...building civilizations with my space elves in space.

Eldraeic Words of the Day

halla: forest, specifically a tamed forest used for dwelling, silviculture, lumbering, coppicing, hunting, parkland, etc. Oppose loth. loth: forest, specifically wild forest not used for any purpose. Oppose halla. (Note that this is a very important distinction on Eliéra, which has a lot of forest cover, and it is important

Unproblematic Armor

In today's recommendations, I should like to draw y'all's attention to The Problem with Sci-Fi Body Armor, over at A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry. Why? Well, apart from being interesting in its own right, it is one of the latest and best posts whose

Imperialism Wow!

(To be pronounced, naturally, just like "Catholicism Wow!". You may feel free to imagine for yourself Buddy Queen Victoria, Buddy Cecil Rhodes, Buddy Genghis Khan, or Buddy Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.) In which I write in response to this comment back on "Nom": Are there any

Nom

“Consider, gentle reader, that even as the flesh of an Emperor, or of any man, is constituted of what he eats, so then is an Empire, in bones and sinew, constituted of what it eats. “Therefore, to maintain the health, and to avoid the manifestations of ill-nutrition, unseemly bloat, or

Shipshape

I saw this picture today, via an Astral Codex Ten post on distinguishing human art from AI art, but that is not the context in which I reference it: Instead, I merely point out that it would be an accurate representation of what the Royal Alatian (later Imperial) Navy would

My To-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours

Pressed bean curds are a common item in many Eliéran cuisines, in recipes both savory and sweet. I refer to them using this long description since, despite being identical in many ways and produced from the same small group of plants, they are one of the very few foodstuffs to

Crazy Eddie

As a brief cultural note, today, I happened to be looking something up on the Atomic Rockets Future Mythology page, and was reminded of Crazy Eddie. (The one from Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye, obviously. Even if, sad to say, that

Plumbing the Depths (2)

The DEEP STAR PROGRAM WANTS YOU To Make A New Life Around A New Star! Following the successful launches of our first three interstellar colony ships, we are preparing two more for launch in 3036, and we are still recruiting both colonists and crew for Destiny Ascendant. Destiny Ascendant is

Plumbing the Depths (1)

Skystream Station Talentar High Orbit Lumenna-Súnáris System 3034 The stars drifted by slowly beyond the sweeping arc of clary defining the outer edge of the bar, glittering clear and steady through the pristine vacuum of the inner system. Seated by the window, Cathál Rian-ith-Ríëlle sipped her beer, and thumbed desultorily

Status of Tags/Fixes

Complete back through: November 2017 (This means we have passed the point at which Discourse comments were introduced. Progress can be expected to be slower from this point forward, since I need to copy the WordPress comments across.)

Spooooky

Okay, folks, we're doing this. At midnight tomorrow (that would be midnight following 29 October 2024, Central Daylight Time), we'll be cutting over to the new shiny Ghost-based site instead of this old, busted WordPress one. Not everything is finished, because some things are very hard

Things Still To Be Done

Here, for your edification, is a list of all the things still to be done in migrating over here from WordPress, but which I know about and so which you don't need to remind me of. They'll be struck through as they're done, and