Organization of Fora by Cosmological View/Philosophy

The three fora represent realities from the most mundane and materialist to the most Fantastic, allowing for diverse storytelling while maintaining clear cosmological boundaries. All forums support narratives set in all eras up to the present, and also speculative futures, provided those futures adhere strictly to the forum's cosmological rules.


Alone In The Universe

Category Details & Examples
Tagline “We are alone in the universe. (Rare Earth theory on steroids — and no Santa Claus here)”.
Core Cosmology & Rules This forum is for stories set in a strictly materialist scientific reality where life, in any form, originates only from planet Earth. The universe is human-exclusive; no extraterrestrial life exists at all, not even microbes. If it did, humanity would never encounter it due to vast cosmic distances in time and space.
Rough Concept Mundane reality with a materialist scientific belief system. There's no "woo" or magic, unless a character is delusional. "Hollywood reality" doesn't introduce supernatural elements, but rather allows for narrative convenience, like movies where the director ignores that guns need to be reloaded.
Themes & Media Examples Gritty Crime & Mystery: The Wire (TV series), The Silence of the Lambs (novel), Seven (movie), Zodiac (movie)
Historical Fiction: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, Dunkirk (movie), 1917 (movie)
Post-Apocalyptic Survival (Human-Centric): The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Contagion (movie), Children of Men (movie)
Near-Future Dystopia/Utopia: The Circle by Dave Eggers, Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Gattaca (movie), Blade Runner (original, focusing on human-created replicants)
Survival & Wilderness: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Life of Pi by Yann Martel (pre-tiger "woo" interpretation), The Revenant (movie), 127 Hours (movie)
Military Thrillers/War Stories: Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose, Generation Kill by Evan Wright, American Sniper (movie), Black Hawk Down (movie)
Psychological Drama: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Whiplash (movie), Manchester by the Sea (movie)
Exploration (Earth-Bound): River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard, The Lost City of Z (movie), Free Solo (movie)
Hard Sci-Fi (No Aliens/Psychics): Focus on scientifically plausible (within current understanding) technologies and their impact on humanity, but strictly no aliens, and no psionics. The Martian by Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (human-only parts), Apollo 13 (movie), Gravity (movie)
Plausible Time Travel shenanigans (if you squint your eyes) Terminator, Back To The Future, 12 Monkeys
RPG IPs: Twilight: 2000, A Quiet Year, Call of Cthulhu (if played without any supernatural encounters), Delta Green (if missions are strictly mundane investigations).

We Are Not Alone Forum

Category Details & Examples
Tagline “There’s no Santa Claus, but the universe is TOO BIG for humanity to be alone, my friend.”
Core Cosmology & Rules This forum features a materialist scientific view of reality where extraterrestrial life exists and follows our universal laws. This includes all plausible extraterrestrial life, from microbes to sentient intelligent species. Any weird physics laws will have an explanation in exotic physics theories like string theory, quantum mechanics, etc., instead of "woo." The Fortean/supernatural and the fantastical do not exist. This forum assumes life originating outside planet Earth exists somewhere, and it will be present, even if indirectly or mentioned in passing, in your story.
Rough Concept Aliens are present, evolved, and follow the same fundamental universe/physics laws as ours. This is a more open-minded materialist scientific belief system where aliens aren't derived from supernatural or Fortean frameworks, but from speculative scientific models. Think hard sci-fi movies like Contact. A level of "Hollywood reality" is allowed, like Star Trek (when it doesn't veer into fantastic territory too much).
Themes & Media Examples First Contact (Scientific): Contact by Carl Sagan, Blindsight by Peter Watts, Arrival (movie), The Abyss (Director's Cut)
Interstellar Exploration & Colonization: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Interstellar (movie), Europa Report (movie)
Galactic Politics & Diplomacy: The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey, A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, District 9 (movie), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (movie)
Alien Biology & Ecology: Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward, Semiosis by Sue Burke, Alien (movie, the creature itself is biological, not supernatural), Life (movie)
Technological Advancement (Alien-Inspired): Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, Stargate (the original film, prior to more mystical elements in the series), Elysium (movie)
Humanity's Place in a Populated Universe: The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, 2001: A Space Odyssey (movie, alien intelligence is advanced, but not magical)
Hard Sci-Fi War: Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, Edge of Tomorrow (movie), Battle: Los Angeles (movie)
Plausible Time Travel shenanigans ... With Aliens! (if you squint your eyes) The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Fantastical Universes

Category Details & Examples
Taglines Everything from “there MAY be no Santa Claus, but there are things beyond the material we don’t understand and may not be equipped to understand” to “magic/psionics/superpowers/whatever is real and everyone knows it”
Core Cosmology & Rules This is your forum for magical realism, fantasy, sci-fantasy, the supernatural, the fortean, supers, sci-fi that mixes with any of these elements, and any combination of them. This is The Most Permissive Cosmology, where all rules are relaxed.
Rough Concept All non-materialist cosmologies where "woo" is present and overt or hidden. This forum explicitly includes magic, supernatural elements, mythological creatures, superheroes, multi-dimensional realities, and fantastical extraterrestrial life. Magic, elves, zombies, eldritch beings, angels, demons, gods, little green men, The Force, psionics, etc., are all real along with anything you can imagine that is not part of our real-life universe as we know it.
Themes & Media Examples High Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Harry Potter series (movies), The Chronicles of Narnia (movies)
Urban Fantasy: The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Bright (movie), Constantine (movie)
Magical Realism: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, Amelie (movie), Big Fish (movie)
Mythic & Folkloric: American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Circe by Madeline Miller, Clash of the Titans (original movie), Gods of Egypt (movie)
Superhero & Superpower Narratives: Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman, Worm by Wildbow (web serial), Marvel Cinematic Universe (movies), DC Extended Universe (movies)
Sci-Fantasy: Star Wars (novels/comics/movies), Dune by Frank Herbert (prescient abilities, Bene Gesserit powers), Guardians of the Galaxy (movies)
Cosmic Horror: H.P. Lovecraft's collected works, The Croning by Laird Barron, Mandy (movie), Annihilation (movie)
Paranormal Investigation: Hellboy (comics), Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud, The Conjuring (movie), Ghostbusters (movie)
Dark Fantasy/Grimdark: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, The Black Company by Glen Cook, Pan's Labyrinth (movie), The Witch (movie)
Multiversal & Dimensional Travel: The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny, Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, Everything Everywhere All at Once (movie), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (movie)
RPG IPs: Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu (when the supernatural is real and encountered directly), Scion, Numenera, Pathfinder, Mutants & Masterminds or Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game.
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Pub: 22 Jul 2025 12:59 UTC

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