One person left to vote...

Okay so here we go, all results in.

SO. Last time we did this, in the fantasy genre, we learned that maybe my math skills are not the best. So, I promised that we'd need to go for maximum transparency this time. So:


Colony Ship Longo Drum (spaceship):
Harvest (planet):
Hong Kong Station (space station/republic):
The Insular Nebula (nebula):
Lilith (planet):
Mahalzhan System (solar system):
Mersta (space station/power plant):
S.S. Belong (spaceship):

My votes:

Colony Ship Longo Drum (spaceship): 3
Harvest (planet):
Hong Kong Station (space station/republic): 1
The Insular Nebula (nebula): 1
Lilith (planet): 3
Mahalzhan System (solar system): 2
Mersta (space station/power plant):
S.S. Belong (spaceship): 2

Pavel's votes:

Insular Nebula   1
SS Belong        1
Lilith           2
Mahalzan System  2
Harvest          3
Mersta           3

New results:

(Pavel) Colony Ship Longo Drum (spaceship): 3
(GM) Harvest (planet): 3
(Pavel) Hong Kong Station (space station/republic): 1
(Daryus) The Insular Nebula (nebula): 2
(World's) Lilith (planet): 5
(Daryus) Mahalzhan System (solar system): 4
(GM) Mersta (space station/power plant): 3
(World's) S.S. Belong (spaceship): 3

(It was at this point I thought to put whose creations were whose)

Daryus' votes:

3 - S.S. Belong
3 - Longo Drum
2 - Harvest
2 - Mersta
1 - Hong Kong Station
1 - Lilith

(Pavel) Colony Ship Longo Drum (spaceship): 6
(GM) Harvest (planet): 5
(Pavel) Hong Kong Station (space station/republic): 2
(Daryus) The Insular Nebula (nebula): 2
(World's) Lilith (planet): 6
(Daryus) Mahalzhan System (solar system): 4
(GM) Mersta (space station/power plant): 5
(World's) S.S. Belong (spaceship): 6

World's votes:

Harvest (planet): 3 Points
The Insular Nebula (nebula): 3 Points
Colony Ship Longo Drum (spaceship): 2 Points
Hong Kong Station (space station/republic): 2 Points
Mahalzhan System (solar system): 1 Point
Mersta (space station/power plant): 1 Point

So:

(Pavel) Colony Ship Longo Drum (spaceship): 8
(GM) Harvest (planet): 8
(World's) Lilith (planet): 6
(GM) Mersta (space station/power plant): 6
(World's) S.S. Belong (spaceship): 6
(Daryus) Mahalzhan System (solar system): 5
(Daryus) The Insular Nebula (nebula): 5
(Pavel) Hong Kong Station (space station/republic): 4

So, top 6 slots get in, I break any ties needed UNLESS they involve me, but this one DOESN'T involve me, SO:

(Pavel) Colony Ship Longo Drum (spaceship): 8
(GM) Harvest (planet): 8
(World's) Lilith (planet): 6
(GM) Mersta (space station/power plant): 6
(World's) S.S. Belong (spaceship): 6
(Daryus) Mahalzhan System (solar system): 5

That's it for Round 1: These 6 places are going to be in canon-- presuming my math checks out.

Does my math appear to check out?

Your maths checks out... just to show

Name   GM  P  D  W  total
CSLD   3   0  3  2  8
L      3   2  1  0  6
MS     2   2  0  1  5
SSB    2   1  3  0  6
HKS    1   0  1  2  4
IN     1   1  0  3  5
H      0   3  2  3  8
M      0   3  2  1  6

GM breaks the tie between Insular Nebula and Mahalzhan System.

Player scores so far:
GM       14
Pavel    12
Daryus   10
World    12

Question:  Would there be less need for tiebreaks if we ordered our choices from 1 to 6 (or as appropriate) in subsequent rounds?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:53, Wed 06 July 2022.

Oh yeah, I should actually probably keep a running tab, that would help at the end, huh. Yoink, saving those last 4 figures.



Um, I don't think so? But I'm not a math whiz? Daryus, World's, would it help?

On second thoughts it wouldn't work unless we'd done it from the start because it would interfere with scores.

Ah. Oh well!

So, everyone ready for Round 2?

