trope-a-day
Enlightened Self-Interest: The source of all good things in the universe, and thanks to mĂ©lith, a basic principle of life when youâre an Imperial. Doing well by doing good; doing good by doing well. (Much more reliable than altruism, far less prone to coercive perversion â altruismâs bad enough
trope-a-day
Empty Shell: A âshell running the Minimal Maintenance Architecture, as they do when no-oneâs currently occupying them. It provides for maintaining autonomous functions, interfacing with the systems of a body hotel, diagnostics, and teleoperation, but little more. Also, of course, createable in all the traditional and several non-traditional nasty
A Star Traveler's Dictionary
minigravity (n., slang): The level of gravity present on dwarf planets, small moons, large asteroids, et. al. While not rigorously defined, the minigravity range is commonly held to be between 0.2 and 0.005 standard gravities, anything below which is considered to be de facto microgravity. Unofficially, the range
trope-a-day
Enhanced Archaic Weapons: Lots of them, thanks to a plentiful supply of enthusiastic hobbyists more than willing to apply the latest technologies to their personal obsessions, all the way down to blades hand-knapped from IsimĂr trench ice with micro-manipulators. For the most part, these qualify as Awesome, But Impractical, if
trope-a-day
Eldritch Starship: Oh, there are a few. Take esseli starships, for example. Unlike the link!n-Rechesh (who would be another fine example), they know better than to try to grow fully organic starships, so from outside the hulls and drives look relatively normal. Then you go through the airlock, and
Ring Dynamics
âI do not believe it is possible for us to reduce our transit fee costs, except possibly by further optimized routing. âNotably, Ring Dynamics offers a single fee structure to all users â military, commercial, and private â of the stargate network, based on mass and distance traveled, and offers no concessions
trope-a-day
Academician Sesca Galith stepped up behind the podium, and tapped it gently to begin. The audience quieted rapidly as she held up a wickedly-pointed poniard, of oddly-textured metal, with lights gleaming white and amber in its hilt, whose image was repeated on the displayed behind her. âPresenting, gentlesophs, the latest
meta
How would one, given the current situation on Terra, move humanity towards becoming something more Imperial, and in doing so, not cause massive amounts of death and destruction? âŠif I had an answer to that one, Iâd be Chairman of the Vanguard Party, not an âumble SF author. (Honestly,
trope-a-day
Endless Daylight: A property of more than a few worlds in the Empire. Some, like Eurymir, because theyâre tide-locked, and the noon pole always points at the sun. A similar situation applies to the hexterranes of CoricĂĄl AilĂ©k, which are oriented such that âupâ is always sunward, and the
azayfi
(First posted on a Google+ SF Nanofic community for a competition.) The green army stretched into the distance, three feet tall. âYou see the problem?â âYou wanta greenjack-fab, you gotta. By them, works, innit?â âAnd you donât see any flaws here?â âWorks. More âan, not part of the deal.
trope-a-day
Dyson Sphere: The Empire has two, although neither by that name, the concept *there* having been devised by Cirys Minaxianos. One, a Cirys bubble, is at EsilmĂșr (Imperial Core); a thin layer of light-sail material surrounds the star, held up by photon and solar wind pressure in much the same
Imperial State Security
The official history of Imperial State Security records that Istar Sargas [Alphas I Amanyrâs left-hand man, and founder of the ISS] was assassinated in 742, and control of the Directorates moved to the Imperial Security Executive, at the time a hand-picked body of his division heads. Unofficial history and