Delay
Sorry, folks, no new part today. Been traveling and kind of bleh. More tomorrow.
Alistair Young
Contemplating Mugs
Imperial Star and Motto …eh, maybe a little premature. (Also, a very early draft, besides.)
Trope-a-Day: Karma Meter
Karma Meter: Reputation networks are everywhere, functioning as effectively a public record, social network, and barometer of public opinion for everyone. Of course, there’s not a particular standard of karma in use – they exist for all kinds of different groups and different themes – to steal an example I’ve
Epistolary Experiment (5/30)
The cellar shuddered under another impact, and dust sifted down from the cracked ceiling. “Sign up with the Expansion Renewal Union, you said,” huffed the ciseflish, pressure suit creaking as he dragged the heavy cable across the floor. “It’ll be fun, you said. All the excitement happens in the
Trope-a-Day: Just Following Orders
Just Following Orders: Averted – despite being less inclined to this sort of thing anyway, if we take a moment to imagine an in-universe rerunning of the Milgram experiment – Imperial Service training and even basic ethics education makes it very clear that this will not be considered an excuse for anyone,
In The Shiny Brightness of the Far Future...
In response to a wondering, which response grew too long to post as a replying comment. Mark Atwood: I do have to wonder what the Republic could possibly gain by invading the Empire. If their xenophobic political factions gain power, their cause is better and cheaper served by just destroying
Trope-a-Day: Just a Machine
Just a Machine: Averted (and extremely rude) in all civilized polities. (Played straight in less civilized places, until it’s also averted… all too often, if the Silicate Tree or the more bloody-minded abolitionists get their way, with bullets, missiles, and orbital bombardment. They really hate people who think this
Epistolary Experiment (4/30)
FLEETS MOBILIZE Fleets are mobilizing across the spinward constellations of the Associated Worlds this week in response to the unwarranted incursion by the Voniensan Republic, in clear violation of the Worlds-Republic Demarcation Convention. In addition to the Imperial Spinward Fleet, task forces from the League of Meridian, Nal Kalak, the
Trope-a-Day: Judge, Jury, and Executioner
Judge, Jury, and Executioner: The job of the Fifth Directorate, where existential threats and other excessionary events are concerned. Rather strictly forbidden for everyone else (including the Shadow Fleet, Imperial State Security, etc. – although their legal procedure can, and often does, vary to fit the necessities of the cases they
Trope-a-Day: "Join the Army", They Said
“Join The Army,” They Said: While it’s never as yet been shown on screen, I am pretty certain both that the advertising is pretty realistic about the nature of war, but also that the recruitment slogan for the Imperial Military Service is along the lines of: CIVILIZATION HAS ENEMIES.
Epistolary Experiment (3/30)
From: Karr mor-Kadrek, Fleet Security To: Virni Alman, Fleet Communications Subject: Re: War warning – procedure? File it. Nice of the home office to send it through, but even cutting the corner of their space, what’s the worst they could do to us? It’d take ’em ten years just
Trope-a-Day: Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Averted three times over. Firstly, because of the ethical problems (the people who are very cautious and gentle about imprisoning the accused because they don’t own their people are hardly going to endorse torture). Secondly, because it doesn’t work, assuming you have any reason