Exilian

Art, Writing, and Learning: The Clerisy Quarter => Arts, Crafts, Music & Drama - The Artisans' Guilds => Topic started by: Ierne on January 09, 2019, 06:34:53 PM

Title: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on January 09, 2019, 06:34:53 PM
Done as part of the planning/worldbuilding for my (very much not complete) fantasy novel Aviarium, and because I like drawing.

Atana is a world inhabited by winged beings and dragons- and entirely cut off from other universes for years. In a more familiar world, Winter is a time-traveller, perpetual wanderer, and good friends with Shakespeare. And has no idea parallel universes are even real- untill a pathway across the void opens - just slightly unexpectedly - in her best friend's back garden.

The pic is of a small fireheart dragon called Mishka, and Aliya, an Adhar* fire mage.
(*Adhar can generate wings made of magical energy.)
(https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/0024ca87-953a-4107-b3bb-9f789135b3fd/dcwn5en-ccff2fc0-47b8-4249-9054-d517e6ba96db.jpg)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Tusky on January 09, 2019, 07:00:39 PM
Wow Wonderful artwork

It's a fascinating sounding world. Is the pathway you mention to the "real" world as we know it, or does Winter live and know Shakespeare in our world and visits other universes? Or will that all explained in the novel...

Look forward to seeing more :)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on January 09, 2019, 11:23:46 PM
Lovely, and likewise looking forward to seeing more :)

A couple of thoughts on the dragon - I like the design, especially the little back-wing things on the tail which are very cool (and I guess in flight would remind one of the tail-wing things on very early aircraft). I think my only quibble is that I'd like to see a bit more muscle buildup at the base of the main wings, and maybe have them connect to the body a little lower - I think you want the wings to look a bit more powerful, if that makes sense, and having the base of them look stronger I think would help with that.

I also really like the idea of someone who is used to time travel already finding that sort of normal but then being baffled by the idea of parallel universes, given I think we sit both things in the same sort of category of "total sci-fi". :)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on January 10, 2019, 02:01:23 AM
I am so glad people are interested in this! and like the art! yay!

The world Winter comes from is physically nearly identical to ours, but has a different timeline and certain different properties, such as time travel being possible :) So she is frieds the Shakespeare that exists in *that* universe, not our Shakespeare.
(I'll admit that in my head, she comes from Arda, Tolkien's universe. and knows Makalaure)

I also really like the idea of someone who is used to time travel already finding that sort of normal but then being baffled by the idea of parallel universes, given I think we sit both things in the same sort of category of "total sci-fi". :)
I LOVE THIS TOO- the reason its a thing is because it kinda happened to me: I was writing time-travel fiction from the actual literal begining, but did not discover Narnia untill I was a bit older, and was absolutely captivated/blown away by the whole idea of a lost magical world.

I can take no credit for the dragon's tail-wings - that comes from the how to train your dragon movies. I love all the art used there, but especially the dragon designs.
I know the wings aren't muscular enough and it anoys me too, but I really wanted Mishka to look delicate, probably unusually so for a dragon, and accurate wing muscles just weren't working :P
There are a *lot* of dragon skeleton designs on the internet, and they all do place the wings lower on the body- but they also have the legs and wings attaching from a single set of shoulder blades. But (whilst not being brilliant at zoology), I feel you'd need two sets of shoulder blades, so the forelegs and wings could move fully independntly, and because the horse-type or dinosaur-type shoulder blades used for the forelegs are so different in shape and position to bird or bat shoulder blades that are used in flight.
But I love speculating about what dragons might actually look like, so I welcome disagreement :)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on January 10, 2019, 01:53:16 PM
I now want to read the works of Ardan Shakespeare :)

