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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5412860" data-attributes="member: 177">Well, give that the PCs are apt to never actually know much about the details of the orbit, it is hardly a complication.  It might be the easiest way to get seasons, if you really want them.   Interjecting real-world science:  Note that for a fantasy world you can always toss real science aside.  Having the core and surface rotating at dramatically different rates would create some pretty massive friction - while that would drive some pretty stellar tectonics, but it wouldn't last long.  That same friction will slow the whole thing down very quickly.Plus, the gravitational effects that produce tidal locking don't just touch the surface.  Gravity reaches inside the planet too - so you'd have a hard time justifying the situation.Radioactive decay in the core, and some friction/flexing heating from a large moon are enough to keep a planet tectonically active for billions of years.  You don't need to go to areas that are hard to justify. For real planets, magnetic fields are formed by a dynamo effect of liquids flowing in the interior.  For short times the dynamo could have an axis in just about any direction, for reasons already stated above, the dynamo is going to (mostly) share an axis with the planet's rotation.  Having it 90 degrees off wouldn't be a stable state (usign current models, anyway) and would work strongly against your tidally locked scenario.  The moving fluid would drag on the crust, causing it to rotate in a new direction.</blockquote>

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