Across the Scattered Worlds

20100616

Nexus Travel Advisories: Indian Subcontinent (June 2042)

Arunachal: Sporadic ethnic violence. Travelers are cautioned not to travel outside major cities at night. Arunachal is a developing country with a parliamentary government. Adequate medical care is available in major cities. Roads, communications, and Net services are adequate.

Assam: Sporadic ethnic violence. Travelers are cautioned not to travel outside major cities at night. The area near the Bangladesh border should be avoided due to frequent disease outbreaks. Assam is a developing country with a parliamentary monarchy. Adequate medical care is available in major cities. Roads, communications, and Net services are adequate.

Baluchistan: Armed battles between clans are frequent. Travelers are cautioned to avoid the interior unless escorted by armed guards. The capital, Quetta, is quieter than the interior, but has experienced serious ethnic violence recently. Baluchistan is a developing country with few natural resources and an ineffective coalition government. Medical care is poor. Roads, communications, and Net services are adequate in the capital, poor beyond.

Bangladesh: Travelers to Bangladesh are cautioned that medical care is minimal to nonexistent. Disease is rampant, especially in the capital city of Dhaka. Bangladesh has a subsistence economy and an ineffective government. Roads, communications, and Net services are poor to nonexistent.

Goa: No advisory. Goa is a medium-income city-state with a fairly-developed economy. Medical care is good. Roads, communications, and Net services are good.

Gujarat: Ethnic violence and border raids along the Baluchistan border. Travelers in this region are urged to use caution. Gujarat is a developing country with a parliamentary democracy. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Hindustan: No advisory. Hindustan is an economically developed democratic republic. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Hyderabad: No advisory. Hyderabad is an economically developed democratic republic. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Indian Federation: No advisory. The Indian Federation is an economically developed democratic republic. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Karnataka: No advisory. Karnataka is an economically developed constitutional monarchy. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Kashmir: Travelers are cautioned that large regions near the ruins of Sinagar are still contaminated with unacceptable levels of radioactive fallout. Extreme care should be exercised to avoid lingering when traveling into the Vale of Kashmir. Due to dangerous security conditions, caution is essential when traveling overland through the tribal areas to the Khyber Pass. Monthly steam train excursion for tourists through the Khyber Pass is well protected by local authorities. Kashmir is an undeveloped country with many autonomous tribal areas. Medical care is poor. Roads, communications, and Net services are poor. Contamination by radioactive fallout is a constant danger.

Kerala: No advisory. Kerala is an economically developed democratic republic. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Maharashira: No advisory. Maharashira is an economically developed constitutional monarchy. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Mizoram: Sporadic ethnic violence. Travelers are cautioned not to travel outside major cities at night. The area near the Bangladesh border should be avoided due to frequent disease outbreaks. Mizoram is a developing country with a parliamentary monarchy. Adequate medical care is available in major cities. Roads, communications, and Net services are adequate.

Punjab: Sectarian violence continues, especially in the north. Visitors are cautioned to avoid public transportation and crowded areas. Punjab is a developing country with a parliamentary monarchy. Adequate medical care is available in major cities. Roads are crowded, poorly maintained, and poorly signed. Communications are good in major cities, poor in rural areas. Adequate Net services are available in major cities.

Rajasthan: Sporadic ethnic violence in the area west of National Highway 15. Rajasthan is an economically developed democratic republic. Adequate medical care is available in major population centers, but is usually limited in rural areas. Roads are congested and poorly maintained. Communications and Net services are adequate.

Sikkim: Currently under Nexus interdict; no travel or communications permitted.

Sri Lanka: No advisory. Sri Lanka is a medium-income country with a well-developed economy. Medical care is good. Roads, communications, and Net services are excellent.

Tamil Nadu: No advisory. Tamil Nadu is a medium-income country with a fairly-developed economy. Medical care is good. Roads, communications, and Net services are good.

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20100609

Albanath and Eklaid

Albanath and Eklaid are two of the Gathered Worlds in the same planetary system in the Galactic Core. The star is a G4 yellow sun with luminosity 1.02 times Sol.

The first three planets are small, rocky, uninhabitable worlds with masses ranging from 2% to 6% of Earth's. Albanath is the fourth planet and Eklaid is the fifth. The remaining three planets are Jovian gas giants.

Albanath is a near-twin of Earth. It lies at almost exactly the same distance from its sun, its diameter is only 3% larger than Earth's, and it has 92% of Earth's mass. The Albanathian year lasts 326 Terran days, which is 242 local days (the local day is 32.3 hours). Receiving 11% more heath & light from its hotter sun, Albanath is a warmer world than Earth.