Or rather: is anyone NOT ready for Round 2?

Ready

ROUND TWO: Creatures (or plants)

1 creature (or plant) (1 per player).

--Each player will create an animal or plant that does not exist in the real world. It cannot be smarter than, say, a dog, monkey, nor gorilla.

--DO NOT SUGGEST THINGS THAT ARE EXACTLY LIKE A CREATURE/PLANT THAT ALREADY EXISTS ANYWHERE ELSE.

--Top three recipients of votes will become officially canon as existing in the sci-fi world.

PM me your submission (just one per player)...

Okay-- PM me your votes. Give 3 points to 1 entry, 2 points to 1 entry, and 1 vote to 1 entry.

DO NOT vote for your own entries.

So since there's only 4 of us, that's 1 or more points to each entry that isn't your own... But who will get the most? You decide!

Okay, here's what I got:

The Beryl Poppy (plant):
Lilimp (plant-creature):
OORT SPIDERS (creature):
Veins (plant):


My votes:
The Beryl Poppy (plant): 1
Lilimp (plant-creature):
OORT SPIDERS (creature): 2
Veins (plant): 3


Pavel's votes:

1 point   -  Veins
2 points  -  Lilimp
3 points  -  Beryl Poppy


(Daryus) The Beryl Poppy (plant): 4
(GM) Lilimp (plant-creature): 2
(Pavel) OORT SPIDERS (creature): 2
(World's) Veins (plant): 4


World's votes:

The Beryl Poppy (plant): 3 Points
OORT SPIDERS (creature): 2 Points
Lilimp (plant-creature): 1 Points


(Daryus) The Beryl Poppy (plant): 7
(GM) Lilimp (plant-creature): 3
(Pavel) OORT SPIDERS (creature): 4
(World's) Veins (plant): 4

Daryus' votes:

3 - Oort Spiders
2 - Lilimp
1 - Veins


(Daryus) The Beryl Poppy (plant): 7
(GM) Lilimp (plant-creature): 5
(Pavel) OORT SPIDERS (creature): 7
(World's) Veins (plant): 5



So, it comes down to a tie for third place... which DOES involve me, this time, and the rules say: What the heck, we have four winners.


Math check?


Comments? Questions?

Maths is correct.

Running total:
GM              19
Pavel           19
World           17
Daryus          17

If we vote on what's next, my vote is with the GM in PM

My vote agrees with yours.

So someone else tell me: Cultures next, or Powerful Beings?

Feel free to tell me privately if you want.

Let's go with culture

Yeah.

Okay here we go:

ROUND THREE:

1 or 2 cultures   (1 or 2 per player).

--Each player will describe one or two cultures that exist/s in the sci-fi world. Each culture can be based on everyone in the culture being the same species, or have some other sort of basis (belief system, say).

--No culture is allowed to be inherently eeeeeevilllll.

--DO NOT SUGGEST THINGS THAT ARE EXACTLY LIKE A CULTURE THAT ALREADY EXISTS ANYWHERE ELSE.

--Each player may create one or two cultures. Two cultures will give you more chances to get votes.

--Top six recipients of votes will become officially canon as existing in the sci-fi world.

Submissions are in, but there is a delay related to an unresolved question about one of them. Please stand by while I attempt to resolve the inconsistency with the author.

Having a problematic day. Please stand by while I attempt to get it together.

Okay, thank you for your patience. Round Three, cultures, is posted.

So, give two cultures 3s, give two more 2s, and 2 more 1s.

Don't vote for your own submissions.

PM me your votes.

Votes in from all but one voter (and it's not me)

My bad. Was traveling the last two days.

Hey, it's not as bad as my week this week was...

Results are in...

