Addendum

Obviously the surface will be coated with glue so the aliens get stuck when they land, but much also will be written of the Mousetraps of Mars.

The Ultimate Fate of Mars

Sorry Mars, but we're going to have to turn you into a fake Earth so that aliens will attack that one instead. I'm sure you understand.

The Strange Sources of Xenopaleontological Knowledge

I chased the space pirate all the way to Heraclius, one of those worlds that's nothing but grains and farm drones. I expected him to have some goons, a hideout, or at least a cache with a few guns there, but when I tracked him down, he was doing nothing but staring at a rock stuck on a couple other rocks.
"I remember," he said without turning around. "They argue whether a member of one species can be reborn as another, but it has to be true because I remember. I was a great magus once (for by that name we called those with the strongest psychic talents) and kings bowed to me even in their own palaces of brown-purple marble. They put before me the rich flesh of the uyilla, the delicate hobtgui roots, and I undid their difficulties. But even my wisdom failed when . . . Oh, I see the towers, how they crumble! The dead fill the streets and the wails of the living form inescapable clouds! Iauvne, where have you gone? Plellol ecsa, plellol monsa!"
"Fine, but I'm still going to arrest you."
"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I should have waited for a convenient time to come here, but you sort of get these ideas in your head, you know?"
I wasn't interested in conversation with scum, so I didn't answer, but I knew all right.
Finis

Supply Problems

Sphinxes probably didn't reproduce but rather emerged from the footsteps of hero-kings, which is why we don't see any today. Once there are planet kings, the situation will likely reverse.

Addendum

A major factor will be if the ships dock at a planet, an orbital station, or neither, instead sitting in deep space and receiving their passengers from shuttles. In the case of the station, probably a plain exterior will be demanded by the port authority, but in the third case, presenting customers with an awesome view during their approach will be advisable.

Addender

The aliens will live in different regions of the same planets. Thus will coexistence flourish, and when plagues break out, each species will bring in doctors and nurses from an immune species.

Addendum

The same won't be true of the other planets we will undoubtedly colonize because far smaller regions will be inhabited. When you can pick and choose the best places, you don't want to leave anyway.

Observed Creation Dynamics

A certain philosopher, curious as to whether snow is a special case of rain or rain a special case of snow, decided on this experiment, that he would create a new world and wait to see which weather phenomenon would occur first, reasoning that inherent decay causes later instances to sway from the original at an increasing frequency. After creating that world, he built on it a cabin with an accessible roof where he waited.
Long before his commendable patience met a test, two figures descended from the sky. One was a man, or one might say the man, for he was huge and perfect in all his parts so that the philosopher operating by established ideas concluded him to be the original. The other was a monster similarly perfect, but in horror, so that he wondered whether its eight wings and twelve horns and its twin stinging tails were of skin, scale, or the force which corrodes.
The two fell instantly to battle. Resting his judgment on similitude, the philosopher cheered for the original man, who after mighty blows did conquer his foe. The fiend screamed with such vigor that doubtless evil would never thereafter be expunged from the world and melted into a column which stretched above the sky for a few seconds before dissipating. The perfect man planted his sword then and spoke.
"I have won another planet for humans who will people it so soon as the rain or snow or ice or water come, which are all arrangements of other things I see no reason to describe or name." He too became first a column and then nothing.
The philosopher returned to record the experiment's outcome. When he published the account, he was greatly puzzled at the widespread interest in what he considered to be the less important aspects.
Finis

Draconic Lifecycle

I know we've all considered the possibility that planets are dragon eggs waiting to hatch and wondered what will happen to us when the time comes, but have you considered that these eggs might not have been fertilized yet? What's that going to be like? That's why I support migration beyond the planet as soon as it can be effected.

The Three Kinds of Interplanetary Science Fiction

1) Everybody listens to the same bands
2) Every planet has its own bands
3) Every region on the planet has its own bands

Obviously there's going to be some galactic superstars and some local specialties, but in a normal week, seven of the top ten songs the average person hears are shared X far.

Plausible Scientific Speculation

Instead of trying to alter the ecology of Mars, wouldn't it be easier to shove it out of the solar system and invite a better planet to come stay there? Humans have a diplomacy bonus according to the authority on such matters, Master of Orion.

Addendum

Accordingly, instead of starship captains we'll have counts, except we'll call them earls 'cause we ain't soft. Those are the smaller ships of course, while the Austria-sized ones will be classed as duchies. Not grand duchies. Those will be far bigger.

Science Fiction Political Units

As convenient as it is to make each planet a single political entity, the future won't be any good unless we have spaceships big enough to rate as a county at least.

Addendum

If you reach the god retirement planet yourself, you can see a miracle. The miracle is that you are asked to leave rather than being killed right off the bat.

Speaking of Gods

Do you think gods use all those offerings they got to build a mansion on a way cooler planet? I bet that's true. It's why you don't see Zeus hanging out at the mall these days. Imagine that malls weren't dead for this thought experiment.

Chilling Science Fiction Tales

In the distant future, people will think of coal as a rare and valuable present because only Earth has any. Boo!

The Problem With Planets

They keep moving around. Somebody ought to get to work on that.

On Scandal

Remember that the people in your world might have different ideas of what constitutes scandal. For instance, being level 3 when you told everybody you were level 5 already, or going on trips to the Regular Planet where there aren't any planet-wide casinos or megacults.

Addendum

That doesn't mean your fantasy world can't be shaped like a trapezoid, or course. The gods probably see it that way, just like an RTS camera.

Addendum

I expect civilization there not to be very advanced, because the only reason to go to Jupiter is to get more stupider.