Body Surf: Pretty much anyone can do this â even the pure biosapiences with the aid of some Very Large brain scanning technology â but since they can mostly only enter bodies they have brain ackles for, which mostly means âowned or rentedâ, reinstantiation isnât the sort of problem that the
Body Horror: Letâs not think about the dark side of infectious proteus nanoviruses and just how they can rewrite chunks of your body while youâre still using it. No, really, letâs not.
In a room in the Twilight City, Laryssan dreams. The room is not a room, nor the city a city; the eikones and their realm are creatures of mathematics and algorithm, running on the great lunar brains of CorĂcal AilĂ©k; on local photonic processing nodes scattered across Imperial space; on
Boarding Party: Where battered hulks and surrendered ships are concerned, yes, if the delta-v needed to catch them is within reasonable bounds. Even occasionally elsewhere, with some specially designed boarding pods â but thatâs crazy-difficult enough there has to be something really valuable on the other ship. Of course, where
âThe word which is commonly translated as âImperialsâ, referring to any of the Empireâs citizen-shareholders, is valmirĂĂ€n in the original Eldraeic; curiously, it is not cognate at all to that nationâs formal name. From its roots, it could have the meaning either of âordered selfâ or of âself
Blood Oath: Averted. The general consensus is that I Gave My Word should be enough for anybody, on either end of the arrangement.
I Gave My Word: Played very, very straight indeed. As is known throughout the Worlds, the word (or debt) of an Imperial is as close to absolute as you can get. (They are sometimes, if you are prone to abuse these things, Exact Words, and since they are cautious with
Galåré Actual, Galåré System. The noösphere of Galåré sang with electromagnetic voices. The galari themselves, crystalline creatures of carbon-wrought silicon,  were the most complex voices in the song, exchanging trills and dithyrambs of information, an endless symphony of knowledge framed in multi-layered harmonies of incredible complexity; not a singular overmind,
Exact Words: The Imperials are, of course, sophonts of their words. It would be very bad form for one to chop logic so closely and obey the letter, and not the spirit, of an agreement. Unless, of course, your counterparty is trying to do it to you first, or other
Afterburner Fly-In, Skyway 51, 5,000 feet above the Selenarian plains. âWeâd like the Trinary Burger with the smokinâ kimaes, the reshkef handmeal with mint, both with grated argĂłrĂ©n and smokebite cheese on the side, the kaeth-size roast joint of ftark, glazed âon fireâ, a box of sevesĂșr segments
Blood Brothers / True Companions: The (semi-) formalized groups of friends, especially in freelance adventurer/weirdseeker/etc. company, known as circles (short for âoath-circlesâ, because they are; also the second generalized form of Imperial social structure, after the branch). Not all of them are formalized by oath, however, hence the âsemiâ
The priest of the Unnamed, unidentifiable behind flowing night-purple robes and serene mask of polished silver, moved steadily through the market towards the statue of Valentia I. The crowd parted as he â or she â passed, leaving a respectful distance. The reputation of the Masked Order made even the bold wary