Albanath was settled by Kreen refugees from the Barentikater supernova in the Kreen year 28,521 (approximately 770,000 BCE). The colonization of Albanath introduced a new element into Barentikaterian architecture, a jarring note: the harsh, acute angle and solids based upon it. Albanathian architecture to this day retains that element of shock, that jarring quality in an otherwise-smooth line. Otherwise, Albanath resembles a rather moderate Barentikater IV, with architectural shapes drawn from the harmonies of conic sections, variations on sweeping, curved solids, the spheroids and spirals and arcs of sophisticated analytical geometry, rather than the straight lines and angles of Human classical geometry.

The oldest and most influential chaio on Albanath, ban Tau chaio, lives along the River Shatmisp.

About 2600 CE, the Galactic Riders helped many inhabitants of Albanath move to a new world, Shay Nabath.

Eklaid, home to a small population of Sebhra, is primarily a military base. Its one settlement is a low valley with a breathable atmosphere, and is little more than a spaceport, a plantation of food crops, and herds of food animals. In other areas of the planet, automata carry on the work of building units in a vast war fleet.

Eklaid was annexed by Kaylpeskrit and settled about 3,000 BCE, but major construction of the fleet began only about 2500 CE. The ultimate purpose of this fleet is unknown.

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20100603

Mathematical Sociology

Beginning in First Terran Empire times, sociology became a mathematical discipline and a recognized science akin to the physical sciences in rigor.

The scientist Camplowicz was one of the pioneers of the field. Her work in the history and sociology of minorities remained a classic in the field for centuries. Camplowicz identified what she called the "delta-prime factor," which was a measure of the influence that minorities have on the general society. Once delta-prime reaches a critical value of 1300, a minority has reached the point where it is in no danger from the general society; at higher delta-prime levels, the minority actually becomes fashionable and in-demand.

The planetary sociologist Pilli defined five nonsequential stages in a planet's technological development, ranging from primitive Edens (stage 1),through the worst excesses of early 21st century Terra or later Laxus and Lucifer (stage 4). Pilli's five stages culminated with contemporary technology integrated into natural paradise, like Helox. A fully-mutable environment, totally dependent on technology (i.e. Wakmarrel) is Stage Six.

A typical sociological equation contains such elements as:

Delta-sub-aleph (which can be integrated several times)
Holman factors
Lemme responses

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20100526

Tachyon Vesicles

Tachyon vesicles are naturally-occurring piezogravitational bubbles composed mostly of strange matter. They are usually found in interstellar space, in comets, and in the rings of gas giants. Physically, they resemble soap bubbles without the fragility. When stimulated by coherent radiation, tachyon vesicles produce four distinct effects: antigravity, ultrawave, tachyon conversion, and defense screens.

Antigravity

Tachyon vesicles, when stimulated by coherent radiation, produce a grav field which is highly directionsal and variable in intensity. By allowing the vesicles free movement, and by varying intensity and wavelength of the radiation, almost any grav effect can be produced. Generally, since stimulated vesicles are fragile, total vesicle mass should be at least 0.00000364 of the mass being moved.

Ultrawave

A stimulated tachyon vesicle produces a single ultrawave tone. These tones range through six octaves on the UW Effect Scale. Amplitude modulation carries a signal which can be detected in a receiving set. By the variation introduced into the receiving vesicle, decoding can be accomplished even if the two units are not tuned to the same note -- although best results are obtained from units tuned to whole multiples of an octave apart.

A "sealed-beam" ultrawave circuit obtains between to sub-vesicles propduced from the same parent in the same size. Since each vesicle is extremely sensitive to its twin(s), very low amplitude can carry a signal indetectable even to vesicles tuned to the same note.

The Free Peoples of the Scattered Worlds use a frequency modulation ultrawave signal which is totally indetectable without the tuneable antigrav.

Tachyon Conversion

Conversion to tachyon (faster-than-light) phase is a catastrophic effect that takes place when a tachyon vesicle is overloaded with energy. In response, the vesicle expends energy by producing a field which converts all particles within into their tachyon equivalents. The triggering energy varies on a logarithmic scale, according to the total mass of the system. Masses above 10^25 kg cannot be converted; the vesicle(s) will destabilize first.

The radius of the conversion field is determined by the total mass of vesicles used, and is given by r = 1.65*(m)^(1/3).

In the presence of too many shifting grav fields, tachyon vesicles will destabilize; the precise destabilization potential (and hence, speed limits) are given by Basse's Law. In practical terms, Basse's Law limits the speed of FTL travel within the Galaxy to roughly 500 parsecs/hour.