I actually agree with you about the double-shoulder thing, I think that's completely fine, I just think the forelimb shoulders might want to come before the wing shoulders unless you're happy with Mishka having a very odd flying posture - as it is, the weight of her (his? their? unsure) body is almost all behind the wings with no additional support, so even assuming the wings are stronger than they look then the body would dangle vertically downwards after the shoulders (which does happen with some animals, like longhorn beetles IIRC) rather than allowing for a more conventional horizontal flight posture like we're used to birds or bats having. You could also solve the problem by having bigger gliding membranes or something lower down, which would allow the front wings to provide propulsion, and the fairly large legs could also then have a function in providing additional springy lift. The final option (other than the "well it works because I say so") is a flight bladder that somehow collects helium/hydrogen or something, which requires no external changes to the animal, I guess. A natural hydrogen collecting system would also work well alongside fire breath I guess, though it might also lead to the risk that if you ever hit this sort of dragon hard with a sword it would literally blow up in your face.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on January 10, 2019, 05:44:32 PM
I NOW ALSO WANT TO READ ARDAN SHAKESPEARE -it literally only just occurred to me how different that might be!
Ah. Didn't think about flying posture at all, actually. Hmm... The exploding dragon idea is truly beautiful, it sounds like something you might find  in a discworld novel :D but I don't think I want to go quite that whacky (things get a little serious later on in the novel and I don't think the risk of your dragon blowing up quite fits) - how about dragons having hollow bones like birds?
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on January 10, 2019, 06:49:40 PM
The History plays would certainly have to be rather amended! Aldarion and Erendis instead of Antony and Cleopatra would be a fun one...

Hm, well, that decreases the weight, but not the relative balance along the body which I think is the issue? The question is basically how the back part of the body gets enough lift to go horizontal rather than just flopping down behind the wings.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on January 10, 2019, 08:16:18 PM
You know so many obscure Tolkien characters I'm lost 😂 but I'm sure it would be brilliant bc how could Tolkien and Shakespeare as a writing colab not work? Also, what about elves ending up in the regular Shakespeare plays, say, or Macbeth with hobbits 🙂?

now have to experiment with giving dragons more bird-like tails I think, that's fun 😊 I love figuring this kind of thing out. I'll definitely end up keeping a range of dragon designs, anything I like the aesthetic of.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on January 10, 2019, 10:07:25 PM
Aldarion and Erendis is great, it's a whole tragic story in Unfinished Tales of a Numenorean prince who frequently abandons his wife to go sailing off to defend Middle-earth but ultimately causes evil due to his estrangement from his own family.

And yes, more experimental dragons is good :)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 10, 2019, 04:22:10 PM
(https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0024ca87-953a-4107-b3bb-9f789135b3fd/dd8zzgg-edb9cfc8-b0a7-4e25-88ad-086511b8ad01.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzAwMjRjYTg3LTk1M2EtNDEwNy1iM2JiLTlmNzg5MTM1YjNmZFwvZGQ4enpnZy1lZGI5Y2ZjOC1iMGE3LTRlMjUtODhhZC0wODY1MTFiOGFkMDEuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.87dE57W9omKaJtD8ArcX0MuESgLo3-5nBsuIwJWruco)

Winter, a time traveller who accidentally wanders into a different universe, only to find herself completely out of her depth. She's used to having a weird relationship to time energy, including being able to (sort of) fly by riding on it, and being unharmed by even massive quantities of energy. But that's nothing on what happens in Atana, a place where everyone can (sort of) fly, and nearly everyone can actually manipulate magical energies, and Winter is one of the weakest, not the strongest.
Some things about the universe-after-one are familiar: divisions based on ancient conflicts and racial hatred, hundreds of small nations that can't necessarily agree about anything, and slightly dubious heavily-discounted folding beds.
Others are not. Dragons were a bit of a surprise. Thousand-year-old magical curses that affect the fate of the whole universe are also outside of her field of experience. As is an impending crisis in spacetime that may or may not be the apocalypse.

Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on June 10, 2019, 10:21:39 PM
Oh, that's a lovely picture :) Watercolours?

