english ideas... from dylan's blog

1. Really technical sci-fi story, revolving around a society living in a Dyson Sphere-world, ie. an artificial sphere around a sun, with gravity generated by rotation around 3 axes. The society has been isolated and stagnant for so long, and would have lost much knowledge and has regressed from their scientific/technological pinnacle, and so much of the workiings, theories and ideas behind the functioning of their world would be incomprehensible to them. The story would be based on a malfunction in the sphere, causing "natural" disasters, which causes the keepers of knowledge, a group called (for now) the Aluminati Guild... <-- working label only, whose members have to travel around the world, and eventually stumble? upon an series of counter-rotating airlocks (3 to be exact, as there are three axes to counter-rotate against) and see the outside universe... and find maybe an dysfunctional-yet-sagelike master computer, and starts a revolution scientifically and technologically wise.

2. Possibly-epic story, set in the distant future. We have faster-than-light travel, but it is almost prohibitively high, with wormhole generators needing to power up for years to open a viable 'slipstream' ablel to carry a significant amount of mass. (the basic point of this is, we have colonies, but aren't anywhere near proficient in stellar travel) We stumble upon a world with sentient life, they are of course, humanoid, but are not as advanced as us... until a scientist discovers and proves that some parts of their anatomy cannot have evolved naturally, and they and a small group of fauna on the planet are radically different in make-up from other fauna on the planet... --> leads to a search for their 'home' planet through anthropologic/archeological trips to the planet, and the recon/research group becomes stranded when... something happens... and have to live on their own...

3. Fantasy/Sci-Fi story, set on a unknown world, almost industrial age technology, but industry is not thriving (i.e. no industrial revolution) because there is a sect of 'magik-wielders' who have arcane knowledge, and are sabotaging industrial progress. The story would revolve around a knight of the sect, who is dissatisfied, and so becomes recruited by a law-enforcement officer... detective kinda guy. They become alienated by both sides (ie. da magik sect and the technology ppl), and become fugitives. In their travels (they have to travel, they can't really stay in one place for long) they uncover collaboration between the two opposing sides (magik and tech), and either a) expose it, or b) find that there is someone behind the scenes and pulling the strings...