Defense Screens

A rotating tachyon vesicle, within a grav field produced by a resonating vesicle, creates a primitive version of the K1 defense screen. Variations in energy, rotation, frequency, etc. can modulate the field to just about any desired configuration.

The L-type pressure screen is a sophisticated antigrav effect, rather than a true defense screen.

Defense Screen Types:

K1: Absorbs radiant energy, kinetic energy of objects faster than 50% lightspeed; overloads and explodes when radiation passes violet.
K2: Like K1 but radiates well into ultraviolet before failure.
K3: "Full coverage" - reflects all radiant energy & matter. Development of the Federation of Families.
K4: "Antishock" or "Anticrash" -- kinetic damper, can be set for any range -- must be used in connection with another K-type field for radiation. Developed by Federation of Families.
K5: Absorbs all of the above, radiates as neutrinos. Fails when neutrino radiation passes Moore's Limit. Developed in Late Second Empire.

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20100512

The Transgeled

The area of the Galaxy between Borshall and Geled, called the Transgeled, was the very last region to fall under the control of the First Terran Empire, and it proved trouble for the next four hundred years.

It is surprising that some of the stronger Emperors and Empresses (particularly Maj Thovold) did not organize the area as a ninth province and put a Provincial Capital on, say, Tep Kecor or some other planet. But the Imperial position was highly dependent on the Idara, who were jealous of position and consequently would not favor the establishment of a new province. As it was, Navy bases on Novy Stalingrad and Tep Kecor were the limits of Imperial military force in the region.

After the Empire's defeat at Karphos (TE 361), the Transgeled fell to the Patalanian Union rather quickly. By the First Sack of Terra (TE 381) it was lost to the Empire. Although Geled made moves to recover it, the Transgeled remained wild, providing a starting point for the Volkerwanderung of the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries TE.

Through the Interregnum, the Transgeled remained a wild and dangerous region, a constnt battleground of unstable states.

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20100505

The Coruman Language

The Coruman language is the lingua franca of the Scattered Worlds. Virtually unchanged for over a billion years, Coruman is a lyrical language with simple grammatical rules, ideally suited to computer translation. In Coruman vocabulary there is frequent use of compound words (as in German but even more so).

In the Scattered Worlds tales, English translations of Coruman are usually rendered in iambic pentameter.

The Coruman number system is a base-6 system with positional notation.

The Coruman alphabet consists of 45 symbols for phonemes, 6 digits, and several punctuation symbols. Spelling is entirely phonetic.

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20100428

The Imperial Navy

The basic unit of the Imperial Navy is the Fleet, of which there are eight, one for each province. A Fleet is commanded by a Fleet Admiral from his/her Supercruiser. There are 17 Wings, each with two Wing Bases. A Vice Admiral or Rear Admiral commands each Wing, subject to the Fleet.

Auxiliary to each Wing Base are 10 carriers and 25 troop carriers, 25 Task Force Bases, and all ancillary ships. Also, in each Wing there are the following independent ships: 100 scouts, 50 gunboats, 25 cruisers, 10 destroyers, and 10 troop carriers.

The Imperial Navy, then, consists of over 9800 ships: 8 Supercruisers, 17 Wing Bases, 425 Task Force Bases, 170 carriers, 442 Troop carriers, 782 destroyers, 1921 cruisers, 2210 gunboats, and 3825 scouts) with flight crews of 95,865 all together. Support crew, ancillary employees, etc. give the Navy somewhat in excess of 3 million members.

Of these, about 3,000 must be telepaths of reliable sensitivity. In an Empire in which one out of every billion people, on average, is a telepathic sensitive, it is a constant struggle to find enough telepaths -- and until about TE 300, it was not possible.

Imperial Navy Uniforms are jet black, Marine Uniforms are dark blue. Navy rank insigniae are pictured below.

The Imperial Navy training grounds are at Zvezdy Gorodok on Terra. Prior to TE 92, the main Imperial Navy base (including primary shipyards) was on Luna's Farside; after TE 92, the base and shipyards were moved to Hafen.

The Navy's Special Services branch consists of unattached operatives who serve a variety of purposes under the direction of the Master of Special Services, an officer of Admiral rank reporting to the Terran Fleet Admiral.

The usual Imperial Navy ship with a crew of ten or more carries a number of crewmembers listed as "Entertainment & Personnel Services" (aka "EPS"). These enlisted personnel of both genders, usually Spacers or Privates, are well-trained to provide everything from amusing conversation to group sing-alongs to a roll in the hay. The high quality of EPS helps explain the high morale among Navy personnel.

