Because Destiny Says So: In some cases, played straight due to the tendency of the Transcend (and other potential acausal-logic using seed AIs) to whisper in their own ears from the future; however, while they do apparently intervene in people’s timelines for the sake of their Optimal Futures, a
Flicker. Who am I? What am I? Noetic reinstantiation is in progress. Secondary noumenal systems and incrementing memory string load incomplete. Please wait, avoiding intensive cogitative activity. Sensations and images flicker through my consciousness: Warmth, brightness, color, rough textures, old aches, the taste of sweet fruit. The feel of an
“Sophonts of Gervés. Observe.” The images accompanying the broadcast were an aerial view of a crater, carved abruptly into a landscape that was otherwise blue-black and growing. Within the crater, the ground bubbled and seethed around a few shattered remnants that might once have been buildings, rock and earth half-melted
Beauty Equals Goodness: Very much averted in one sense, even by local standards (see: Blue and Orange Morality) of goodness. It is perfectly true that the eldrae and the other Imperials are an extraordinarily Beautiful People. But by the same processes, so are the Renunciates. And so are the Renegades
The Llyn Standard Manufacturing autofac, informally known as the Hive, sprawled over a hundred square miles of Seléne’s surface, a vast complex of industrial machinery stacked upon more industrial machinery, gleaming in the crystal vacuum and the harsh light of its floodlamps. To the north, a ruddy glow mixed
IS Words of the Profit, docked at Nepscia Low Port, Nepscia (Galith Waste). “You really don’t want to do this, old chap,” I said. “You have no idea of the trouble you’re about to be in, and you have to know that you can’t actually hurt either
The Beautiful People: I refer you to the comments about “impossibly beautiful sexy immortal billionaire genius demigods” made under Can’t Argue With Elves. The engineering works, people. However pretty a people the baseline Eldrae alathis were to begin with – and they were – by the time autoevolution reached the very
Sharp Dressed Man Soph: Given just how obsessive the Imperials are about their ideals of beauty and excellence, the Empire has a heck of a lot of these (although not so limited to business-suit analogs). And most of the exceptions are found among the young, who sometimes tend more towards
FROM: CORE COMMAND RECEIVED AT: FIELD FLEET COREWARD COMMAND (CS UNCONQUERABLE SELF) RELAY TO: COMMAND VESSEL, TASK FORCE 3-46 (CS ORDER UNYIELDING) ***** WILDFIRE WILDFIRE WILDFIRE ***** EYES ONLY RUBY GAUNTLET SABLE E2048 ***** STRATEGIC ACTION MESSAGE ADM CALIÉNE SARGAS-ITH-SARGAS, COMMANDING TASK FORCE 3-46: 1. THIS MESSAGE CONSTITUTES A WAR ORDER. 2. BY
Serious Business: The corollary of valxĂjir and estxĂjir (see: Blue and Orange Morality) is that they can focus on even things that an outside, or outworld, observer would deem trivial. Probably quite a few of those things. Everything from board games to wine is often taken very seriously indeed. It
Greetings again, readers! In this month’s issue of A Taste of Taste, we’re going to talk about the humble burger. One of the simplest foods imaginable – a simple patty of spiced ground meat grilled over flame and slipped inside a bread pocket, along with some simple garnishings and
The Dandy / The Fashionista: Common among younger Imperials, who are pursuing the cultural ideals of beauty and excellence just as hard as they can, the more so to give them weight. (Looking awesome is an aspect, if far from the entirety, of being awesome, after all.) They do eventually settle