Pitching an Idea "Earth in a Tube"

[Al1701]

Earth in a Tube is a massive starship traveling between the stars. It comes into a system, investigates, and spends years gathering resources and solar energy for their next jump.

The interior is a self contained world a thousand kilometers long and fifty kilometers across. It has forests, deserts, mountains, and an ocean. Ten million sentients call it home. However, being a tube, nature does not work like it would on a normal planet. The weather is the product of industry instead of nature, and the Cloud Generation Service insures a proper distribution of precipitation. However, a conspiracy has arisen to turn the very thing that makes life possible into a weapon of oppression. An unlikely cast of heroes must join forces to protect their world and their livelihood...assuming they don't kill each other first.

Thoughts?

[weirdraptor]

It sounds like an interesting idea and I can't pick out a single cliche in the premise, so you're off to a good start as far as originality. It also sounds like a nice throwback to the kind of thing the 80s would have produced as a cartoon, oddly.

[darkabomination]

Sounds like an artificial version of Equestria, in the sense that nature and weather have to be maintained and run on manual.

[weirdraptor]

It sounds more like the Wonder Star to me.

[Al1701]

Yeah, the Wonder Planet served more as an inspiration with them living on the inside (the colonies from the Mobile Suit Gundam continuity also served as inspiration). Unlike Equestria, where it seems like a normal planet where ponies control everything just because it's cute, this tube lacks many of the natural processes needed for weather patterns, so the weather needs a little help.

One thing I'm wondering is if the general public should know they're in a giant space ship and that the weather is made artificially, or if they're oblivious to the fact and the people making the weather work in secret.

[weirdraptor]

I don't know how you would keep the fact that the "planet" is fake from everyone living there. That would be a bit of a stretch, considering that people tend to blunder into things that they're not intended to see or know about.

[Al1701]

The idea is they've been in this thing for generations and regressed due to an event shortly after its launch, so what would tell us its fake is lost on them. The ends are also fenced off. Think of the original Star Trek episode "For the Earth is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". The idea is there are three types of people. There are the general public, the people who maintain the environment and work in the outer layer of the tube, and then there are those who maintain the ship surrounding the tube and live in the superstructure.

[weirdraptor]

Hmm. That sounds feasible, temperarily, but I can't see the truth being undiscovered forever. That's your call, of course.

[sunstar]

It sounds a bit like a dyson sphere. One problem I see is the 'sun'. How will that work?

Maybe an orb that grows dim and brightens to stimulate day?

[Al1701]

The "Sun" is a narrow tube the light from the local star is concentrated through. The ship has a collector that extends and retracts each day.

[weirdraptor]

It's not difficult to picture this, and you haven't even began any deep descriptions of it. So well done.

[Al1701]

Then I guess I can go into a little more detail.

Earth in a Tube is a massive spaceship built by humans as a generational ship. In its early history, the people knew they were in a ship and the ship regularly took on passengers and incorporated them into the population. However, when a group of felar from the planet Ftss proved to be pirates intent on taking control of the ship and starting a war, things changed drastically. The war caused a massive loss of information and technology within the tube itself. It was brought to an end when the felar leader was killed and most of his followers, unhappy with their life as pirates, surrendered and wished to live in peace. It was decided the fact the world was a ship should be know to as few people as possible and the inside world was closed off to the outer workings of the ship. The open door policy has ended.

Centuries have passed. Society has rebuilt itself within the tube which is now known as Cylar. It became a constitutional monarchy with a human royal family at its head. The population has come to believe their world is the entire universe which troubles the shy and soft-spoken crown princess who is wary of her ability to rule a universe. However, she and her overly curious lady in waiting discover the truth when they take a ride on a mag-lev those who maintain the environment use to travel between the world their weather control facilities under everyone's feet. At the same time, the weather is turning violent with a appendage behind it. The bearer between the world and the ship containing it begin to break down as they face a threat coming both from within and without.

[weirdraptor]

Oops, I meant that last comment as a compliment. What I meant was that your vision for this is already coming across so clearly and you're already delivering so well with few words.

This new update makes it sound even more promising.

[Al1701]

I took it as a compliment, I meant it was time to go into a little more detail after I had provided a general idea.

[sunstar]

Interesting. I can see the design too.