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20100421

Borshall

Borshall, the fifth planet of the F-Class star Kepator, is one of eight Provincial Capitals of the First Terran Empire. At a distance of 19.2 kiloparsecs from Terra, the world was first settled in TE 37.

With a diameter 1.32 times Terra and a mass 1.76 times Earth's, the surface gravity of Borshall is 1.15 gees. The Borhsallan day is 26.30 standard hours, and the year is 289.03 local days (316.73 standard days). Although Kepator is twice as bright as Sol, Borshall is further from Kepator than Terra is from Sol (1.64 AU), and so receives only 81% of the heat and light that Earth does. With an orbital inclination of only 3.21 degrees, Borshall's seasons are much milder than Terra's. Borshall has one small moon.

Borshall's planetary system consists of two other rocky worlds and an abundance of planetoids in two distinct belts, the Mardol Belt and the Sentilla Belt. The first planet, Tarlinn, is only 33 million kilometers from Kepator and has a mass 1.79 times Earth. The second, Bevith, is a Venus-analog with a mass almost exactly the same as Terra's. There are no gas giants in the system. Extensive mineral mining operations, based on Tarlinn and the two planetoid belts, provide a large fraction of the mineral resources of Borshall Province.

Borshall is noted throughout the Empire for the high quality of its technology. From TE 75 onward, Borshallan Artificial Intelligences was one of the largest companies in the Empire. Borshall also developed the L-type pressure screen, a force field that opened the way for exploration of deep oceans, gas giants, and Venus-type worlds.

Besides the Imperial Navy settlement at Borshallisport, Borshall has no major cities. Population is dispersed across the globe, linked by a sophisticated virtual reality communication system and high-speed antigrav transport. The University of Borshall maintains various distinct campuses specializing in different technologies.

The planetary passion of Borshall is baseball; from Little League up to several major professional leagues, and at every level in between, just about every Borshallan has the opportunity to participate in the sport. With the mild climate, baseball is played year-round. The Borshallan World Cup is a month-long event involving hundreds of teams, culminating in the World Series which lasts a tenday and shuts down business across the entire planet. The Borshall All-Stars are perennial winners of the Imperial Series. On the lighter side, the madcap antics of the Borshall Globetrotters (actually there are several different teams with that name) entertain audiences throughout the Galaxy.

If there is a traditional Borshallan cuisine, it is the sausages served at baseball games. There are infinite varieties, and each local park has its own special version. Delamere Kreb's Hotdogs of an Eternal Summer (Borshall University Press, TE 183) remains the best guide to the unique flavors of this planetary dish.

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20100407

Emperor Conrad Kuchta

b. 14 October 453
d. 6 September 482
470: Emperor of the Terran Empire

Third child of Empress Catherine Carroll and David Kuchta. Conrad, like his siblings, was raised primarily by his father and the extreme members of the Hawk party, which favored all-out war with the Patalanian Union.

Conrad was particularly beloved by his sister Margaret, two years his senior.

Conrad was a precocious child, with a quick intellect and an equally-quick temper. He was six years old when his mother too the Throne in 459; at once he began skillfully to play the various adults in his life against one another. Of the three siblings, Conrad was the only one who betrayed any fondness for Catherine; such fondness, however, quickly waxed and waned according to how young Conrad wanted to manipulate other adults.

In 467, when he was 13, Conrad's mother died and his older brother John succeeded to the Throne. Historians are now of the opinion that Conrad himself was responsible for Catherine's death. Catherine had been taking steps to have John disinherited in favor of Chen of Chen; if her plans had gone through, Conrad would have lost whatever chance he had to inherit the Throne. Only months after John's ascension, Conrad took and passed his adulthood tests.

During John's reign, Conrad remained a firm supporter of his brother's rule -- outwardly. In fact, Conrad maintained an extensive set of contacts with the most radical of the Hawks, and it is now known that Conrad played at least a minor part in the death of his brother.

Margaret, Conrad's beloved older sister, was simply not equal to the strain of Imperial rule: after only a year on the Throne, she killed herself and Conrad became Emperor.

At once, Conrad executed several of the radical Hawk leaders. He sent his father on a diplomatic mission to the Patalanian Union, where David Kuchta was seized, tried, and executed as a spy. Then, Conrad began reshuffling the Navy, moving fleets and ships in unpredictable patterns, making war as much on his own rebellious Nobles as on the Union.

Observers were uncertain about his motives and plans. Some thought he was trying to reunite the Empire for a last massive strike against the Union; others opined that his goal was to build up the Provinces and move toward some sort of federal system that might be more efficient at carrying on the war.

