Tropes-a-Day: Mama Bear/Papa Wolf
Mama Bear/Papa Wolf: The Transcend, towards its members. See the second paragraph of No One Gets Left Behind for the details, there. Not all that uncommon in its members, either.
Alistair Young
Trope-a-Day: Magnetic Weapons
Magnetic Weapons: Almost all of them, in fact. Happiness is a warm coilgun1. (And a plentiful supply of exchangeable heat sinks, because even fancy superconducting orichalcium coils3 can’t stop the Second Law.) Handgun versions fire super-tiny flechette projectiles at mind-croggling speeds, because, well, like the picture implies… …it ain’
Basic Delta-V Worksheet
So, as those who follow my Google+ account will know, I use PTC Mathcad to do the various calculations behind the scenes to reality-check my work, starship designs, orbital parameters, etc., etc. And being the kind and generous soul that I am, I thought I might clean up and share
Clarke's Third Law
Or, A Typical (Paraphrased) Exploratory Service Response To The Embarrassing Problem of Xenodeism: “So you’re some sort of gods?” “That depends.” “Depends?” “If you mean: do we possess assorted skills, powers, devices, and other techne capable of duplicating pretty much any miracle attributed to the mythological deities of yore,
Trope-a-Day: Magically-Binding Contract
Magically-Binding Contract: In two forms, both technically nonmagical if you don’t count the Clarkian sense. Firstly, regular old smart-contracts, which are self-enforcing, inasmuch as the contract itself takes the form of an AI which acts to enforce/fulfil itself – which can, relevantly, cover anything from simple supervisory work, to
Trope-a-Day: Magical Gesture
Magical Gesture: Sometimes, especially when the mechanical psychokinesis is invoked; for one thing, it’s useful as a concentration-aid in training. But, like we said back in Invocation, it’s entirely unnecessary for the thing to work (the neuron-implanted nanopicosomes are reading your mind directly, so you think things, and
Drones Don't Kill People, People Kill People
ARTIFICE ARMAMENTS TICKET-TRACKING: CASE 18922 From: Bureau of Social Hygiene, Ikklar Triumvirate Subject: Nightwing-class military-grade security drone Version: 1.3.0.1872 Issue: Drone refuses to obey orders. Priority: Urgent Resolution: WILL NOT FIX – WORKING AS DESIGNED. Notes: I’m sorry to hear that you have had problems with our
Trope-a-Day: Mad Scientist
Mad Scientist: What would be a very large number of the technarchs, in the Empire, and not just them, either… except that the science isn’t usually all that mad (and does involve diligent research, standing on the shoulders of giants, taking advantage of venture capital and selling results to
Trope-a-Day: Mad Science Laboratory
Mad Science Laboratory: While a lot more modern, sleek and high-tech than the stereotypical example described – well, these days, anyway – in the Empire the “gentleman scientist” never quite went away, and came back in force with greater wealth and the cornucopia machine making it a lot more practical, just as
Trope-a-Day: The Madness Place
The Madness Place: In both a chronic and an acute sense. In a chronic sense – well, if you were to use a human psychological baseline, eldrae in general are surfing down a continuous wave of something very similar to, but not quite, unipolar hypomania. (Of course, no-one notices this *there*
Epistolary Experiment (15/30)
Ambassador vint-sal-halk (Aklaknak Cluster): “Am I correct in understanding, Madam Vice President, that your company is collecting transit fees from the Republic’s invasion fleet?” VP Sinith Aránà (Ring Dynamics, ICC): “You are. Am I correct in understanding, Your Excellency, that you would prefer that we let them invade us
Trope-a-Day: Made of Phlebotinium
Made of Phlebotinium: Well, while there are several kinds of phlebotinium around (see: Applied Phlebotinium) of one grade or another, the deprivation of most of which would certainly make the universe substantially less pretty and/or efficient, the two big ones from a “made of” point of view would be