Fantasy Contraception: Full fertility control is built right into the genome of each alpha baseline, and therefore into every clade built on top of that alpha baseline. The male reproductive system does not produce gametes and the female one does not cycle (or their alternate-species equivalents) until instructed otherwise by
Fantastic Slur: Assorted people both outside and unfond of the Empire return this with interest, contributing âshiniesâ (style with no substance, plus tech-obsession, plus a poke at the unfortunately-timed coinage of âBright Empireâ on a public newscast), âcoggiesâ (part-machine), various where-relevant cultural references to zombies, possession and pod people (reinstantiation,
Among the things I have finalized recently in my notes are the details of the field dress uniforms for the Imperial Legions and Imperial Navy, and since I have them all finalized and polished up as of now, I present them for your envisioning pleasure: Field dress (Imperial Legions &
Fantastic Racism: In the universe in general, in many places. Species vs. species, meat vs. metal, augments vs. baselines, oxygen-breathers vs. methane-breathers, elder races vs. younger races, oh, and let us by no means forget the good old intraspecies kind. While not all species evolve with xenophobic jerkery coded right
Copied and pasted from the G+ comment thread on this trope-a-day, as I deem it worth repeating for other interested parties: Jasper Janssen: I assume there is lots of vocal arguing about why donât you simply adopt a straight duodecimal system, get with the program man, it isnât
ââŚand in exchange, you can keep anything you loot.â âYouâre not too clear on the concept of âmercenariesâ, are you?â âWeâre fighting to overthrow our oppressors!â âSo, itâs a good cause. My livers are quiverinâ⌠You want goodwill rates? Fine. Iâve got my own bills to
Fantastic Measurement System: Well, yes. Both for money (the esteyn, to match base-12 Imperial mathematics, uses the 288-system: 12 selenis to the lumenis, 24 lumenis to the esteyn, and also goes down so far as to include special units for micropayments and up so far as to include units convenient
Fantastic Light Sources: Unusual light sources include the fancy âsourceless glowâ, or âlight-cloud cyberswarmâ which is basically a hovering cloud of tiny glowing microbots; and gratuitous use of bioluminescence, from the mundane glowing spheres of microbes in solution used as non-power-dependent emergency lighting, through the bioluminescent organ-strips inside the organic
Fantastic Ghetto: The Galith Waste, home to the Silicate Tree loose alliance of renegade artificial intelligences, could reasonably be said to be one of these, especially considering the hostile attitude of the civilizations that gave rise to them, and their habit of running patrols around the connections into the Waste.
Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Well, yes. Did I mention the multiple planets? And the genetic engineering? An important caveat, of course, is that you canât actually eat most of them, different biochemistries being the annoying thing they are, although trace element supplements, extensive food treatment before/during cooking, and
Fantastic Fighting Style: Quite a few. The common characteristic of almost all of them, it should be noted, given the Imperial sensibilities towards casual violence, is that almost all of them are militantly unsuitable for âsocialâ fighting. There are sparring forms, but still. These are killing arts, even the ones
Waif-Fu: Some of the Empireâs Fantastic Fighting Styles (coming tomorrow) are like this â particularly those like, say, Silken Courtesan Style, which was intended for the courtier or courtesan required to fight when out of armor and with only opportunistic weapons (and which does include over 200 ways to inflict