General World Building: Communication Methods

Villamvihar

Man of Questions
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Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
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  1. No Preferences
Genres
Science-Fiction, Science-Fantasy, Magical Girl, Mystery, Slice of Life,
Language is important because it allows people to clearly convey their thoughts to each other, but upon discovering that their own memories limited them in passing a spoken message, they invented writing. Then, as civilization progressed, more advanced forms of communication, such as Morse code or even electronic signals were invented, allowing people to communicate with each other over great distances. Although people do not realise it, the methods which are used to bridge large distances are usually very important to the world, as an efficient method of communication can help to establish an empire, start a rebellion, or perhaps change history completely.

Your exercise is to think about what methods of communication the people in your world use besides spoken and written language. You can use the following sheet to help you establish a method of communication or create a free-form sheet.

Name: (The name of the communication method)

Range: (How far can this method of communication reach within a reasonable amount of time?)

Capacity: (How much information can this communication method can convey?)

Description: (How does this method of communication work? What makes it possible to use this method of communication? How is this method of communication seen by the society?)

Properties: (What kind of advantages and disadvantages does this communication method have? Can it be intercepted by an enemy? What else can it be used for?)

Effect: (How did this method of communication affect the world that it is in? Did it make a new empire rise from the ashes? Did it give the rebels a fighting chance against their oppression? Did it revolutionise the whole world?)

History: (How was this method of communication created? What inspired its creation? What organisation was it created by?)

Other: (Other notes that you think must be mentioned about this method of communication)
 
Name: Conveying

Range: It depends on the individual. The mentally stronger the person the farther it can reach.

Capacity: Once again it depends on the mental strength of the person. If a person with weak mental strength were to do it they would only be able to get a few words through.

Description: Conveying is how the supernatural species in this world communicate in secrecy. It is a telepathic connection between two people where they can basically talk into eachother's minds.

Properties: Another way to use this is if someone with great mental strength wants to they can completely connect themself to several different people in a fight and command the fight so they all work in unison. The upside to this is it makes fights more likely to be in your favor but the downside is if you connect to too many people it can put such a great strain on your brain that it breaks your mind. Very few people in history could connect to more than twenty people at once and it can also exhaust you to have people constantly pulling at the inside of your head,you can sometimes pass out with no warning whatsoever.

Effect: The humans in this world hate it since they cannot do it. It is one of the reasons they have not declared war on the supernaturals,that and they would have no chance of winning.

History: It was discovered a long time ago when an alpha of a werewolf pack was being held captive and he learned that he could send mine messages to his pack to tell them where he was. Soon after his rescue word spread through the supernatural world and now there are very few species who can't do it.

Other:
 
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Name: Messaging

Range: Anywhere within range of a Communication Node, which is present on any base, ship, or outpost.

Capacity: Words, pictures, stories, even memories. Just like sending data to the interwbs on a really, really good internet connection.

Description: A semi-organic synthetic type of machine called a 'Neural Processor' is implanted in a target's head, often replacing most of the brain. The individuals that receive this are that of the maker of the NP; the Draconians, and their Draconian Empire.

Properties: Instant communication across short or vast distances, faster than light and faster. Data transfer from one's head; the ability to learn practically anything instantly, and only needing a few hours to process it. This means that if you kill one soldier, the entire army knows. If one soldier sees an enemy, everyone else knows exactly where the enemy is.

Effect: It made the Draconian Empire unmatched in battle [even though it already was]

History: Draconian R&D people working with 'Supreme' relics to enhance reaction speed and intelligence of them all

Other: (Other notes that you think must be mentioned about this method of communication)
 
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