Finally, in January of 471, the Imperial Council demanded that Conrad appear before them to explain his actions, or face censure. In response, Conrad dissolved the Council and, on 16 January 471, abdicated the Throne.

Nearly five centuries after its founding, the Terran Empire ceased to exist.

Conrad Kuchta moved away from Laxus, and moved to the independent world of Halettia. According to news reports, he died on 6 September 2635 (TE 482), little more than a month before his 29th birthday.

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20100324

The Elder Gods

Well before the Pyslistroph, more than two billion years ago, the Elder Gods existed. Their exact number is unknown, but there seem to have been about 30 of them. Legend says that they were individuals of great power, each one the personification of some natural element such as fire, wind, the stars, destruction, and time itself. According to the earliest tales of the Seven Races, the Elder Gods were responsible for the creation of the universe and the life that fills it.

Individually, the Elder Gods appeared as fairly unremarkable creatures. They often took the shape of whatever species they were in the company of; it is said that they reflected the race of their observer, simultaneously appearing (for example) as Daamin to the Daamin and as Coruman to the Coruman.

Not much is known of the origin of the Elder Gods, although they have hinted that they came from another place and time, perhaps a different universe, and that they were only passing through our universe on a journey to some other, unknown destination. Whether they were returning to the place of their origin, or moving on to yet a third place, remains a mystery.

Although the Elder Gods seem to be immortal, many of them are known to have departed our space and time at specific historical times. By the time of the Pylistroph, only ten were known to remain. The first eight were active in the Pyslistroph and have been venerated ever since. They are:

Ellan: (Life)
Hesket: (Snow)
Jaseni: (Music)
Maranna: (Nurturing)
Naervara: (Stars)
Tha'p: (Rational Thought)
Timash: (Lovers)
Yx: Elder (Fire)

The remaining two Elder Gods shunned the Pyslistroph and were generally feared and distrusted:

Den (Destruction)
Ka (Nothingness)

One by one, most of the remaining Elder Gods departed, most recently Den after the fall of Avethell. The only ones believed to remain at large are Jaseni, Maranna, Timash, and Ka. Of these, the first three are occasionally active in the Scattered Worlds.

At the center of the Temple of All Worlds on Nephestal stands a dais bearing holographic figures of the eight Elder Gods venerated by the Pylistroph. These images, like the Elder Gods they depict, always appear to be the same species as the observer.

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20100310

The McIntyre School

A subdivision of the Schmidt Foundation, the McIntyre School identifies, trains, and registers telepaths and other psi-gifted (aka "Fey") individuals. Telepaths trained by the School are identified by the Greek letter psi tatooed on their foreheads, and are greatly in demand to fill various roles in the Imperial government.

The McIntyre School was founded by Xia McIntyre on Terra, and expanded greatly under the stewardship of her successor, Eduard Raytheon. By TE 116, the School had facilities in every Province.

Masters of the School

TE 15 - 48: Xia McIntyre
TE 48 - 116: Eduard Raytheon
TE 116 - 168: Mark Huunt
TE 168 - 267: Jams McLaghlen
TE 267 - 315: Helen Armenta (b. TE 221)
TE 315 - 406: Philip Armenta (b. TE 284)

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20100303

City Eternal

Timbuktu, Timbuktu,
River brown and sky so blue,
Upon the desert sea you stand,
A city made of sand.

Within your high and mighty walls,
Wisdom walks your shadowed halls,
Goods exchange in traders' meets;
And angels walk your streets.

Peoples come and peoples go,
'Round you, kingdoms ebb and flow,
Empires rise and empires fall;
Yet you outlast them all.

Ghana passed with salt and gold,
Then Mali with her warriors bold,
And Songhay with its golden grains;
Still Timbuktu remains.

Moors then ruled with sword and blood,
France toppled mosques of sun-dried mud,
Bamako brought the desert nigh;
And yet, you will not die.

Umoja's peace is come at last,
And quiet, from the ancient past,
The music of a thousand years,
Timbuktu still hears.

-Princess Mahlowi Sisse Keita Toure
March, 2037

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Across the Scattered Worlds

20100616

Nexus Travel Advisories: Indian Subcontinent (June 2042)

20100609

Albanath and Eklaid

20100603

Mathematical Sociology

20100526

Tachyon Vesicles

Antigravity

Ultrawave

Tachyon Conversion

Defense Screens

20100512

The Transgeled

20100505

The Coruman Language

20100428

The Imperial Navy

20100421

Borshall

20100407

Emperor Conrad Kuchta

20100324

The Elder Gods

20100310

The McIntyre School

Masters of the School

20100303

City Eternal

Scattered Worlds Books

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