trope-a-day
Rock Beats Laser: No, no it doesnât. The history of galactic warfare is the history of superior technology consistently crushing inferior technology in Curb-Stomp Battle after Curb-Stomp Battle. Most of the time, itâs not even sporting. There are a very few counterexamples brought up, but when examined, those
'fresher
The primary hygiene component of a standard shipboard âfresher is a cylindrical translucent compartment, resembling a drug capsule set on its end, with a watertight sealing door. At top and bottom, gratings conceal powerful counter-rotating fan/turbine units. In dynamic mode, these fan/turbines are engaged to blow (at the
trope-a-day
Robots Enslaving Robots: Rare, but not unknown, especially when the AI code used to build them is based off insufficiently processed sophont brainscans. Without the same careful design effort that goes into transsophonts being put into making them so, artificial minds are no more immune from irrationality, hypocrisy, and unenlightened
starship
The current standard for docking adapters in Imperial space, suitable for both docking and berthing, is defined by IOSS 52114, the Imperial Universal Starship Interface (IUSI). The standard defines androgynous docking adapters in three standard sizes (IUSI-C/crawlspace, IUSI-P/gangway, and IUSI-F/freight container), in both standard (containing a transfer
trope-a-day
Robot Religion: Played straight for the digisapiences, but itâs generally not a specific robot religion â they tend to take up the same religions and philosophies as anyone else (including, where relevant, Deus Est Machina). With the general proviso that itâs a lot harder to get contradictions and afactualities
computer
âBack off the toggle reader,â Myrian Vitremarvis bellowed through his bullhorn. âUnclutch the address drive from the operatinâ counter.â A series of metallic bangs punctuated by less-metallic blasphemies from the floor above accompanied the execution of this order. âOkay, now get the donkey strapped up. Advance address counter to 12,
trope-a-day
Robot War: Happens, to some degree, every time some new species makes the monumentally bad decision to try their hand at sophont-AI slavery, because that trick never works. Most of them, fortunately, arenât wars of extermination â on the machine side, anyway â just escape-style wars of liberation. And, of course,
trope-a-day
Rite of Passage: Technically, the only universal rite of passage in the Empire (of course, there are also non-universal ones, like the Rite of Acceptance into your House used among the eldrae, seen in Adolescence) is the appointment with your tort insurer in which you finally self-sign enough cover to
trope-a-day
The Right of a Superior Species: Averted by responsible Superior Species, who understand why itâs not a good idea to go around granting yourself an Omniscient Morality License. (Even if the traditional tactless way to put it is along the lines of âThe corollary of being a Superior Species
Associated Worlds
And one more: How about approx. population density/sapient life occurrence frequency/percentage of races successfully achieved spaceflight without rendering themselves extinct etc. of Associated Worlds? Well, now. If you were to compare the number of species around the place in the Worlds to the total number of star systems
non-canon
Todayâs random text from the mercifully-and-for-good-reason cut pile: âIt was horrible â horrible! We were just sitting there having drinks and talking. And then a robot fell out of the sky and his head exploded!â âAnd the robot?â âIt exploded too.â
Great Powers
Another question to answer: And finally, how much far advanced Imperial science/technology compared with other Presidium Powers? Well, now, thatâs a complicated question, covering a whole lot of different fields and people and⌠yeah. I probably canât give you a full answer, but letâs see what