Creators & Roles
Daniel Friesen, writer
Dwight Torlay, illustrator
Fabrice Guerrier, speculative fiction writer
The moon has exploded, leaving only three small fragments in orbit and shifting the earth’s rotation drastically. Now, one side of the planet receives almost constant sunlight, while the other receives almost none. Over time, this creates one hot side and one cold side as the surviving humans scramble to move to habitable zones.
One of the major themes for this world is dealing with catastrophic events. What do humans do when faced with extremely dire situations?
Other themes include meaninglessness, hopelessness and apathy. How do we deal with a bleak future?
Mass immigration: Large numbers of people are displaced due to extreme weather patterns, lack of resources. What does it mean for someone to be transplanted to another location in order to survive? What conflicts arise interpersonally and intra-personally?
Extreme climate change: What are the effects of extreme weather patterns and disasters on society and how do people’s lives change as a result?
The moon shattered. No one knows how it happened, or why. Some fragments float away, some orbit the earth, others descend and destroy cities, millions dead.
The new rotation of the earth shifted the temperatures of the planet to a side that is hot because the sun is continually beaming on it and one that is cold that lacks the heat of the sun.
The debris crashed into the planet. That debris landed over a period of a couple years, with the remains still in orbit
The Hot World: Parts of the ocean are boiling and dried up with distant white coral valleys
Remaining groups of people are living underground cities. It’s grimy, dark and people work in factories.
The surface at the hottest zones are not livable, though may be explored with exo-suits
The Cold World: the cities in the coldest locations are above ground under domes that protects them from the weather
The darkness is constant in the cold side, as days rarely have any sunlight
The entire Western Hemisphere has been frozen and abandoned. Some cities like New York are preserved.
Animals and plants have died on massive scales, leading to totally new ecosystems
Western Africa is well positioned to be in the middle part between the hot and cold sides of the earth
The Hot World: Suits have been developed to go outside, ground water, desalinations of ocean. The warm side has developed faster because they have energy from the sun to harness.
Radiation on the planet increased massively because one side of the earth is getting baked continually.
The Cold World: Warming technologies are developed. The dome technology is developed very hurriedly, slowly improves over time
Moon Fragments: A few hub bases were developed to serve as launch pads for deep exploration vessels.
The moon explodes and shatters for unknown reasons
Moon pieces fall randomly. It takes about five years for the environmental extreme changes
There’s a mass exodus of the Americas and the Western Hemisphere. No flying or driving is happening. United States gets rid of its weapons to be able to negotiate its way for the the elite of its population to move through European locations
There’s a mass exodus of the Middle Eastern countries
Russia and China becomes new centers of the world since they have access to the world in between or have not frozen
The west African Wall Rises, Western China, Northern India Wall, Scandinavian countries.
New Swaziland is formed as a nation for Africans and the world. It bears new innovations and technologies from the world
Trading between new nations forms the new “Silk Road” — key trade routes in the locations of paradise (The world in between)
First Moon Base on the fragments
Colonies on the Moon Fragment and Preparing for Deep Space Travel
Stories & Flashes
Time and space By Fabrice Guerrier
Time and Space were the two kings of New Swaziland that’s what they called them. A new nation was born after the disaster of the moon. Mass migration to the West African coast forced those left on the continent to reevaluate their collective identity as Africans. 42 nations came together.
The twin brothers ruled the kingdom and implemented strict measures. First they built a wall so they could be free from the rest of the world. They strictly controlled the flow of people that came into their lands which became more and more prosperous.
Agricultural farming and temperate weather was a constant. Only in New Swaziland could they actively create stability in a world filled with chaos. One half completely under ice and societies living underground. The other half was parched and destroyed by the heat.
Time was tall and his smile was always on and always wide. He was naturally born into royalty and when he came into power, he asked his brother, Space to join hand and hand with him. Only the two could bring all the the African nations in the region together to create a new world order. One that could sustain order. One that could create the right visions. One that could bring out the best of humanity. At least of what was left of humans as the pieces of the moons over the last decade had massively disseminated their cities. A new era was upon them. It’s been 15 years since the last piece of the moon crashed on African soil.
Technology in New Swaziland was accelerated to meet the demands of the changing world. They used solar energy to power all their cities and most of their machines. They created clouds and rain out of a new seeding technology. They bioengineered their crops to move with the abundance of people. They built upwards and large cities double the size of what New York city that looked like. They were wrapped around lush green plants and vines climbing on their sides. It was Space’s idea to gather the best scientists to meet the global challenges of Africans everywhere. He did just that.
Time was more spiritual. He inspired people and gathered them around the ancestral connections of those who all perish. They all mourned. They all wanted to rebuild. Time was the leader that rose and became supreme for his charisma.
Pens Down 2022 presents Roche Deviation
“Pens Down” serves as a creative worldbuilding workshop hosted by Syllble, where world creators extend invitations to writers and artists from the Syllble community. Together, they collaborate to bring these fictional realms to life through writing and imagination.