I liked science fiction and Pokemon when I was a child, and and there is a story idea that is stuck in my head for a year. It is about how faster-than-light (FTL) traveling made English the global language. I didn't think of the names yet because I'm bad at names.
I found many science fiction are scientifically inaccurate, so I wanted to create a hard science fiction where space physics are accurate and characters must use science to solve some problems. The only law of physics may be broken is FTL travel and monster summoning through wormholes. The monsters are not cute psychic beasts or inanimate objects, but they are actually augmented animals from various planets. My story also explores the implications of faster-than-light travel, because a FTL technology must have limitations. I add some details about FTL not to make useless technobabble, but for interesting resolutions for problems. In addition, this story will make the Pokemon and Digimon or what-mon fans rethink when they want these monsters to be real. Battling monsters comes with generation gap and protest groups
Some traits I want it to be:
- Hard science fiction
- Military science fiction: how the monsters are used as tools of war
- Political science fiction: the story of a micronation becoming a nation
Traits I want to get away from:
Romance (except an event that has long-lasting effect on the characters)
Space opera (no space fighters, no sound in space, FTL comes with limitations, many ground combat)
Themes I want to explore:
Bioethics (do the monsters feel pain? is pain eliminated? is the monster crying inside?)
Free will
Bias of textbook history
The reader will learn about:
How space combat works
Some real science
How to build a nation
Alien languages
Setting:
There was an alien race who has a culture of using animals as servants. They augmented the animals to create monsters that can survive in extreme environments and obey its owner absolutely. They also created a network of wormhole gates and the convenient storage and deployment of monsters. Later, they tried to add sentience into these monsters, and it went wrong and became a threat. Their gate was cut off and the sentient monsters spread around the gates to terrorize other lifeforms. These sentient monsters are called roamers.
The second alien race followed the first alien race's legacy of gates and monsters, and they recognized the threat of roamers, so their mission is to protect other alien races so that the roamers will not abduct them and convert them into new roamers. They discovered the solar system, which has a gate, and observed the Earth.
It was 2090s on Earth, and World War III was breaking out (I need to work out the causes, but I have one idea: fascism in America), the aliens ("observers") armed one faction with summoning monsters, and ended the war. Because the summoning monsters receive commands in an abstract language, so translation is required, and the aliens worked out a mobile phone-like device, which can generate the wormhole to deploy and withdraw monster, with a translator to convert English into a monster-understandable format. It multiplied the importance of English.
After the war ended, many countries signed a treaty so that reverse engineering of the "phone device" is illegal. To protest these laws, an ocean colonization experiment turned into a micronation.
In addition, the post WWIII China underwent some reforms including abolishing Chinese characters and integrate into the "world culture". The latest generation of youths and adults under 30 are the ones who received these phone devices, and with influence from the films and TV shows, they began dueling each other with the monsters. To promote independence and financing skills, the parent leaves the child alone in his house after the child turns 14 or 15, only contacting the teenager and sending him/her money. For the teenager, this parenting style killed filial piety and for parents, this promoted workaholism through disconnection from the children, but the distance of parent will make duels happen more often.
Story:
Aside from WWIII, the reader is not given anything about the alien races and the working of the monsters. A subplot is to explore the inner working of the "phone device".
The main character is a Chinese high school student who fought in World War III. He has dreams including going to that micronation, taking spaceflights and winning tournaments. There is a sidekick who is traditional, and hates cultural destruction in the name of progress and believes monsters should not be used as tools of war but as pets.
Later, he tries to see an alien with his own eyes (fought the roamers a few times, but could not take any evidence), and fought in tournaments to increase his rating to pass the bar to get into the micronation. After a sudden earthquake, he was accepted into the micronation as a refugee.
He integrates into the micronation's culture and became loyal to it, and he joins the elite operatives of the micronation. Some subplot about building identity through helping a helpless country. One day, the roamers attacked the micronation and the alien race that observed the Earth tried to help the micronation. The "observers" fought the roamers, and told how they manipulated the tide of war during WWIII. The micronation's leader wanted the observers to help the micronation become a nation, but the observers told the truth about the roamer threat, and they said if they can hire some humans to fight off the roamers, they can help them build a nation in return. 100 people including the main character hopped into their starship and began their journey.
Then, the story is about living in the alien world and getting through some diplomacy, then it is fighting the roamers, and reopening the gate to the alien race that created the roamers. Near the end, the characters learn about the truth of the working of monsters and they state their opinions on using monsters for battling. I want an ending where the micronation fights off roamers on Earth conventionally, then promoting a different treatment of the monsters, maybe achieving recognition by changing how people should treat the monsters.
I don't know if this is Pokemon + Mass Effect. The "Pokemon" part is not very questionable due to the mechanics and implications of monster deployment. since the gate network is like Mass Relay in Mass Effect and the roamers are like Collectors. I don't think this is a ripoff since I am exploring the implications of the genre of fighting monsters. Also, I think the story plan of only fighting off roamers seems to be too mundane and they should do more stuff with the aliens and adding more details at the difficulty of interacting with the aliens due to the cultural differences.
I mainly want a clearance on originality: If you think readers will complain it is a complete ripoff, I will scrap this idea.
Gender:
Points: 300
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