Astrocracy

Blazing Darkness's setting, based on Warrior Cats and... other things.

Calendar, time system, and number system

Numbers

For time purposes, Astrocracy uses base 8:

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Time and Calendar

There are 32 hours in a day, 64 minutes in an hour, 64 seconds in a minute. Hours are the same length as Earth hours, and days are therefore a third again as long as earth days.

There are 8 days in a week and therefore 4 weeks in a month, for a total of 32 days a month (40 in base 8). The days of the week are Onesday, Twosday, Threesday, Foursday, Fivesday, Xesday, Vensday, and Octsday. Vensday and Octsday are the weekend.

The eight months of the year are:

The year therefore has 256 local days (equivalent to 341.33 Earth days). New Year's Day is Unuary 1, and is the fall equinox.

At least in the Roman Empire, years get numbered from the founding of Rome, with the current year being 785.

A strong year is as many years as there are days in a year - 256 years. A cubennium is 8^3 = 512 years. The word millennium does exist, and does mean 1000 years, but is not commonly used, except when the Roman Empire is trying to make it be a thing.

An astrological age is 2048 years long (eight strong years). The first age was the age of Gemini, the second age was the age of Cancer, and currently the age of Leo is ending. The ages have thematic arcs. The arc of the age of Gemini was about the beginning of sapient life, establishing how the species should go about existing, and founding the first civilizations. Cancer was about learning that humans are capable of affecting the universe in negative ways, taking steps to avoid those, and building a sustainable industrialized society. Leo seems to be about acknowledging the worth of mortal lives as more than just the larval stage of stars.

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Birthdays

People born on the same day of the year in Astrocracy belong to the same template. The local name for people with the same birthday is "geminis". 

Odd months mean that you are vaguely more inclined to flashy displays than diligence. People born on even-numbered days tend to be pretty normal and unambitious, and one even day is pretty similar to another. Odd-numbered days are less regular, every other odd-numbered day is less regular than that, etc. Solquinoxes (that is, people born on an equinox or solstice) tend to be the weirdest of all. The first days of even months are called seasonchanges.

Even people tend to be straight, and are socially expected to be even more straight than that, though homosexuality is tolerated when an odd person is involved.

(dates given in base 8, as locally appropriate)

New Year's/fall equinox (Unuary 01)

Template: Chevron. Kind of evil, on purpose. A bunch of them run a country. A very specific sort of trustworthy: good at coordinating with each other, including in abiding by internal rules which keep them from collectively getting banned from normal society, and are known to keep their word, though they can at times be slippery about exact phrasings. Bi. Fond of doing genetic engineering to themselves to be prettier.

Characters:

Unuary 21

Template: Montparnasse

Characters:

Unuary 31

The least common birthday. More than half of them have a parent who is one of their geminis. In-universe book says:

Affinities: They can be really friendly and good at doing favors!
Enmities: Often greedy and untrustworthy.
Oddities: They're the least common birthday! Having one of these as a friend is a rare treat.

Difficult to cooperate with. Do unasked-for favors for people and then ask to be repaid. Back out of deals whenever they want to. Don't treat kids well (even their geminis).

Winter solstice (Triinary 01)

A reputation for mad science, both inventing things and causing catastrophes, very slightly more commonly the first. Bi.

Spring equinox (Quintamber 01)

Template: Flooded. Reputation for being good. Responsible for a lot of social change for the better. They're known to be very charismatic, eloquent speakers, and are frequently martyred as part of their activism. Particularly tyrannical rulers throughout history have been known to preemptively order babies born on that day put to death. Nearly all male. Mostly asexual and almost as aro.

Hexumber 01

Template: Boft

Characters:

Summer solstice (September 01)

Template: Jida. Inclined to do immoral-seeming things for the greater good, which then go wrong and the greater good does not materialize. Disproportionately likely to commit suicide. Tend to care about the poor and donate to charity. Sing pretty well but aren't really inclined to make a career of it. Names almost all have Js and Ds in them. Statistically more likely to have dark curly hair. Monosexual but not all in the same direction.

As stars, become psychic, but lose it as soon as they merge with anyone else, and develop total amnesia covering the span between then and when they died. Generally cannot, while psychic, prevent their living geminis from falling into the utilitarianism-gone-wrong pattern.

Characters:

September generally

Inclined to politics and achieving goals socially rather than scientifically

New Year's Eve (October 40)

Template: Alphabet Soup

In-universe book says:

Affinities: Enjoys sculpture and cleaning, good with animals, trusting, very sincerely focused on doing right by the people in front of them.
Enmities: Anxious, flakey, and socially prone to overthinking; alternatively, bravado-filled and underthinking-prone. Either way, impulsive.
Oddities: Their names tend to break down into pronounceable letters! Ex. Ariel (REL), Casey (KC), Ciel (CL).

Stereotyped as being emotionally immature.

