Monkey Wrench Q&A Archive: Worldbuilding
Character asks - Walrinian & Osteon asks
Hello everybody, I've finally gotten this post all together! Same deal as usual. Info is organized in different sections, and hopefully I got everything so far. Check out source links for full original context.
Miscellaneous
- Monkey Wrench takes place in the future, in the year 4029. (source 1) (source 2)
- “Time works differently in the Monkeyverse. Every planet even has its own length of years, days, hours etc. Thanks to the League of Aligned Worlds, there is a Galactic Standard for keeping track of years/dates.” (source 1) (source 2) (source 3)
- Further about time: “L.A.W. has gone for a Galactic standard. If you're a part of L.A.W. you'd adopt said standard. Clock resets at the 60 Galactic hour mark.” (source)
- “I'm still playing around with the concept of the currency. For now, pixels are little coloured flat squares, ranging from a muddy copper colour to a bright golden hue (Think pennies but square). Once you get 100,000,000 then they can be compressed into the more 'fancy' 3d currency, Voxels, which you saw Chester toss at a certain assassin~ As for value, i dunno, it's more than USD thats for sure.” (source)
- Further about pixels: “The more value one is the better the colour. Just think of them as coins but square shaped.” (source)
- Blue ink is for everyday travel, is a moderate speed, and is the cheapest and most common form of long distance travel. Yellow is much faster, a bit more expensive, and is reserved for science and medical vessels. Red is the fastest, the most expensive, and is mainly reserved for L.A.W. enforcement. “Though I'm sure if you have the right connections you could get your hands on a Red drive somewhere…” (source 1) (source 2) (source 3)
- Despite most weapons being energy-based, they still need ammunition and batteries. (source)
- When asked about ballistic weapons: “Most ballistics were pretty much phased out due to the fact that if you shot at something in space and it missed that shot would just keep on going. No idea where it would go or end up hitting. At least plasma and laser based weapons have a finite range in space.” (source)
- The collars around some of the character’s necks are an “Air / energy power pack type thingy. A little detail you'll notice when Shrike and Armstrong are in the tunnel the blue bar turns black as it's very slowly draining.” (source 1) (source 2)
- When asked how space bikes work: “I originally wanted to have a more realistic space flight system with orbits, escape trajectories and such but upon execution it wasn't that exciting, so we've gone with a more poppy sci fi flight system like in Star Trek and the like with our own twist.” (source)
- J.F.E.I.’s is pronounced “Jay Fays,” and it stands for “Just Freak’n Eat It.” (source)
- Jay Fey’s is the most popular fast food restaurant. (source)
- When asked if there is “space weed:” “Considering corrupted Agari organs can be used for hyper sex I'm sure there are many other wacky fun time pills out there~” (source)
- Birthdays are commonly celebrated. (source)
- When asked if interspecies hybrids are possible and if they are taboo: “Depends on the species and….depends on the species lol.” (source)
- When asked about the galaxy's beauty standards: "Probably depends on each races customs and the like." (source)
- When asked if there are any LGBT characters: “Gender and sex are pretty nebulous in space. Different species have different norms.” (source 1) (source 2)
- When asked if there are any undiscovered planets: “I'm sure there's plenty still left out there~” (source)
Translators
- “Translators work by converting a known stored language in the main data hub to the corresponding users visual and audio language. Think of those apps that you can get where it'll visually translate, say, Japanese to english for example. This only works if there are many users of said language. If there aren't, then the data becomes corrupted and you get those glitches where the natural language comes through. Since humans are technically extinct there isn't much reason to maintain any of their languages in the system.” (source 1) (source 2) (source 3) (source 4)
- “Both parties need a translator to be understood fully.” (source)
- When asked if Terran languages are banned from translators: “Not banned, just not maintained so things tend to not get translated properly, hence some spanish breaking through.” (source 1) (source 2)
- Censorship of vulgar language is diegetic. (source 1) (source 2)
- Translators pick up accents. (source)
Mercenaries
- U.M.B. stands for Universal Mercenary Board. (source)
- When asked how the U.M.B. works: “Do job. Gain point. More point = Better job and money. Fail job, lose point. Drop rank. Cry.” (source)
- Mercenaries typically don’t have much down time, as they are always working job after job. (source)
- “The #1 ranked merc group has three members.” (source)
The Cataclysm / Quarantine Zone
- “Earth, Terra in our story, was ground zero for The Cataclysm, so not much is left. But the Quarantine Zone is vast and ripe for story telling~” (source)
- “Flesh rarely survives contact with what lurks inside the Q.Z.” (source)
- When asked if Us and Them are “ a total of two connected beings, or are each of them also made up of multiple minds:” “They were once their own beings. Cataclysm happened. They became part of the current hive mass that's spread out in the Q.Z. until something changed and they broke away and formed into their current selves.” (source)
- When asked what an animal race, rather than a fungal one, would look like affected by the Cataclysm: “Something else~ Though you're gonna have to wait to find out~” (source)
- When asked if naturally green aliens experience discrimination: “Yup. People usually give them a wide berth.” (source)
Terrans
- It has been a couple of months since the last Terran sighting/arrest. (source)
- When asked if aliens have their own TV shows besides what Terran’s brought: “I'm sure they have their own stuff. Humans pioneered them, other races were inspired and made their own.” (source)
- Pizza was originally created by Terrans. (source)
- El Bandito had 57 episodes and “the finale was never aired / finished.” (source)
L.A.W.
- L.A.W. stands for “League of Aligned Worlds.” (source)
- When asked to generally describe L.A.W.: “’trying their best.’” (source)
- When asked if L.A.W. is evil: “Things aren't always black and white. Everyone thinks they're the hero of their story.” (source)
- “Think of them as the Federation from Star Trek. They're not bad, Shrike just has some… issues.” (source)
- When asked if “L.A.W. being a mess just because they're idiots or is something bigger going on?:” “You try policing something 105,000 light years wide!” (source)
- The average salary of a “L.A.W. goon” is described as “very livable!” (source 1) (source 2)
- When asked if there’s anyway to clean Shrike’s redsuit: “I'm pretty sure it's got some sort of anti bacterial type thing going on to keep itself relatively clean. God knows what it's like on the inside of his suit, though…” (source)
- L.A.W.’s opinion on Terran animals is, “They aminals, they do no wrong.” (source)
- When asked if there are any alien races not affiliated with L.A.W.: “There's plenty still out there that aren't apart of L.A.W. …yet.” (source)
