trope-a-day
Scale of Scientific Sins: All of them. Absolutely all of them. Automation: Of just about everything, as exemplified by the sheer number of cornucopia machines, AI managers and scurrying utility spiders. Unlike most of the people who got this one very badly wrong, however, in this Galaxy, almost no-one is
picture dictionary
(A belated continuation of the Picture Dictionary series.) S is for Starport Where great ships take flight. They climb to the stars, On pillars of light. T is for Transcend The home of the Powers. No gods in the heavens, And so we made ours. U is for Uplifts Potential
trope-a-day
Sapient Ship: Well, while the sophont ship AIs are not actually bound to their ships (they’re regular infomorphs hired for the position, so the captain of CS Repropriator one day may be the admiral on board CS Sovereignty Emergent some years later, and the retiree drinking whisky in the
Imperial Military Service
3.72 (a): Personnel of the Imperial Military Service who are missing their dominant arm, or whose dominant arm is severely injured, at the present time shall be permitted to render the hand and blade salutes with their off-hand. 3.72 (a) (i): An exception to the above shall be
trope-a-day
Sacred Hospitality: Absolutely. And even more so once spacer culture arose, because if hospitality was sacred when it was merely cold and hunger that would kill you, it’s even more so when you consider the very large number of ways in which space can kill you, given half a
meta
…for those also interested in the bits of eldraeic theology I’ve published now and again on this site. Slate Star Codex: The Goddess of Everything Else
bounty hunting
(previous) Fourth Directorate Bounty Office Imperial Services center Athra (Ringstars) “This gets you 2,730 esteyn.” “Th’ell it does! Th’reward’s ten thousand!” “The reward for bringing in the outlaw is ten thousand. The reward for proof-of-kill alone without an intact mind-state is three-quarters, 7,500 esteyn. And
trope-a-day
Ruling Couple: The Imperial Couple are – as really, you should have been able to guess from the name – this trope. Diarchies in which the co-rulers have equal authority and mutual veto was the governing tradition of Cestia long into pre-Imperial history (in fact, most Cestian political offices worked this way)
trope-a-day
Rubber Forehead Aliens: Averted. With the irrelevant caveat mentioned under Human Aliens, anything that looks like it belongs to/is descended from a particular species almost certainly does/is. See also Starfish Aliens.
diplomacy
Gal-sabra (Falish Traverse) System Peremptory-class diplomatic cruiser, CSS Occasionally Transigent “Lei’hudal, vizjeri,” Ambassador CĂĂ«n Lochran addressed her visitors, “be welcome here. May I offer you some refreshment after your flight? Something to eat, perhaps?” “No, thank you. Time is pressing: let us get down to business. You said that
worldbuilding
In a comment in the previous post, there is some curiosity as to how the Imperial Couple is selected. So, behold, I answer: It’s semi-hereditarian. The heir is notionally picked from among the members of the Imperial family, in an attempt to capture the hereditarian advantage of having someone
trope-a-day
Royal Blood: Averted, except inasmuch as those who know they’re going to grow up to be rúner are genetically engineered for a laundry list of desirable traits in people who are expected to hold sovereign authority and use it wisely, rarely, and with great caution. (Of course, given the