least as dense as we are.
Well the current consensus is that physics operates in roughly the same way as elsewhere in the universe, with the exception of magic. Golarion has no special physical properties beyond magic. Most geologic features are formed by plate tectonics and volcanic activity. Gravity and electromagnetism function as expected. Thermodynamics behaves as it should, except when taken out behind the shed and spanked silly by conjuration and evocation spells.
The solar system has 11 planets that orbit a sun and space can be navigated by magic or technology if a species has the capabilities to build spacecrafts.
As for huge and gargantuan creatures, perhaps their bones are made of carbon-nanotubes? Or, more likely, a wizard did it.
Life forms aside, here are some good questions for Golarionese physics to answer (not to nitpick but to come up with some good ideas for interplanetary adventures)
(a) how Triaxus manages to maintain an atmosphere at aphelion (or to hold on to its atmosphere when it reaches perihelion)
(b) why Eox's retrograde orbit has not caused it to shift itself and/or another planetary body out of its orbit to exit the system, occupy a different orbit, or fall into the sun
(c) how Verces' period of rotation got to be so close to its period of revolution so as to appear tidally locked--it could not be tidally locked from gravity without inferior planets also being tidally locked (or simply nonexistent)... prhaps an ancient collision with another protoplanet, a large piece of one of the Twin Worlds that formed the Diaspora?
Good questions. From the perspective of creative design, I'm sure much of that just comes down to handwaving. While significant effort was put in by the Paizo staff to make sure science was paid its due when they developed the solar system I think it's fair to say they understandably couldn't focus too much on getting the science perfect. As for the questions themselves:
a) This one could take some time to figure out. Someone far more knowledgeable than me can hopefully chime in on this one. This one's the most "hand-wavy" for me.
b) Perhaps the retrograde orbit is in the middle of such an event. These sorts of things occur on a long enough timeline that it may not yet be noticeable to those on Golarion who pay attention to such things. Since there is no metaplot (and what a long-term metaplot it would require) I see much of the material in Distant Worlds as being presented as a snapshot in time. Snapshots don't show long-term trends.
c)I think you've already answered the question. Or at least presented a reasonable hypothesis. A collision connected to the events surrounding the Diaspora is as good a theory as any.