#i'll probably make a proper meta post once i finish reading the novel

[eyeswaitingfortuesdaynight]

i've changed my mind, i don't want the sydney dome to fall first, i want it to be the london dome

top performing domes at the constellation banquet were seoul, washington, moscow, and new delhi. japan is mentioned a lot due to the peaceland arc, china has their own incarnation that ends up on the final battlefield, the uk and italy are both mentioned in passing in the early parts of the novel.

while the domes may have sprung up over the current capitals of their respective countries, the fact that europe has at least three confirmed domes and japan has their own dome tells me the dome placement is not about population or proximity, but rather culture.

all the countries noted in the novel to have domes have very distinct cultures - it's even mentioned in the novel that the early scenarios are specifically for historical constellations, which would mostly be in the dome. afaik, there's no mention of domes in what can be considered the global south (south and central america, africa, oceania) plus the middle east? (save for the existence of papyrus as a nebula, but no actual domes or incarnations afaik) this might be an indication of unconcious authorial bias (irl or in-canon - both can apply, i've noticed most asian authors, when not focusing on their own countries, focus on asia, america and europe, in order) and might also be an indication of just how difficult the scenarios are in general. i suspect earth might have more domes than average due to the diversity of cultures or maybe even due to the large population. other planets/worlds i'm aware of existing in the novel don't have domes, so we have a sample size of one on this (as usual for astrobiology lol)

focus on culture indicates the domes might cover the culture of several countries or an entire region, just as they may have multiple in one region (america vs europe). i can't imagine canada has a seperate dome due to the shared history and culture with the usa. ditto korea - north korea has only existed for 70-ish years? can't imagine justifying splitting the korean penninsula constellations between seoul dome and a hypothetical pyongyang dome.

(side note: the fact that north korea hasn't started shit while the literal apocalypse is happening indicates to me that, on top of assassinating the top brass of every country, the dokkaebi probably stole all the nukes too. star stream seems in general very set on having either it or incarnations decide the fate of planets - non-incarnations are not allowed to sway things in major ways or they get their heads blown up)

....anyway, australia and new zealand probably have a consolidated cultural dome in sydney. but australia in general has a reputation for being badass and scary af. rather than having sydney fall, it would be much funnier to have london fall first. a new version of the rhyme can happen lol

🎶 london dome is falling down, falling down, falling down~ 🎶