Also, slightly dubious heavily-discounted folding beds are very much the sort of thing that appeal to my sense of humour :) Something rather in the Adams/Pratchett line about the idea.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 10, 2019, 11:27:22 PM
Thank you!  :D yup, watercolours. I find using them simultaneously intensely nerve-wracking and very enjoyable.

Pratchett and Adams basically wrote my sense of humour :) the folding bed was introduced as an inconsequential prop back when this story was still an RPG, but became unexpectedly central to the story after my character refused to leave it behind, even though it is rather big and heavy, we were running away from guards, and it was never the most reliable of objects.
the folding bed is forever.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on June 10, 2019, 11:32:07 PM
Quote
Pratchett and Adams basically wrote my sense of humour
Yes, mine too! Plus a few other writers (Jay & Lynn, co-writers of Yes Minister, spring to mind), but the Pratchett/Adams mix of satire, observational cleverness, and surrealism is definitely a massive part of what I think of as funny.

And yeah, running jokes like that can definitely take on good lives of their own :)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 11, 2019, 02:23:11 AM
oh, someone else who likes old sitcoms! I thought it was only me :) Last of the Summer Wine is my all-time favourite, the mix of absurdity and meditativeness is beautiful. 
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 13, 2019, 02:45:09 AM
(https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0024ca87-953a-4107-b3bb-9f789135b3fd/ddbtnhx-7c60a85f-b818-4ef9-a16b-f9274a0b0028.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzAwMjRjYTg3LTk1M2EtNDEwNy1iM2JiLTlmNzg5MTM1YjNmZFwvZGRidG5oeC03YzYwYTg1Zi1iODE4LTRlZjktYTE2Yi1mOTI3NGEwYjAwMjgucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.mMtEpml7z4sOLturVRkooGpWJiNS8la4zR4efZNV7gQ)

The Winged are returning.

There used to be 14 Winged mages in each generation, one for each of the 14 magical energies. Everyone in Atana can fly (a little) and manipulate the magical energies (a little)- but the Winged had powers beyond the imagination of most.
No one has been born with such abilities for a century.

Miyake doesn't quite have this power yet, but it is coming. She's the granddaughter of Ana Tremain, who was the most extraordinary time mage who ever lived, not to mention somehow caught up in the reason the Winged vanished in the first place.
All of which Miyake appears to be totally unaware of. Either that, or she's very good at keeping secrets.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on June 14, 2019, 05:06:45 PM
I'm now thinking of the complexities of dress design for people with wings sprouting out their back. It must actually present quite a bit of a faff and some additional challenges...

(Also, I sent you a message so check your inbox :) )
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 14, 2019, 06:39:27 PM
I actually really enjoy doing costume design for people with wings :) It is another thing to think about, but it's a fun concept to work with/around
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on June 14, 2019, 08:04:17 PM
At what point do you have the wing connection on your characters? It looks from the art like it's lower than the shoulder-blade which is where it's often put.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 15, 2019, 12:33:57 AM
So. The wings are made of the mage's magical energy, rather than bone and feathers. They can appear and disappear, and an accomplished mage can generate them at will.
The wings are pretty solid, hence the need for altered clothing still stands, but they connect to the magical energy within the body, rather than to the body itself.
I positioned the wings between the shoulder blades and just below them because I felt it looked balanced (from a flight perspective) and aethetically pleasing.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on June 20, 2019, 08:58:58 AM
Yes, below should definitely be better for balanced flight, I think, closer to the centre of gravity. And I guess magical wings means you can put them closer together because you don't have to have a really big muscle mass around the bases of them.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Tusky on June 21, 2019, 04:19:23 AM
I really liked the art for Miyake. Subtle blending on the blue and overall design.

Really nice! You are obviously very good with different mediums.

