Alistair Young

Trope-a-Day: Eye Beams

Eye Beams: Averted.  There are very few sensors which can double as or co-locate with weapons systems, and even where those are in use, effectively disabling your sensors while you fire is, ah, not survival-oriented behavior.

Elmiríën's Truths

The following is an extract from the Word of the Flame, the record of the series of dream-visions the seeress Merriéle experienced on the side of the mountain Tirias Calémon in the year 1,199 pre-Imperial.  The contents of these visions formed the basis of the mainstream Eldraeic religion.  This

Trope-a-Day: Exposition Beam

Exposition Beam: What mnemonesis (see Neural Imprinting) is for, although it’s much more commonly used for imparting knowledge in the data and skillset sense than imprinting knowledge in the history/backstory sense.  Nonetheless, it can be done, and as such, tends to be done, at least sometimes – despite the

Trope-a-Day: Neural Imprinting

Neural Imprinting: Ubiquitous, although it’s called “gnostic overlay” and “mnemonesis”.  And while it is the standard educational technique (starting prenatally, with the axiom feed), it’s only the first step.  After all, being able to download huge chunks of skillset into a chap’s brain is easy; successful integration

Trope-a-Day: Mind Rape

Mind Rape: See, in essence, And I Must Scream.  The penalties are commensurate. (Note, though, that this doesn’t apply to the standard means of extracting information from unwilling minds among technological sophisticates (Mind Probe); namely, pulling a copy of the mind-state vector – which is about as painful as getting

The Darëssef

These are some short vignettes “by” members of the various Eldraeic darëssef – not castes, not since very early pre-Imperial days, since one can move freely between them and, indeed, maintain a place in multiple darëssef simultaneously, but rather, groups of social-role archetypes with their own sets of philosophies, customs, protocols,

Trope-a-Day: Mind Probe

Mind Probe: Available in a couple of forms; the alethiometer, a highly sophisticated lie detector which works by dynamic mind-state analysis, and the more advanced form, which is obtaining a static copy of the mind-state (via Brain Uploading, which fortunately is possible non-destructively these days) and dissecting it for whatever

Trope-a-Day: Explosive Overclocking

Explosive Overclocking: Played straight with nanotech devices, including both assemblers and nanocomputers (which make up a large number of the processors out there).  One of the chief limitations on nanotech devices is the problem of heat dissipation from such tiny machines, and the limitations on the ways there are to

Trope-a-Day: Instant Cooldown

Instant Cooldown: No, no, no.  Thermodynamics does not work that way, and even with thermal superconductors, neutrino pumps, and black holes, thermodynamics still doesn’t work that way.  Stay out of the red zone. (Also, bearing in mind the proclivities of the manufacturers of much of this equipment, the red

Trope-a-Day: Exploding Consoles

THIS NEVER HAPPENS. Explosive Instrumentation: Oh, good grief, no.  All control panels, computer equipment, etc., is low power circuitry separated by multiple isolators, relays, and other such devices from anything high power, and amply supplied with surge suppressors, circuit breakers, hard fuses, and so forth.  Even if they’re the

Trope-a-Day: Explosions in Space

Explosions In Space: Are bright, spherical (definitely lacking planar shockwaves), non-persistent (no flames, because no air), and move along the trajectory of whatever just exploded.  Also, silent – any explosion you hear in space has been simulated for you by your ship’s user interface (see: Space Is Noisy).

Trope-a-Day: Space is Noisy

Space is Noisy: Averted, naturally – there’s no air in space, ergo no sound; the only way to communicate out there without some sort of communication system is writing, mime or pressing-together of helmets, etc., etc. (It’s worth noting, of course, that this doesn’t apply inside starships, because