Apologies if this doesn't fit here, not sure where else to post something like this on lemmy
I think having gravity act like weather might be an interesting concept for a fantasy world, where each country has its own gravity patterns, some tend to be heavier some tend to be lighter, some are all over the place
For a few examples, there could be a desert with gravity so high you can get dragged down into the sand
Could be a country with gravity so low everyone uses personal aircraft that work like bicycles instead of land vehicles
Animals in higher gravity areas would have less dense bones, more muscle, etc and lower gravity would have far larger animals because they can support more weight
In a really high gravity area people might need exoskeletons to prevent long term damage
Completely scraping off any astronomical/space problems with this and just rolling along with the idea, which I like, I think your world inhabitants could be either:
- as you said, adapted locally
Or
- with a series of physical adaptations that would allow them to move between areas of different gravity. I think this would make things interesting because you said gravity as weather, and so you could play with the idea of gravitational seasons and gravitational storms or draughts.
Space is kind of a bust, I was thinking this is some fantastical universe where either it's something like discworld or just magically the effects of the gravity variance are localised to inside the atmosphere
Would be interesting to think about what kind of variants of humans would adapt to their respective areas
Maybe my brain is fried, but I think you aren't think big enough if "long term damage" is the hazard in the highest gravity area vs a person just being flattened like they're in a press (which means people wouldn't go there, but it could have industrial uses).
An interesting part is how states of matter would vary due to gravity causing pressure, though with the relation between pressure and temperature I don't know exactly how it would work.
Bare in mind in this world this has been the case since the dawn of time, we're not plopping existing humans with existing human physiology into this world
People would've adapted to live under these conditions to begin with so they wouldn't be immediately crushed
Preventing long term damage would be on a similar level to ergonomic chairs, keyboards etc in extending and improving someone's life
I suppose as for states of matter, higher gravity areas would likely have higher air pressure, be hotter and more humid
There are things that can be feasible adapted to by a species and things that can't. If you want, you absolutely can have it be that some places humans cannot really go to, just as there are magma fields that have existed for a very long time and that doesn't mean humans can live in them, or pockets of virulently poison gas around certain sulfur deposits that will kill you instantly if you inhale that have just been sitting there since time immemorial. Or, you know, the deeper parts of the Artic and Antartic circles.
Lumpy.
Of course, if this is a fantasy world you're under no obligation to go with a world held together by self-gravitation, and you can even ignore the weight of air. Believable water is going to want to follow gravity as usual, though, so you need to figure out some sort of crazy hydraulic system to move it around. It could be a backstory for some cool canyons and things depending on what you decide.
More interesting questions might be related to how the residents adapt. I imagine lower gravity areas would be favoured, with groups living in the high gravity areas being specialised. Maybe unpredictable gravity could serve as an energy source for whatever civilisations are in your setting - you balance a very large weight somehow (against a non-gravitational force or a weight somewhere else), and have it work machinery as it adjusts to a new equilibrium. If it changes rapidly enough it might even be useful at small scales, like on vehicles.
More interesting questions might be related to how the residents adapt. I imagine lower gravity areas would be favoured, with groups living in the high gravity areas being specialised.
You could go with the low gravity areas being sought after, and mostly owned by the rich. Homes are much larger, with 'floating' rooms, where you can float around in the low gravity, similar to a private pool. The high gravity areas would be for poor people and manual workers, where everything is blocky and small to compensate.
On the other hand, the high gravity areas could be the most popular, as physical strength is valued, and the people living in the high gravity areas have underdeveloped muscles, so need support suits to be able to visit other areas, and are looked down on for it.
If OP could give other basic information about the setting that would be good. I was assuming there's multiple people groups involved here, but if it's all one society then yeah, gravity could be connected with class. The exoskeleton thing makes me think they're leaning more futuristic.
On the other hand, the high gravity areas could be the most popular, as physical strength is valued, and the people living in the high gravity areas have underdeveloped muscles, so need support suits to be able to visit other areas, and are looked down on for it.
Usually culture follows necessity. I think it probably comes down to if the residents of heavy areas are a ruling military elite, or there's a great deal of civilian mobility between areas which allows a civilian elite to migrate to easier conditions, and leave the dirty work for others.
Low gravity + strong winds sounds like it would wreck everything and everyone. Hurricanes would turn into a disaster situation rather than a mild annoyance. Imagine cars flying around and ramming buildings.
Ooof yeah natural disasters could be way worse.
There could be entirely gravity based natural disasters too, imagine a gravity quake where gravity rapidly changes between high and low and the havoc that could wreak on structures and people's bodies
I think the people who evolved in the highest gravity regions would become like supermen and end up ruling the whole world due to their superior strength. If not, it would at least give them a significant advantage while technology is still primitive. How would they defend themselves from attack?
See I kinda thought the opposite. I had thought all the wealthy elite would snap up homes in the nice cushy lower gravity areas and have financial power to control the working class living in the harsher, higher gravity areas
To begin with without technology absolutely the higher gravity people would be at the advantage. I imagine the lower gravity areas' technology would be able to advance much more quickly though, less energy required from their society, so more going spare for research
Also, oceans still exist and as someone else has pointed out would be chaotic and dangerous to cross, so primitive societies would likely have a hard time
There's also an advantage for low gravity people there in that it's far easier for them to construct flying machines, so they would likely be far more mobile, and quite possibly first to make contact
Are you assuming there's the one species who live all over the globe, like humans do? I was coming from the viewpoint that there may be related but divergent species who evolved to different gravity "climates". I think that might affect the how things turn out to some extent.
Travel around the low gravity areas would be easier, but they would also only be limited to those areas due to piggyback weakness, whereas the people who evolved/grew up in high gravity would be able to travel the earth, so they would be the explorers, merchants and conquerors. Of course as technology advances this will all mean less and less
I can see the low gravity areas becoming prime real estate though, like you said. Talking geologically for a second, my first guess is that these would be higher elevation as the crust isn't pulled down so much by gravity, and erode slower. Also precious metal deposits might(?) be closer to the surface too. If this is the case then this will give the low G folks to also advance in tech faster with greater access to useful metals. So if they're quick enough maybe they can defeat the 'heavy's with ingenuity.
I didn't really come to a conclusion there did I? I just got more confused the more I thought about geopolitics..
Nothing wrong with not coming to a conclusion the goal is exploration
I am not assuming everyone would be the same physiology, however I imagine when travel becomes viable technologically people will start to mix and so will be varying amounts of high grav and low grav genetics, also I imagine a low grav individual who is born and grows up in a high grav area would end up suited for high grav through just building more muscle
That's more or less my thinking with high/low grav dominance, much the same as in real life it'll start out survival of the fittest and as society and technology progresses end up as smarter and/or more wealthy individuals in the lower grav areas taking over
Mechanically, I’d modify the weather table in the DMG:
d20 Gravity
1-14 normal for the season/location
15-17 1d4 × 10 percent lighter than normal
18-20 1d4 × 10 percent heavier than normal
Example: a location that is 200% of normal (all weights doubled) could vary from 160% of normal to 240% of normal.
