While WordPress.com have made it possible for us to participate in this event, tomorrow (the 18th), I regret to say that I won’t be joining those of y’all who choose to participate.  For two reasons: One, as a rule, I abhor gesture politics, and especially the kind
Arbitrary Maximum Range: Well, hardly arbitrary. Very carefully programmed maximum range, in fact, since missiles are not jolly things to have ploughing on and on into space without a self-destruct mechanism, or more precisely, for acknowledgement-of-the-kinetic-kill-factor, a deceleration-before-exploding and/or deceleration-and-call-someone-for-pickup mechanism. And then there are the fluffships, giant self-propelled
“It should understand,” I spoke as if to the air, “that its cause will not be served by genuflection, or by prostration, or by obsequity, or by such other obeisance as it has been in the habit of demanding.” “We are defeated, broken,” the chained lanect hissed back. “The Stanturak
To expand a little on the degree quantifiers mentioned in the previous post, these are a set of words which permit the Eldraeic speaker to quantify the degree to which a particular predicate applies with reference to its subject argument. Â There are six of these in common use: ulquor nonexistent,
El val telalĂ©lharn quor olmanár elĂ©n alĂrvelv. No, I have no idea why I translated that.  Just had a moment, I suppose. Word-by-word breakdown: el Simple descriptor; essentially an article. val “I”; or in this case “my”, because it follows the simple descriptor. telalĂ©lharn hovercraft – literally “wind-vehicle” from telalĂ©l (“wind”
From Merak Ikarakakt, greetings. My dear friend, having consulted with galactic rep networks and meta-networks, I believe you to be a sophont of the highest integrity and excellent reputation in the interstellar business community. I have the privilege therefore to request your assistance in a matter of the greatest confidentiality
…yeah, no. Seriously, I’m imagining thousands of years of technological development, here, and the parts which correspond to the technological development of Terrans is rather, ah, variant – starting with the early use of nuclear energy in place of fossil fuels, the substitution of ceramics and composites for plastics, and
Apocalypse How: Several worlds have been apocalypsed in the ongoing course of galactic events. Perhaps most notable are Laris (Tanion Wilds), whose former civilization wiped itself out with really dirty nuclear bombs; Ulijen (Cordai Gap), a planet that now has a distinct-looking bite in it where the power plant that
“Was that trochaic heptameter? It sounded like heptameter…” “I think so, yes.” “I don’t believe – what difference does it make what -?” “When you’ve known the Admiral for as long as we have, Excellency, you can predict her state of, ah, irritation quite well from her speech habits.
We are asked, quite regularly, why the bandal was chosen as the first candidate for uplift. The simple answer, of course, is that as a domesticated animal that had, unlike every other, been bred selectively for millennia for higher intelligence and more, which is profoundly social, the bandal was one
Omnicidal Maniac: Fortunately, very, very rare, and generally outnumbered by everyone else. The best-known canonical example is the seed AI of the Charnel Cluster, discovered by a scouting lugger, which upon activation set about destroying all life within the said cluster – leading to a half-dozen systems of fragmented habitats and
While I’m really running dreadfully behind with this series, #4 is off to my subscribers, giving a taste of what the mainstream belief systems among the eldrae with regard to, well, Cosmos and Ethos are all about. For anyone coming to me recently – and this is the first time