So are all these pics you are doing just for planning & worldbuilding? Or do you include to include anything in the finished thing?
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 21, 2019, 05:11:51 PM
Thank you! :)

This definitely isn't going to be a graphic novel, so it would all depend on how my purely hypothetical publisher feels about illustrations XD. I'd like to include some  :) But I'm mainly doing these bc I like drawing my characters, it helps me write if I can visualise the characters well.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on June 28, 2019, 01:27:14 AM
A couple of drawings of another of the novel's main characters, Cei Darian. The dragon is named Asuka, and is very much wiser than her somewhat reckless rider. Cei's main purpose in the novel is to drive Winter crazy, and give her someone to occasionally rescue from certain death (always his own fault).

Cei is a void-wanderer from the universe Atana, and is a kind of magical being known as a Cinaed. Like everyone from Atana, they can fly a little, and have a natural afinity with fire and light based magic. The Cinaed are highly enigmatic, often appearing only as indistinct forms shrouded in coloured smoke.  Because of their mystery, they are often unfairly feared.

(https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0024ca87-953a-4107-b3bb-9f789135b3fd/ddadisy-593822d1-2f55-4da9-a4c8-1e2b1f6a600c.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzAwMjRjYTg3LTk1M2EtNDEwNy1iM2JiLTlmNzg5MTM1YjNmZFwvZGRhZGlzeS01OTM4MjJkMS0yZjU1LTRkYTktYTRjOC0xZTJiMWY2YTYwMGMuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.MlBxrcDZIxqAMOhOUPA2d8ubq38AaOYn3BRIX1FtFvk)           (https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0024ca87-953a-4107-b3bb-9f789135b3fd/ddadjgl-bbb511cb-5676-4444-84ff-a302a89e56a1.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzAwMjRjYTg3LTk1M2EtNDEwNy1iM2JiLTlmNzg5MTM1YjNmZFwvZGRhZGpnbC1iYmI1MTFjYi01Njc2LTQ0NDQtODRmZi1hMzAyYTg5ZTU2YTEuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.YxXlPINVSOKReebiYwT7sdSnH-bxiviIUThHCYUlfBc)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Tusky on July 04, 2019, 08:25:59 PM
Amazing Scales
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on July 16, 2019, 06:44:52 PM
A couple of designs for Megumi, a central character who acts as Winter's guide in her new world. She's quite an enigmatic figure, she seems to know a lot about everything that's going on but won't reveal how.

Megumi's an adventurer, time-traveller, resurrectionist, and really terrible pilot. Her life and her plans to save the world are incredibly chaotic, but it always seems to work out in the end.

She's very friendly and loves meeting new people, but she has no respect for anyone and once greeted an emperor with the immortal words "who the heck are you, sunshine?"

And she has a folding bed that she loves and refuses to be separated from, under any circumstances.

(https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0024ca87-953a-4107-b3bb-9f789135b3fd/ddbtnmo-146e825e-625e-4755-af23-423d5eb25e65.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzAwMjRjYTg3LTk1M2EtNDEwNy1iM2JiLTlmNzg5MTM1YjNmZFwvZGRidG5tby0xNDZlODI1ZS02MjVlLTQ3NTUtYWYyMy00MjNkNWViMjVlNjUucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.dmGqQ0IXvE2EMZ8CJdNT3czj1F6aMhPoQhV77Zme6t8)

(https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0024ca87-953a-4107-b3bb-9f789135b3fd/ddbtnaz-ff52ed20-88aa-437a-91ec-6135bcc5886c.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzAwMjRjYTg3LTk1M2EtNDEwNy1iM2JiLTlmNzg5MTM1YjNmZFwvZGRidG5hei1mZjUyZWQyMC04OGFhLTQzN2EtOTFlYy02MTM1YmNjNTg4NmMuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.mPQ6k6uGcbGrUsxQKuPv_UklbR4UeQiiNmpMa5hMiEk)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on August 05, 2019, 05:31:22 PM
Does resurrectionist here mean "someone whose job/role it is to bring the dead to life" or?

