Alistair Young @cerebrate@schelling.pt

For the purposes of hull classification, the boundary between ‘warmoon’ and ‘dirigible battle planet’ is set, approximately, to “Oh, gods, my Roche limit!”

#eldraeverse

Randomly wondering what the very libertarian denizens of the #eldraeverse would think of being accused of that old Earth standby, "rugged individualism".

Something, I think, along the lines of:

"Don't be silly. We prefer soft, squishy individualism, with lots of cushions and fancy coffee. Also puppies. Puppies are good."

Got to find a good place to set @EmpireTips up again, now that instance is no more.

#eldraeverse #empiretips #bots #goodbotseeksinstance

#WritingWonders 7/8: What does your MC see when they look out their bedroom window/door?

Door: an oak desk that hides a terminal inside, a comfortable leather armchair, and the repeater display for Fleet Systems Monitor.

Window: well, it's not a window. She lives aboard _Pyrethrin Nebula_, and the flag quarters are nowhere near the surface of the dozens of meters of armor a BD has. Her holowindow can simulate almost anywhere, but usually simulates "space, ahead, false-color on".

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders 8/6: MC POV: Have you ever kept a secret from your closest friend? If so, why?

"Seriously?

"I'm an admiral in the Imperial Navy. Most of my professional life has a classification attached, and unless you're one of the less-than-two-dozen people with GOLD STORMCROW HEXAGON clearance - which he isn't - I'm keeping secrets from you. Or killing you. You pick.

"Wait. Are you even cleared to know that there is such a thing as GOLD STORMCROW HEXAGON clearance...?"

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders 8/5: Does your MC have any pictures of themselves with friends or family? Why / why not?

Oh, of course. Pictures, memory-mathoms, dossiers of their personal weaknesses...

...we're House Sargas, remember? If I didn't try to assassinate my sister every few months, she'd think I'd lost all respect for her, and I care about her far too much to let that happen.

But yes, as much as any other member of my sentimental race.

#eldraeverse

For reference this month, #WritingWonders folks, my MC of the month will be Caliéne Sargas. Yes, for those who've seen my work, that would be Admiral Caliéne "the Worldburner" Sargas-ith-Sargas, the small blonde lady who terrifies the Galaxy more than every superweapon in storage at Palaxias combined, and whose _Sera Esklav_ is far more intimidating than any hot-drink machine has the right to be.

This should be fun.

#eldraeverse

Having mentioned the Cilmínár ballad "Girl, Your Marginal Benefit Far Outweighs Your Marginal Cost", I should perhaps mention other entries in this genre, such as "Under the Balance Sheets", "No Asset I Value More", "Positive-Sum", and "Illiquid Love".

#eldraeverse

(3/3)

And Líse Varavelen has a deplorable liking for the 4300s ballad, "Girl, Your Marginal Benefit Far Outweighs Your Marginal Cost".

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders 8/2: How much do you know about your side characters prior to the first draft?

Usually quite a lot. Unless they're mere voices heard in passing, I have quite a lot of trouble conjuring up a character without getting to know them in my head first, and quite a few details come out in that process. Plus, I use a worldbuild-first process, and so many of my side characters were well-developed in the course of that.

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders 8/1: If you could hang out with one of your side characters for a day, who would you choose? Why?

Elíne Septimiel. Because I'm practically guaranteed to have something to talk about with a fellow bibliophile, and since she's First Reader at what is almost certainly the galaxy's largest library, she definitely counts.

(As she's been known to point out, "It does not say Repository of _Some_ Knowledge above my door.")

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 31: Does your antagonist love anyone that's still alive and in their life?

"I don't know. But I hope so. I truly do."

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 30: Does your MC have a good fashion sense?

"Well, I -"

"Yes, she does. Not that you'd know it, most of the time."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Jynne, you'd wear your Service reds to bed, if you could. Probably everywhere else, too, if we'd let you."

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 2: Antagonist POV: How do you feel about what you do?

In two parts (1/2):

"Just tryin' to live, aina? The corps and the rich'd not miss it, and they make all this stuff on the backs of us-kind anyway. If'n I take some of it back from, who's to say I'm not the right one -"

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 28: Is your MC ever minorly inconvenienced by illness?

No and yes.

Not directly, because she has a top-of-the-line artificial immune system. Regular illness just bounces off it.

But it's a top-of-the-line AIS with the Constabulary first-responder, hazmat, and anti-bioterror packages installed, so when some new disease is borne in by a ship from somewhere off the main routes, however mild...

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 27: Does your MC respect authority or buck it?

Respect it, by and large - because her authorities are so in the sense that respects the Latin roots.

I wrote more about this a while back here:

https://eldraeverse.com/2021/04/07/author-on-authority/

But the short form is that the local kind of authority is "being, in context, the kind of leader worthy of being followed", which she respects.

Anyone who has to say "respect mah authoritah" obviously has none - and so need not be respected.

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 26: Antagonist: Do you see what you do as evil?

"Yah, for certain. If you listen to these propertarians and binders, but they're the ones that keep us bound t'the iron wheel!" <spit-sizzle> "Defying their ownership and their rules is the only way to -"

"I told you last time, Jinmi, Shareholders' Court'll go easier on you if you just tell them you wanted quick cash and don't try and baffle them with whatever bullshit you picked up at the Rowdy Rhizome."

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 25: Does your MC have any health or belief systems that restrict their diet?

Not unless "don't eat anything unless you've either recognized or analyzed it" counts, but that's more or less basic "living on major trade station" competence.

Food from thousands of worlds for hundreds of species turns up there on a regular basis. Biocoding isn't just for fun, y'know?

#eldraeverse

To expand on things previously said, I am of the opinion that "there can't be technological solutions to social problems" and "technology can *cause* social problems" are beliefs that can coexist in a coherent worldview.

My fictive peeps are even more skeptical on that point, and would generally claim technology to be value-neutral even though its _telos_ is to be an integral part of a philosophy of sophont aspiration.

#eldraeverse

#WritingWonders July 24: What is a common occurrence in your story that would be odd here?

I write science fiction. So, basically everything, in one way or another, but that's kind of cheating.

Er. Competence? Decency?

...sorry, I seem to be stuck on "cynical with a side order of bitter" today.

#eldraeverse