Becoming the Mask: Played straight with gnostic overlays, the special kind of downloadable knowledge/skillset that overlays values or other personality aspects onto the person using them (see, for instance, the constabular overlay and objectivity overlay mentioned under Incorruptible Pure Pureness). Long-term users of given overlays tend to find themselves
So, there isn’t an actual fic-a-day today, because ever since I read a news article about the TSA’s latest shenanigans, I’ve been too mad to have an idea – or rather, all the characters in my head have had nothing to do but deliver variations on The Reason
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Not overwhelmingly more than any other reality (although the emphasis Imperial-style moral teachings put on self-integrity, importance of probably helps make people substantially more resistant to temptation). And, of course, remember Blue and Orange Morality, which does, ahem, offer a somewhat different slant on the qualifications for
Morash system, Dark Sea constellation – two gates from Litash. The starships of Imperial Navy task force 3-46 hung in orbit around Morash’s outer gas giant, skydivers darting around them as they refueled for the final move on Litash. A Starwing-class courier, oversized triple radiators glowing high orange with the
The Chosen One: Again per Because Destiny Says So, the people whose timelines are meddled in by the local weakly godlike superintelligences on the grounds that their existence, or something they will do during their existence, is necessary to their designed Optimal Future. Somewhat subverted inasmuch as what the Chosen
The Chooser of the One: Per Because Destiny Says So, any of the transcendent seed AIs who feel a need to meddle with the future and have the sort of view of the world to enable them to do so reliably. Generally does not come with Super Empowering, for reasons
Ollisté Cúlárius’s Erotic Watchvid Review! Hard Heat in the Hotlands, imp. Gantír Media. (32 minutes.) The things I do for you, gentle readers. I watched this production, imported from the Dulse Cooperation, not once but twice; once, purely as myself, as a connoisseur of cross-species erotica, and then for
Seeing as that last fic was the first time recently I’ve used the extended eldraeic name-format – or at least its most common version, since various cultures do it differently in some places and times, but this is the one that doubles as the modern International Standard – let’s talk
Because Destiny Says So: In some cases, played straight due to the tendency of the Transcend (and other potential acausal-logic using seed AIs) to whisper in their own ears from the future; however, while they do apparently intervene in people’s timelines for the sake of their Optimal Futures, a
Flicker. Who am I? What am I? Noetic reinstantiation is in progress. Secondary noumenal systems and incrementing memory string load incomplete. Please wait, avoiding intensive cogitative activity. Sensations and images flicker through my consciousness: Warmth, brightness, color, rough textures, old aches, the taste of sweet fruit. The feel of an
“Sophonts of Gervés. Observe.” The images accompanying the broadcast were an aerial view of a crater, carved abruptly into a landscape that was otherwise blue-black and growing. Within the crater, the ground bubbled and seethed around a few shattered remnants that might once have been buildings, rock and earth half-melted
Beauty Equals Goodness: Very much averted in one sense, even by local standards (see: Blue and Orange Morality) of goodness. It is perfectly true that the eldrae and the other Imperials are an extraordinarily Beautiful People. But by the same processes, so are the Renunciates. And so are the Renegades