worldbuilding
Herewith some thoughts on thematics, inspired by today’s quest for matcha-flavored Pocky, a fine and delicious product of the Ezaki Glico Company, Limited. I observe, on their corporate web site, the slogan “Pocky is about sharing happiness and bringing people together.” And I observe introspectively just how very much
automation
warmbody: a career that exists in certain “economically quirky” parts of the emerging markets, the warmbody – also sometimes known by the unusual sobriquet “rent-a-squishie” – reflecting an unwillingness to accept the realities of industrial magic and need to preserve “traditional” employment at all costs. From the corporate perspective, warmbodies serve to
HarĂşnet (Promegi Matrix)
A phenomenon ever worthy of note is how much the overall culture of the Worlds has been shaped less by the direct influence of the Great Powers, or indeed by their cultures in themselves, but rather by misunderstandings of those cultures, in which others grasp the surface forms but not
Places To Go
“Planetary law on Harúnet (Promegi Matrix) states that anything (or more accurately, any rights to anything) can be gambled there, and that all bets must be paid off, and all markers exchanged, before leaving planetary jurisdiction. “Conveniently, a number of orbital habitats in Harúnet’s libration points specialize in providing
SĂ©ralámĂya-class littoral restaurant ship
SĂ©ralámĂya-class littoral restaurant ship Builders: (original) Ethring Iron and Steam Works (refit) Captal DaĂ«ntry Naval District Displacement: 41,000 long tons Length: 272 m Beam: 34 m Draft: 6.18 m (full load) Propulsion: * 8 x Empire Nucleonics, ICC “Kirchev’s Cauldron” nucleonic boilers, driving * 8 x Blackstone Industries, ICC
meta
So, here we are at the end of September, and I’ve written all of one thing in the past month. Depression, unseemly heat, and a server deciding to take up an exciting new career as a brick have combined to do a real number on my creativity. Thank you
career
copperhead: In ancient times, an unskilled laborer who would work for a traditional rate of a selenis (a copper coin) per hour, doing anything, so long as the coin was paid up front. In the modern era, slang for casual contract labor. My grandfather was a contract barker in Lodendar’
eldraeic language
méshválar: (from mésh, a tile or plaque, and válaras, name, itself from val, personal pronoun, and laras, word); a name-tile. The origin of the name-tile is in the simple courtesy of not bringing moisture or road-dust into the home. Imperial houses are normally constructed with a caráhan, an entry room,
space debris
WATCH CONSTABULARY / ORBIT GUARD SPACECRAFT INCIDENT REPORT REPORT: MERI-11-5122 EVIDENCE BLOCK 2A DESCRIPTION: The following comprises a transcript of conversation occurring in the forward (open) hold of the Magpie-class debris recovery vehicle CMS Comber’s Bounty, in the minutes immediately preceding its destruction. The transcript was recovered from a surviving
economics
Little more need be said on the matter of thoughts and chattelry; in truth, the Word is the thing and the whole of the thing: All the works of your hands: Stone and metal, wood and water, fire and wind. All that your will creates. These things are forged in
All Good Things
A shadow fell over the city. That was, of course, perfectly normal. It was fourteen minutes before the Wakening hour, and four million people’s deliveries were here, packed into a vast warehouse wrapped in an inconceivable volume of vacuum, wrapped in turn in shimmering white fabric bearing the moé
annexation
liquidator (sovereign): As a member of a satrap’s retinue, primarily in cases of annexation, it is the function of the sovereign liquidator to trim down the newly acquired governance to something approximating the Imperial standard. Since the majority of barbarian governances have arrogated to themselves a certain number of