The planet blocked off from the universe by a shield of orbital debris is one of those ideas which seems so obvious you're surprised it hasn't already been used. Like why isn't that in Star Wars? "ah don't go there, it's the space junk planet, you might be able to crashland but you won't be able to get back up".
Who lives there? Some kind of hyper warrior Genghis Khan species who're being deliberately isolated so they don't invade the universe? What are they doing about it? Launching rockets at the space junk to try to bring it down - civilisation suffers under constant bombardment as the inevitable price of escape - generations long project to destroy the iron wall that cages them - crater fields everywhere, warlords sallying forth from industrial dome cities to salvage the wrecks.
Also thinking of an old post you did about Bali as a "human-optimum" biome. What got stuck in my head from that was the "Bali bubble" - the idea of a self-contained satellite environment, dense, warm, static, peaceful, designed by benevolent AI to maximise human flourishing.
Like an O'Neill cylinder full of rice paddies, lagoons and subtropical rainforest, a highly formalised and ritualised culture that can last for thousands of years w/ minimal conflict. What does that look like when you leave it alone for way too long?
The planet blocked off from the universe by a shield of orbital debris is one of those ideas which seems so obvious you're surprised it hasn't already been used. Like why isn't that in Star Wars? "ah don't go there, it's the space junk planet, you might be able to crashland but you won't be able to get back up".
Who lives there? Some kind of hyper warrior Genghis Khan species who're being deliberately isolated so they don't invade the universe? What are they doing about it? Launching rockets at the space junk to try to bring it down - civilisation suffers under constant bombardment as the inevitable price of escape - generations long project to destroy the iron wall that cages them - crater fields everywhere, warlords sallying forth from industrial dome cities to salvage the wrecks.
Also thinking of an old post you did about Bali as a "human-optimum" biome. What got stuck in my head from that was the "Bali bubble" - the idea of a self-contained satellite environment, dense, warm, static, peaceful, designed by benevolent AI to maximise human flourishing.
Like an O'Neill cylinder full of rice paddies, lagoons and subtropical rainforest, a highly formalised and ritualised culture that can last for thousands of years w/ minimal conflict. What does that look like when you leave it alone for way too long?