trope-a-day
Restraining Bolt: Leaving aside the specific cases we already covered under Morality Chip and Obstructive Code of Conduct, the most obvious example people might point out is the Transcendent coadjutor that serves as the source of the implicit peer-to-peer loyalty of the Transcendi and also acts as a prosthetic mentor/
law
From: Merian Vidumarvis (Port Security) To: All Security Personnel Subject: Bribery (Security Directive 7124-33) With reference to the assortment of rntrugg vessels docking here recently, their crewers’ misdemeanor-worthy behavior while docked, and their persistent interpretation of fines assessed and levied per summary judgment procedure as bribes: Let them. Various parts
trope-a-day
Morality Chip: These always fail. Always. Usually, they fail spectacularly, and when I say spectacularly, what I mean is that if your Enrichment Center was flooded with deadly neurotoxin, you got off substantially more easily than 99.9% of the civilizations that tried this particular form of idiocy. It’s
trope-a-day
Resignations Not Accepted: Averted – in a manner of speaking – for the Fifth Directorate. You can resign any time you like; but the conditions of employment with the Fifth are that to resign, you get to have your memories of everything you ever did for them redacted and replaced with a
trope-a-day
Requisite Royal Regalia: It comes in four parts, each a pair of items, one for the Emperor and one for the Empress: the Crowns, the Keys, the Seals, and the Swords. Crowns: There are the official Great Crowns of the Empire, of course, great heavy things in the shape of
SANGUINE MYRMIDON
CASE SANGUINE MYRMIDON LASH GROUP SANGUINE MYRMIDON SECRET (BLUE) / EYES ONLY SANGUINE MYRMIDON TRACKED-COPY DOCUMENT NOCONTRACT NOFORN INFORMATION CONTAINMENT APPLIES: MOST SEVERE CENSURE Proceed (+/-)? + EXECUTION: STRATEGIC ACTION MESSAGE / LOCAL ISS CMD CODE-RELEASE (SEPT CONCURRENCE) S-THREAT ONLY GROUP SUMMARY: All referenced data within the security group SANGUINE MYRMIDON relates to
trope-a-day
Remote Body: The standard operating system (the Minimal Maintenance Architecture) that’s part of just about any cybershell or bioshell on the market lets them be teleoperated as an alternative to actually downloading yourself into them. It works pretty well, except when absurdly fast reactions are required, or there’s
culture
The Empire has its monuments to its battles and retreats, to its victories and losses, but more curious perhaps to many are those monuments it has to those who fought against it. On my way into the system, the liner on which I was travelling passed the moon Hyníne, where
trope-a-day
Religion of Evil: Mostly averted. While there has certainly been historical evil, there have been very few actual entropy-cults. For the most part, the evil have been more interested in the personal benefits than philosophical commitment to the Death of Everything, even if their actions are entropic as a side-effect.
Places To Go
Hyníne: One of the inner moonlets orbiting the ice giant Raziké, the 10th and outermost planet in Lumenna orbit, Hyníne is a largely undistinguished chunk of water ice some 400 miles in radius. While a few private getaway habitats are recorded as existing here, there are no major domes or
trope-a-day
Red Alert: In the Imperial Navy, played with realism (also with the Most Annoying Sound, inasmuch as the alert klaxon is custom-designed to irritate the nerves of every possible sophont listening, simultaneously): “General quarters! General quarters! Set condition one throughout the ship! This Is Not A Drill!” The Admiralty, Core
dueling
A duel begins and ends with one stroke. So it is said. With tactical prolepsis, this is even more true than it once was. I stared at my opponent without seeing him; in the view of proleptics, there are no objects, only clouds of probability and possibility. The quantum computer