Worldbuilding Questions

Biosphere creation

Here are some questions about The Biosphere Project and the Biosphere itself you may want answer when creating your world.

Your Biosphere

• What does your Biosphere look like? What are the advantages/limitations to its design? What type of power is used to power the Biosphere and why?
• Where is your Biosphere set? What surrounds it? How far away is the closest bit of civilisation? What did the rewilded area look like now/how does it compare to before?
• Where do the people who work at the Biosphere live? What facilities/buildings/departments might they have?
• Is there any in-game vetting process for people wanting to join the Biosphere? Is there any criteria they have to meet? Do they have to apply to join? Has anyone ever been turned down? If yes, on what grounds?
• How much do Biosphere authorities communicate with the world outside?

Threats

• Does the climate outside pose a threat to the Biosphere (if yes, how do they protect it)?
• Are there any specific people, groups or organisations that may threaten the Biosphere? What do they seek to do and why? What weaknesses in the Biosphere might they exploit?
• Have any experiments during the development of the Biosphere gone wrong? If so, how and what happened after (were any lessons learnt from that experience)?

Protection

• How is it protected? Is the rewilded area surveilled? If so, by what methods? What are the limitations to any protection or surveillance it may have?
• Do they have any specific safety protocols? What would happen if there was an emergency?
• If your Biosphere’s protection and surveillance relies on technology and things go wrong, do they have manual protection or protocols as back-ups? If yes, what sort of things? If not, why?

The Biosphere Project

• What events led to it being founded? Does it have a philosophy or principles it was founded on? How was it funded?
• Is it owned or founded by anyone? If you asked the, in-game, creators of the Biosphere project what it's purpose is, what would they say? Is it affiliated with any in-world organisations? Is it a politicised endeavour?
• What does it aim to do? If it had a 10 year goal, what would it be?
• What does the world outside think of the project? How do the views of people inside working for the Biosphere, differ to those looking in?
• What does rewilding look like for the Biosphere Project? To what extent do humans intervene and try to control the ecosystem e.g. reintroducing species (plant or otherwise), boosting population numbers, disease control etc.? What does looking after the land look like to Biosphere workers (what sort of tasks do they do)?

General Worldbuilding

Society & Politics

• What is general society like?
  • How polarised is it?
  • What are the major divisive issues?
  • Are there any dystopian elements?
• What does politics look like in 2050?
  • Have they changed much?
  • Are there any new, or up-and-coming, political ideas or philosophies?
  • Are there any trends in political ideologies across societies?
  • Who or what are the most influential or powerful authorities?
• What does civilisation outside the Biosphere look like?
  • What kind of areas do people live in e.g. rural, urban etc.?
  • How large is the population of an average community? How tight-knit are they?
  • How do they sustain themselves e.g. where do they get resources like food and water from?
  • Are there any class differences?
  • How have the politics shaped the way society works?

The Environment

1. What is the climate like outside the Biosphere?
   • How different is it to ours today?
   • To what extent is it able to support life of all kinds?
   • How much damage has climate change done?
   • Have there been any apocalyptic-level natural disasters?
2. How much does the rewilded area differ from land outside the Biosphere?
   • If it's quite similar, what makes the Biosphere Project significant in the world you're creating?

Science & Technology

Technology level

• How advanced is the world's technology? How much is it capable of? What are its limitations?
• How has it technology progressed to that level? Is there anything preventing it from developing further?

Power

• How is power generated? How much of it is sustainable/renewable energy? Does everywhere use the same type of power (why or why not)?

Science

• Are there any new fields of study? What's the dominant scientific field? Have they discovered things we haven't (if so, how)? What are the largest scientific debates in 2050?

AI/Robotics

• Do they exist?
  • How advanced are they?
  • What types are there?
  • How are they created?
  • What do they do?
• How much do humans/society trust any AI or robots? What are the ethics/debates surrounding their existence (are they any different from the ones today)?

Medicine

1. How different is medicine in 2050?
   • How much can it help with?
   • Can it cure things that we currently have no cure for?
     • How does it achieve this? Does it require futuristic technology or magic?
   • How much medicine is based on technology, magic and/or herbal methods?

Bio-engineering

• Is it possible?
• Have any species been bio-engineered?
  • Were there any unintended side-effects/consequences?
    • If there were, was anything learnt as a result? Were any new precautions, rules or laws put in place to prevent it happening again?

Fantasy-specific Questions

Magic

• Where does magic come from?
• How does it work?
• What are its advantages and limitations?
• Does everyone have magic?
• Do magic users have a limit to their magic?

Magic in the Biosphere

• How does magic interact with the Biosphere?
  • How normalised or accepted is it there?
  • Is it used for any Biosphere tasks?
  • Is it used for power?

Magic in the wider world

• How much is magic ingrained into wider society and the world in general?
  • How normalised or accepted is it?
  • What are the 3 most common views on magic?
  • Is it used for anything in particular?

Fantasy Creatures/Races

Are there any fantasy races? Are they pre-existing or ones of your own devising? What are their distinctive features or traits? How do they interact with each other? What are their cultural differences? Are there any that don't get on with each other?

What about fantasy creatures? Are they pre-existing or ones of your own devising? How intelligent or sentient are they? How normal/accepted are they to most people in your world?

Mythical figures and Deities

Are there any mythical figures or deities? How have they impacted the world? How do the people of your world think of them? Are there any religions or cults dedicated to them?