Characters:

Stars, magic, and other bullshit

Stars

Stars are dead people. They influence things in magic ways, and all the other magic was made by stars. If you get high on a specific drug (omnilol), you can talk to them. They can also send specific people dreams, and influence events in other ways. A substantial portion of star power goes to swatting new species of parasites out of existence.

At first, each dead person is on their own, but eventually they merge together, frequently with others of their birthday at first. This usually happens pretty quickly: it is really easy to fuse accidentally, and gets moreso over time. Eventually, most people's clouds get merged into the One cloud. The One is quite powerful but enjoys being cryptic and obnoxious when talking to people.

Influenza

Influenza is an illness that occurs at predetermined times depending on the stars, in different ways for every birthday. Periods count as an influenza (only girls get the physical symptoms of periods, but guys also get the emotional symptoms).

Crystals

There are birthstone crystals associated with each month, which can be worn by people born in that month for minor benefits like nullifying influenza. Crystals can also be placed in complicated arrays, often with herbs, to do more serious things, like healing and power generation. (The power grid runs off of crystal arrays.) Placing crystals in array-like arrangements accidentally is very dangerous, and people who are not trained professionals should generally not mess with arrays at all.

Crystals that stay too long in an active array get very hot and eventually explode. After they are taken out of the arrays, they need to be recharged, and the recharge time depends on how long they were used for.

Batteries have very small delicate arrays that last for a very long time and do not have very high output.

Crystals secrete essential oils, which are also magic.

Water is mystically resonant.

Homeopathy

Exists, is magic.

Cosmology, physics, biology, etc

Physics

The world is flat, specifically an infinitely tall cylinder with a flat top. The sun and moon go around it. They are the same size and distance away and are always opposite each other. The sun (and probably also the moon) goes two surface-diameters down the side of the cylinder. Although it passes close to the side of the cylinder, it does not get very hot on the side of the cylinder because "gravity applies to celestial light in convenient amounts". The cylinder has a core of of indestructible celestum.

Polaris is a sphere that hovers over the North pole and goes up and down. It exudes cold and causes seasons. Stars are five-pointed stars on the shell of the universe (and also dead people, see Stars, magic, and other bullshit).

There is air everywhere inside the shell of the universe. Gravity needs air to get into somewhere.

Science generally

The universe has opinions about the natural order. The first few times something "unnatural" happens, it is much more difficult than it should be, but then the universe gets used to it and stops objecting. For example, the first few times someone tried to make vacuum, the containers crumpled even though they were as strong as containers that worked for that later.

Genetics

Genetics runs on quadruple helixes. At conception, the expected birthday (a year from conception) is encoded genetically, and if the actual birthday is more than a month off from that date in either direction, the baby is born soulless.

There are physically separate strands of genetic material for species (SSNA, 'Species Similarities Notation for being Alive') and for being a living biological being at all (FNA, 'Fundamental Notation for being Alive'). DNA ('Difference Notation for being Alive') just refers to the things that can vary between individuals of the same species.

There are genes for hair color and skin color and other things related to physical appearance, the seasonal encoding based on the conception date, and there's one for the birthday which forms when the soul attaches.

Other Biology

Local humans age at the same rate relative to their years as Earth humans do relative to ours. That is, a local sixty-four year-old looks the same age as an Earth sixty-four year old despite the disparity in year length (though that might be because the disparity is not actually that large).

The hearts of local humans are slightly differently located than Earth humans' hearts, and are more in the place usually more metaphorically associated with putting one's hand over their heart. Their respiratory systems are worse than those of Earth humans.

Allergies do not exist, though some forms of influenza are called that. Lactose intolerance does not exist. 

Mosquitoes do not exist and neither does malaria, though the name gets used for other kinds of "bad air" illnesses, including suffocation due to insufficient oxygen.

There is not an evolutionary fossil record. Evolution does exist on the scale of microorganisms and parasites, however.

Geography, Countries, and Culture

The world is flat. It looks like this:

               

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is located in the continents corresponding to Europe, northern Africa, western Asia, and North America. Specifically, it contains Brittania, which contains Londinium. The language is called Latin, but is in fact almost identical to Earth English. The leader of the Empire is called Caesar (formerly "Emperor", but it was renamed when it was first held by a woman).

The Empire uses metal coins for money. A gold is eight silver, a silver is eight copper and is allegedly kept at about a basic day's wage but is in practice usually a bit higher, coppers can be physically broken in eight and also are tied to a fluctuating number of black pieces so that inflation can happen.

Slavery exists. People become slaves via the Empire conquering new places, debt, parents selling their children, and being born to slave parents. Power plants are run almost entirely by slaves, supposedly because it's easier to teach the relevant skills to children who don't learn other things.

Jesus is a currently-alive spiritual leader and activist. He is planning to maybe get very publicly executed by the Empire as something adjacent to a publicity stunt.

