meta
So anyway. This is from the being-even-weirder-than-usual department – at least for those of you outside the group of my readers who are also My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans, a group which to my awareness numbers one. Maybe two. Because, see, if you follow me on Goodreads, or at
trope-a-day
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Not all the uses of genetic engineering – or other technologies, including that shampoo that turns regular hair into a fully-functional LCD display surface for a week or two – are for even vaguely utilitarian purposes. Enough said. (As a side note, the silvertouched – see Our Dwarves
OPERATION DREAMING MALIGNITY
OPERATION DREAMING MALIGNITY MOST SECRET (ULTRAVIOLET) / EYES ONLY DREAMING MALIGNITY TRACKED-COPY DOCUMENT NOCONTRACT NOFORN NO PRIMARY PERSONAS ORIGINATOR CONTROLLED DISSEMINATION SPECIAL SECURITY PROCEDURE BASILISK FIDELIS INFORMATION CONTAINMENT APPLIES: MOST SEVERE CENSURE Proceed (+/-)? + SUMMARY: Warning: This document is classified MOST SECRET DREAMING MALIGNITY. If you do not have codeword clearance
trope-a-day
You Can’t Go Home Again: A consequence of lighthugger travel and the ensuing time dilation for ephemerals; or people from ephemeral societies, rather, since it’s the high cultural delta of the society you left that causes the problem. Also, more rarely, what happens to people left off-world at
Imperial Service
Why are the analyst/supervisory grades in the agency referred to as the “proxy adhoc“? ‘Adhoc’ should be clear enough: due to their adhocratic structure, as is common in all areas of the Imperial Service. As for the former, individual title applied to its members: it is by ancient custom,
trope-a-day
You Cannot Grasp The True Form: Averted in the general case, mostly because the things of which You Cannot Grasp The True Form are also things of which you cannot sense the true form either. The process of grafting the senses you need into your brain obviously includes the grafting
worldbuilding
Another little note on identity, following on from here: On the whole, do eldraeic mainstream views on free will, determinism, and the possible interactions between the two run more towards compatibilism or incompatibilism? While ideas vary as ideas always do in the absence of proof one way or another, the
blogging from a to z
So, this challenge that I did last year? That was fun. So I’m doing it again this year! This time, though, I’m going to offer you, gentle readers, a chance to help me out a little with the conceptualizing of things and possibly see things you want to
trope-a-day
Would Hit A Girl: Played straight in the Empire, since they never invented that particular double standard in the first place (of course, by their regular social standards, it’s not acceptable to hit anybody outwith special circumstances mostly involving rights violations, which may also explain why it’s universally
preview
So, here’s something a bit special for you today. I have a long work in mind and butcher-paper progress right now, and by that I don’t just mean on the scale of The Core War, I mean an actual novel, belike. Covering one of those interesting historical periods
trope-a-day
Worthy Opponent: Played straight quite often by the old guard of the Imperial Navy and Imperial Legions, who are known for feeling respect in the presence and nostalgia in the absence of their fellow professionals on the other side, who know how to fight honorably, in accordance with the Laws
trope-a-day
Worthless Yellow Rocks: Oh, yeah. Starting with gold itself, whose rarity went the way of the dodo shortly after asteroid mining was developed, and whose price is of a similar order to Earth’s prices for iron, if not actually less. (Which is to say, if it didn’t wear