I recently received an e-mail from a reader making the very good point that this ‘verse is getting somewhat impenetrable for the newcomer – at least, without going on an absolutely huge archive binge. (And, let’s face it, so long as I’m primarily sticking here to the nanofic format,
Master Race: While the Imperial polyspecificity (which is to say, by no means just the eldrae, so not exactly a Master Race) is by and large comfortable in its non-innate-we-worked-hard-for-this-thank-you-so-very-much superiority to damn near everyone, as per Superior Species and Can’t Argue With Elves, they really have no time
Superior Species: We pretty much covered this territory under Can’t Argue With Elves too, didn’t we? Well, to expand in general, rather than pick a specific example, especially since they started building their own future generations with transsophont technology, there are very few successful species that don’t
The sculpted hull of the starship rose impossibly skyward, looming over the queuing passengers as if it might fall upon them any minute. Gleaming chrome and gold, it shone in the sunlight against the black-painted metal of the stardock. The subdued roar of its warming engines, readying themselves to propel
Mary Sue Topia: Well, of course. If you don’t want one of these (especially with regard to, say, No Poverty), what’s wrong with you? (And, for that matter and rather more smugly to say, if you don’t have one of these, you aren’t trying hard enough.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Partial Service Restoration, Spinward Constellations; Possible Coreward Outages Expected Outer Ring Netweavers, ICC, is pleased to announce that full extranet service, including open-service relays, has been restored to the Galith Waste, Frentish Nebula, and Cordai Gap constellations. Service has also been fully restored to regions of the
No Poverty: Played straight in the Empire – and indeed the entire Core Economic Zone. Well, at least as far as absolute poverty goes. Let us consider, for example, the hypothetical lowest-income citizen-shareholder in the Empire, someone who certainly doesn’t exist, having never had a single original, marketable thought in
“Space may be silent, but it’s easy to tell how the ship’s maneuvering from the noise inside. Cold-gas thrusters hiss. Hypergolics hiss too, with a harsher metallic note, bangs and pings. Hydroxy rockets, they roar. Solid packs are similar, but rougher, with underlying stutters and clicks. Fusion torches
Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Part of the problem – to an extent, sense being defined as specifically those kinds of it that apply in scarcity economies – the Empire and its economic peers have in relating to the rest of the galaxy, specifically those parts of it that aren’t
“Progress begins with someone saying: ‘There has to be a better way to do this’. This, then, must be the basis of techneprax morality: never to fail to ask that question.” – prologue, Eternal Progress, Ianthe Claves-ith-Claves Elinaeth
Marked Bullet: You can actually buy gun add-ons to engrave the flechettes (with elegant and situationally relevant haiku, even, in the case of the Eye-in-the-Flame Warrior-Poet Gun) – granted, it’s too small to read with the naked eye, and it’s almost impossible that it will be readable post-impact – as
LANDING, SARAGÓS – “The future of Saragós as an independent world today hangs in the balance, as the Iltine Union’s true intentions in keeping its primary fleet elements at home were revealed in a surprise attack on the freesoil world Saragós, on the rim of the Osis Deep constellation. Behind