Corporal punishment is common in the judicial system.

Arbiters are a group of seasonchanges who are really dedicated to providing impartial judgments on things.

Association of Realitists Republican Empire

Is having a Cold War with the Roman Empire. Contains the parts of Asia not covered by the Roman Empire, including the Indian subcontinent. Speaks Surran. A board game tournament that features one competitor from each of the two empires is extremely interesting to the media, in a way remarkably reminiscent of the (Earth) musical Chess.

Pacifis

Australia. Was underwater for a few strong years before the stars made it resurface, at which point it became home to a culture which dedicates itself to philosophy.

Archipeligo

An alliance of various islands and also various non-islands, which has a few base rules and otherwise lets its member nations set their own laws. One of the member nations is known for its tourism industry and its weird rivalry between surfers and bikers. Another has a ton of winter solstices living there even though they don't especially involve themselves in the government. Archipeligo has five or six dominant languages that most people speak at least one of.

Verona

A country by the Great Lakes, surrounded by Rome. Ambiguously part of the Archipeligo, depending on who you ask. Run by New Year's gemini. Anyone who physically gets there can stay, no questions asked. The downside is that sometimes one of the New Year's gemini will take a liking to you and drug you and keep you as a sex slave, for example.

Other World Languages

Esperanto is is locally called Paroleblo and is not a conlang. Several other languages are combinations of some Earth languages. 

General Culture

Homosexuality is viewed as an odd person thing, and two even people being gay together is seen as unnatural.

Since days are longer, people tend to have vocations, hobbies they are sufficiently devoted to that they are basically second jobs.

The Alphabet Conglomerate is a group coordinating various activist and charitable organizations to optimize for the most good being done. Jesus is associated with them in some capacity.

Astrology is the study of the stars' supernatural effects, including birthdays. (Astronomy, by contrast, studies the stars as physical phenomena.) Before astrology was a rigorous science, people had noticed some trends in babies born on specific days or seasons, but some of these trends were just superstition and do not actually correspond to reality.

Eugeminics is doing eugenics to select for desirable birthdays. Soft eugeminics is done via soft incentives or attempts to convince, as opposed to hard eugeminics, which is done by force, usually by law (eg by not allowing some birthdays to enter a country). Flat eugeminics is about preventing or encouraging births on certain days, and sharp eugeminics is about acting on people who already exist (eg by murder). 

Some people believe that any degree of aiming to get a better birthday for your child is wrong, and try to randomize when the child is conceived or even hide somewhere in a cave for a while to lose track of what day it is before conception. Other people believe you should do extensive research and pick the very best day specifically for yourself and your partner. Still other people believe the distribution of birthdays should be as even as possible, even though the One has not said it is necessary, and try to aim for the uncommon birthdays.

 

Cats

Some cats in Astrocracy have become sapient, because someone experimented with some magic catnip.

Sapient cats are concentrated in two places, corresponding to the two strains of magic catnip that were used: a forest near the town of Chelford and Londinium. They have developed distinct cultures that do not interact, and do not know about each other absent intervention.

Clans

This is the part of the setting based on the Warrior Cats books. Clan cats live in the forest and are fiercely devoted to the warrior code, including being independent from humans (whom they call Twolegs). They despise kittypets (sapient cats who do not mind being human pets). Clan cats are asexual.

The clans are ThunderClan, WindClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan. Each has its own territory (map). On the full moon, the Clans meet at Fourtrees under a truce.

Clan leaders have nine lives.

Clan cats worship StarClan, which is to say, clan cats who are dead. StarClan cats can see the future a bit, and they can send signs, omens, and dreams to living cats.

In addition to learning words in a normal way, cats can also learn words by suddenly knowing them when they didn't before. The way this works is that StarClan cats know every word any cat has learned normally, and can insert them into the minds of living cats.

Clan cats:

Jellicles

These cats are instead based off of the musical Cats. They live in Londinium. Their part of the cat afterlife is called the Heavyside Layer.

your stare was holdin'

It is so bizarre how much this looks, superficially, like my planet when I was in my twenties, and then, surprise, slavery, talking cats, stars are dead people, world is flat, Roman Empire, birthday personalities, Jesus is alive and well.

The first thread featuring Astrocracy as a world and the source of most information pertaining to the setting.

Synopsis

Demon Cam is summoned by Fireheart. Over the course of endeavoring to improve the cats' lives, he discovers the differences between his home world and the world he's been summoned to.

Summary

Due to the thread being over 200 pages and still updating, the following summary is a work in progress.

initial summoning
visiting Princess' house
omnilol trip 1
visiting RiverClan
cat politics
omnilol trip 2
Londinium trip 1
linguistics ghost kitten
omnilol trip 3
Londinium trip 2
kitty computer distribution
at the campground
on autumn equinoxes
omnilol trip 4
Atriama
mothing