Part of Case study series.
(Whoops -- just noticed I missed my assigned date. Sorry.)
In space, do "shipping lanes" make sense?
About worldbuilding? Yes, it's about travel patterns and thus, indirectly, "layout" of points of interest in space.
Risking off-topic? I think it's on-topic, though one could argue that I needed to specify a tech level rather than hand-waving that. I think that's ok because sometimes worldbuilding runs backwards -- I have this outcome, and I'll make the background lead to that.
How would having multiple moons affect tides?
About worldbuilding? Yes. The effects of planetary/lunar/solar configurations are well within our scope and we have many such questions.
Risking off-topic? No, I think this question is on pretty firm ground.
How quickly and accurately should news travel in a rural medieval setting?
About worldbuilding? It's about communities' behavior in a world -- travel, fragmentation, interactions with outsiders. It could have been asked more cleanly, and the original version was in retrospect off-topic as a history question.
Risking off-topic? It's still a history question at heart and is kind of broad and speculative, though I tried to fix that in a later edit.
Must magic be tied to medieval tech?
About worldbuilding? It's about the relation between magic and technology, both of which are core worldbuilding factors, so yes.
Risking off-topic? But it's pretty opinion-based and speculative. It's more a philosophy question than a concrete worldbuilding question. Were it asked now I think it would be closed. (That was, I think, Day 2 of private beta.)
What are the necessary conditions for a worldwide government?
About worldbuilding? Government is part of worlds and this is about developing government, so I say yes.
Risking off-topic? I think it's on-topic. It describes a desired outcome, suggests one way to possibly get there, and asks about alternatives to that. It draws some precedents from our world to provide some foundation.
