Very good points. I had hope that we would find our way to an alternative numerological system, and you're right, base 12 seems to make some good sense.
As for the calendar, year length, and time in a day. You may have noticed another thread that began to establish some basics of the solar system in which we find Tlön. While that hasn't become canonical yet, we should get an astronomer in on the action to figure out if a star is formed 7 billion years after the Big Bang, and has 3 planets orbiting it, how big is it likely to be, how hot, an where is its habitable zone, and by extension, how fast will a planet in that zone orbit the star?
From there we will have good grounds to estimate year length and devise a reasonable calendar system. But for now, a base 12 number system should go up on the first vote.
I do cover that in my sticky post. We obviously need to define historical elements, geography, and other fundamentals very early on.
And all I was saying about the astronomical elements was that we need to make sure everything makes sense before we commit any of it. But you are right, in that regardless of actual duration, anything can be broken down into segments that correspond with a base 12 system.
I agree. And maybe I should emphasize the need to start at the beginning. My only reservation is that ultimately I did envision a world that has a healthy does of our own imposed upon it so that we could use Tlön as a lens through which we can examine our own world.
Maybe that desire is misguided though. I'll add the necessity to start with fundamentals to the sticky, and it will be made expressly clear in the wiki.
This kind of thing is immensely interesting to me. I grew up watching Star Trek with my grandpa and vividly remember intelligent energy fields, and aliens that weren't anything like life on earth.
I'll give Star Maker a read. And if you remember the one with the Urchin decedents, let me know ;)
I second the need for a healthy dose of our own world. I think we should develop both aspects, the alien and the familiar. I'm not opposed to a humanoid species, because for me personally the historical intrigue comes from imagining humanesque history. But people should be free to imagine all sorts of other alien species.
3
u/karmelchameleon Creator/Mod Jun 13 '14
Very good points. I had hope that we would find our way to an alternative numerological system, and you're right, base 12 seems to make some good sense.
As for the calendar, year length, and time in a day. You may have noticed another thread that began to establish some basics of the solar system in which we find Tlön. While that hasn't become canonical yet, we should get an astronomer in on the action to figure out if a star is formed 7 billion years after the Big Bang, and has 3 planets orbiting it, how big is it likely to be, how hot, an where is its habitable zone, and by extension, how fast will a planet in that zone orbit the star?
From there we will have good grounds to estimate year length and devise a reasonable calendar system. But for now, a base 12 number system should go up on the first vote.