Also, terrible pilot of what? I don't know if I should be expecting zeppelins, biplanes, balloons, hypersonic jets, submersibles, or what in this setting :)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on August 11, 2019, 07:45:16 PM
'ressurectionist' is defined in this setting is defined as someone who tries to bring back the good (as far as anyone is good) who died too soon, so it's not like trying to bring back a hundred year old dark lord who really needed to stay dead. However, it is slightly frowned upon as meddling with time, and is very much a chaotic good sort of thing to do.

Ah sorry, forgot this world mainly exists inside my head so far XD. If you have any other setting questions, please ask!
So.
Since everyone in Atana can fly (apart from random humans who've wandered in through gaps from other universes), and they derive their magical abilities from the magical energy of the sky (in the same way that in other settings elves or fey might be thought of as linked to the magic of the earth), they are obsessed with air travel.
there are a huge variety of types of aircraft, everything from zeppelins to very futuristic lightspeed craft.
(although these are only used for travelling between continents, there are no other inhabited or indeed inhabitable planets around).
There are also a few people who have access to void ships that can travel between universes, and it is there in particular that Meg is crashing :'D
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on September 29, 2019, 05:48:57 PM
Not to go too heavily into the meta/physics, but does "void ship" imply the existence of an actual inter-universal void space, or is it just a general usage term here?

Also, am I allowed to assume that the lightspeed travel very much involves magic? Because I'm pretty sure the curvature of the planet and the issues of deceleration from lightspeed are sufficient that a pretty heavy additional dose of magic may be needed to sort them out functionally :)
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on October 01, 2019, 11:40:24 PM
so, I'm going with the general sci-fi principle that lightspeed travel is possible via hyperspace, the most useful of imaginary scientific concepts. I'll admit to not having thought about hyperspace much, 1. because star wars did it for me and 2. because its not at all significant to the plot, wheras magic, time-travel and void-travel are, so I put effort into developing detailed systems for those instead. (which I love talking about :) )

yes, there is an inter-universal void space, which essentially acts like normal space. It takes time to cross in a void ship, it has vast gaseous nebulae as a result of matter leaking through from universes. All universes exist within it, and appear as vast, silvery spheres.
The proximity of universes to one another is based on how frequently their timelines diverged, splitting them from one universe into two or more. Universes that are close together and split recently will be fairly similar, while ones further away will be vastly different, having separated billions of years ago.
It would take maybe a a couple of months to travel from one side of our local cluster of universes to the other, and about half an hour to travel to a universe very nearby.

It is also possible to move directly between universes without going into the void, if a rift opens; but inter-universe rifts are so rare that most time-travellers and void-travellers believe they are pure myth.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Jubal on October 05, 2019, 08:46:12 PM
OK, that all makes sense :)

Though I think spheres feels too normal somehow. Silvery tauroids or something maybe?

Also I'm assuming that universes don't constantly split, and that it's only things of particular magnitude that cause schisms? Otherwise you'd get an infinitely sized nearby cluster of universes that you couldn't tell weren't your own.
Title: Re: Aviarium: fantasy art of dragons, time-travellers and winged people
Post by: Ierne on October 06, 2019, 01:27:07 AM
i may have misunderstood physics, but I thought that a universe that was toroid-shaped in four-dimensional space would appear to be a sphere in three-dimensional space? Since it wouldn't be a regular toroid but a three-sphere, ie a projection of a sphere into 4-d space?

you're right, universes split very rarely. there are two main reasons why a universe would split:

1. the time-stream splits because the alternative consequences of an event are so significantly different that they can't be reconciled. this is usually a natural occurrence, but occasionally the result of time-travellers altering historical events.
this would only be a problem if the very process of creation itself were to be changed, resulting in an unstable universe. thankfully, this is outside of the capabilities of pretty much everyone ever.

2. the time-stream is split by a huge spike of raw time energy/magical energy. again, this is usually natural, but it can also be deliberately caused by insanely powerful time-engines or time mages.
this is always a problem. natural energy spikes can still severely damage a universe, and if someone is deliberately manipulating time at this scale then you have very, very big problems indeed. if someone is accidentally splitting universes then I have no words left to describe the scale of your problems.