My votes:

The Astani (non-human culture): 1
(GM) Chatters (uplifted post-animal culture):
Cornerstone (human culture): 2
Harvest's Diner (human culture): 3
Home Culture (post-human culture): 3
Kakapoo (diverse culture): 2
The Omelasians of Harvest (human culture): 1
(GM) The United (alien culture):

Pavel's votes:

Three Points:  Chatterers;             Harvest's Diner
Two Points:    Omelasians of Harvest;  Cornerstone
One Point:     The Astani;             The United

The Astani (non-human culture): 2
(GM) Chatters (uplifted post-animal culture): 3
Cornerstone (human culture): 4
Harvest's Diner (human culture): 6
(Pavel) Home Culture (post-human culture): 3
(Pavel) Kakapoo (diverse culture): 2
The Omelasians of Harvest (human culture): 3
(GM) The United (alien culture): 1

World's votes:
Kakapoo (diverse culture): 3 Points
Chatters (uplifted post-animal culture): 3 Points
The Astani (non-human culture): 2 Points
Home Culture (post-human culture): 2 Points
The United (alien culture): 1 Point
The Omelasians of Harvest (human culture): 1 Point


The Astani (non-human culture): 4
(GM) Chatters (uplifted post-animal culture): 6
(World's) Cornerstone (human culture): 4
(World's) Harvest's Diner (human culture): 6
(Pavel) Home Culture (post-human culture): 5
(Pavel) Kakapoo (diverse culture): 5
The Omelasians of Harvest (human culture): 4
(GM) The United (alien culture): 2

Daryus' votes:
3 - Kakapoo
3 - Cornerstone
2 - Chatters
2 - Harvest's Diner
1 - The United
1 - Home Culture

The Astani (non-human culture): 4
(GM) Chatters (uplifted post-animal culture): 8
(World's) Cornerstone (human culture): 7
(World's) Harvest's Diner (human culture): 8
(Pavel) Home Culture (post-human culture): 6
(Pavel) Kakapoo (diverse culture): 8
The Omelasians of Harvest (human culture): 4
(GM) The United (alien culture): 3


(GM) Chatters (uplifted post-animal culture): 8
(World's) Harvest's Diner (human culture): 8
(Pavel) Kakapoo (diverse culture): 8
(World's) Cornerstone (human culture): 7
(Pavel) Home Culture (post-human culture): 6
(Daryus) The Omelasians of Harvest (human culture): 4
(Daryus) The Astani (non-human culture): 4
(GM) The United (alien culture): 3


Since the final result involves a tie that does NOT involve me, I declare the following to be in canon:


(GM) Chatters (uplifted post-animal culture): 8
(World's) Harvest's Diner (human culture): 8
(Pavel) Kakapoo (diverse culture): 8
(World's) Cornerstone (human culture): 7
(Pavel) Home Culture (post-human culture): 6
(Daryus) The Astani (non-human culture): 4


So next, I want to ask:

Y'all were totally united in one thing: down-voting The United. So that I can learn from this for the future, I ask: what's up with that? Was it more that you thought they were overpowered, or more that you felt they wouldn't lead to interesting narrative conflict later?



Anyway, we've got:
--magpie people
--smart space gopher people (and their somewhat barbarian cousins on the planet Harvest down below)
--humans
--dark-skinned humans, octopi-people, and magpies with a DIFFERENT culture on planet Kakapoo
--human asteroid miners (belters, if we wanted to use Niven's term)
--space manta people
--Earth's posthuman peoples, very different on the outside but sharing roughly the same culture, including:
----the Darklings of Mercury's Ocean Caves
----the Swimmers of Europa
----the Telempaths of Earth
----the Martian desert dwellers
----the Venusian airship citizens

Any questions or comments about this list before we start talking about round 4?

I wasn't so much voting down the United per se, but comparing each culture against each other culture and giving points to each (including mine) then translating those points into positions (I still had to tiebreak between the Omelasians and the Astani which tied n points.

That said, my issue with the United was that its unity makes it hard to use them as PCs also, they remind me of the Borg in star trek and the fungus which made the Hungries in The Girl with All the Gifts.

Sorry man, I know that the United has all the concepts that I was adding to the world. With Lilith, the weird things inside the planet, and I can certainly see them as the evolution of the colonists of the S.S. Belong, all ties neatly together...

And it's a bit hard to say but I thinks it's more of a personal preference of mine, I believe Lilith should stay as a planet with no inhabitants, with no intelligent fungal form scouring the Galaxy for knowledge. Just a wild and dangerous planet with mysterious affects if you look to deeply in the planet's function. Just a big ol question mark, if that makes sense.

If the United were seen as a powerful being rather than a culture then that would be much more interesting.  I was planning to have something similar on Venus, but that's only because it's already in the novel I'm working on.