The degree of cooperation which you can expect to receive in the course of your work abroad will usually – not universally – be a function of the local government class. Our most successful relationships are usually with the many private sovereignties of the Associated Worlds, large or small – the independent habitats
Bee People: There are several species out there with an approximately eusocial structure, although not always the conventional queen/drone/warrior/worker setup, and by far the majority of them do not have a Hive Mind – evolving bioradio-techlepathy ain’t that easy. Prominent examples would be the múrast (who don’
Beehive Barrier: Played straight when extended-area shields are required, both with kinetic barriers (which are vectored plates) and with various types of armor, because they do tessellate that well, and a geodesic sphere/dome is a very effective way to build a minimal-surface container out of flat plates.
Among the comforting things about living in the Transcend are that when divine commands are issued, first, you can be confident that they’re being issued by something with actual qualifications for the role, rather than externalized mental agents, brain dysfunctions, or particularly effective entheogens. And second, if you ask,
Becoming the Mask: Played straight with gnostic overlays, the special kind of downloadable knowledge/skillset that overlays values or other personality aspects onto the person using them (see, for instance, the constabular overlay and objectivity overlay mentioned under Incorruptible Pure Pureness). Long-term users of given overlays tend to find themselves
So, there isn’t an actual fic-a-day today, because ever since I read a news article about the TSA’s latest shenanigans, I’ve been too mad to have an idea – or rather, all the characters in my head have had nothing to do but deliver variations on The Reason
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Not overwhelmingly more than any other reality (although the emphasis Imperial-style moral teachings put on self-integrity, importance of probably helps make people substantially more resistant to temptation). And, of course, remember Blue and Orange Morality, which does, ahem, offer a somewhat different slant on the qualifications for
Morash system, Dark Sea constellation – two gates from Litash. The starships of Imperial Navy task force 3-46 hung in orbit around Morash’s outer gas giant, skydivers darting around them as they refueled for the final move on Litash. A Starwing-class courier, oversized triple radiators glowing high orange with the
The Chosen One: Again per Because Destiny Says So, the people whose timelines are meddled in by the local weakly godlike superintelligences on the grounds that their existence, or something they will do during their existence, is necessary to their designed Optimal Future. Somewhat subverted inasmuch as what the Chosen
The Chooser of the One: Per Because Destiny Says So, any of the transcendent seed AIs who feel a need to meddle with the future and have the sort of view of the world to enable them to do so reliably. Generally does not come with Super Empowering, for reasons
Ollisté Cúlárius’s Erotic Watchvid Review! Hard Heat in the Hotlands, imp. GantÃr Media. (32 minutes.) The things I do for you, gentle readers. I watched this production, imported from the Dulse Cooperation, not once but twice; once, purely as myself, as a connoisseur of cross-species erotica, and then for
Seeing as that last fic was the first time recently I’ve used the extended eldraeic name-format – or at least its most common version, since various cultures do it differently in some places and times, but this is the one that doubles as the modern International Standard – let’s talk