He has a mind of metal, and wheels. Of course he does. He's a difference engine. overheard early in the Era of Steel and Steam If there is to be a rapprochement between us and the Republic – and such a thing is, I think we must all concede,
Mmrdene, the homeworld of the esseli, is assuredly one of the most interesting worlds of the Principalities for an unprepared visitor to experience. The starport, you see, is relatively conventional, and while the architecture of the terminal naturally defers to local aesthetics, the port's primary facilities should be
So I said I'd write a quick worldbuilding note on the psychological differences between eldrae and humans that lead to such things as, well, Mutiny as a Service or the ancient Imperial Military Service tradition of generals having to ask their legions to fight for them, and the
It is the policy of the Imperial Military Service to only employ those intelligent and self-motivated autonomous weapons which are as capable of disobeying, arresting, and - if necessary - executing me, my colleagues, or any of my officers, should we choose to issue unlawful or unethical orders, as any
Today seems like a good day to remind everyone of this classic from the archives: Drones Don’t Kill People, People Kill PeopleARTIFICE ARMAMENTS TICKET-TRACKING: CASE 18922 From: Bureau of Social Hygiene, Ikklar Triumvirate Subject: Nightwing-class military-grade security drone Version: 1.3.0.1872 Issue: Drone refuses to obey orders.
Proceedings of the Shareholders' Court District of Canterfall Golden Groves (Principalities) In the case of the tort of trespass to estate brought by one Galánt Kirvin, of Canter Junction, Shimmerglade, the plaintiff against one Mérric Eshil, of Canter Junction, Shimmerglade, the respondent and having reviewed the case dossier brought
Man, this is awkward. I haven't posted for quite some time, for which I apologize appropriately prodigiously. My muse has been feeling quite burned out recently, for a variety of reasons probably unrelated to writing. Hopefully the involuntary extended break helped. And now, when I've prepared
níaóhál: the sound that a fírastal (cat) makes. It is derived, first, from the onomatopoeia for the sound itself (níaó), and secondly from the emphatic-imperative suffix used when issuing commands. It is known, after all, that cats speaking to large, clumsy, dull creatures do so almost exclusively loudly, slowly, and
If you want to study serious metric engineering, you do it at Selintri-Andracanth. It’s the only place going. Oh, come on, you say. They have metric engineering classes at dozens of universities, and besides, Imogen Andracanth didn’t need a VFSL! Well, yes, they do, but even those universities
LANCET-CLASS FEL BORE Operated by: * Blue-Green Ecociates, ICC * Atalant Materials, ICC Type: Orbital Bore, Free-Electron Laser Construction: Starflight Shipyards, Seléne Length: 1.2 km Beam (primary hull): 72 m Beam (storage rings): 324 m Gravity-well capable: No. Atmosphere-capable: No. Personnel: 18 Drives: Nucleodyne Thrust Applications 4x1 "Sunheart VI"
So if you've been wondering where I've been all month... ...well, I've been rather preoccupied with becoming naturalized at last, you see. Good day, my fellow Americans! (And to everyone else, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.)
CALMIRÍË, ELIÉRA - Addressing current extranet rumors in a press conference given outside the Fortress today, a Daríë Qanlídár, speaking for the Imperial Security Executive, was unable to confirm or deny whether the JADE NEEDLE program - in any form described by the rumors - or indeed any usage of
worldbuilding
Today in worldbuilding, we're going to talk about the uniforms of the Watch Constabulary, the Empire's policing service¹. Now, to be clear, this doesn't include the Office of Investigation and Pursuit (who aren't part of the Constabulary, strictly speaking), who wear regular
quotation
Despite centuries of terrible research by terrible people, sophotechnology has not provided either protein or machine intelligences with any viable technique to sandbox evil. Istar Essenye, wakener
SNARgocz-class applied eschatology vehicle
SNARgocz-class applied eschatology vehicle Builders: Probable Technologies, ICC, based on an original design by the Society of Nanoscale Artisan-Researchers Length: 48' Width: 20' Height: 16' Propulsion: * Dual Treadwell tracked drivetrain, powered by * Empire Nucleonics, ICC, "Ember"-type low-power radiothermal generator Maximum speed: 15 mph (naked)
House Sargas
Despite the many quirks of the House of Blood-Streaked Marble¹, the most curious features of the House Sargas estate are not to be found there, but rather fifty miles north in the small hill town of Voivars, buried in the high valleys of the Dragon's Nest Range. Voivars
Luciverine (Eponian Cluster)
(This is one of two write-ups of Luciverine (Eponian Cluster), in response to reader request. This is the purely canon version, rather than that found in the Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced shardverse.) Every colony exists for a reason. Which is to say that these are no longer the wild days
Ulculp Five-Arms
Ulculp Sky-Watcher / dreamer and gazer In shallows he / the sky counted Naming the lights / unhidden at moon-dark While sea in foam / blazed with small folk Spring gales blew / over black ocean Red light flamed / across empty sky Mountain-fall's thunder / splitting the waves Silver whale leaps / from sky to
meta
As per edits to the previous post, it seems that for annoying reasons the new ActivityPub feature for Ghost I was planning to use can't publish posts to Mastodon in a convenient manner that doesn't involve dumping entire full-length posts where they shouldn't be.
meta
And finally we are back up and running on Mastodon, for those of you who prefer to get your nanofic that way: @index@eldraeverse.com Edited: Actually, we are not. I'll be posting links over on my personal account, as mentioned below, because the new feature I hoped
quotation
(Random things said with no other place to go, so I shall save them and post them in eights from time to time.) Good, in the moral sense, is difficult and may be impossible to define objectively. I prefer to concern myself with ethical correctness, which is at least calculable.
meta
Those of you who have noticed the little downtime today need not be concerned: we're switching from installed-as-nodejs-packages Ghost 5.x to installed-as-containers Ghost 6.0, and that's required a little futzing.
Curial court
A quirk of the Imperial judicial system is that while the rule of Palaver Forbiddance is strictly applied during the trial itself (forestalling any attempts to engage in fast-talk, irrelevant digressions, questionable metaphysical debates, etc., etc., in the desperate attempt to forestall the verdict), it specifically does not apply to
Curial court
EMPIRE OF THE STAR The Imperial judicial system is a variant on the inquisitorial model, in which the officers of the court work together to thoroughly investigate and uncover the truth of the matter, under the guidance of the justices¹ assigned by the court. (In the remainder of this discussion,