What We Know About the Universe (OOC)

VERY MUCH IN PROGRESS (currently on Bellwether's Cape Prize)

(I'm think I managed to get Mike's Brexton-Rax article, and will work my way through Belt of Nertoh when I can. Wouldn't wish that on anyone who didn't write it :P -smoove)

Timeline of Events

 * 1653: The first recorded baneship appears.
 * 1663: Harrican Syldanade is created. (I'm not sure it's been established yet that he was born as such, although his words on the Bellwether's Cape Prize he retroactively awarded himself that year suggest regular mammal-style birth. Also, I just now got that. That's hilarious.) Also the year Brexton-Rax Cat Food Consortium was formed from two distinct companies.
 * 1671: An 8-year-old Harrican Syldanade blows up a Brexton-Rax military/canning facility on one of Terra's moons while on a field trip.
 * 1697: Syldanade invents Apelagic Generator.
 * 1698-1702: BKE Amalgamated constructs Acid Wash of Levi VI.
 * 1699: Syldanade discovers anthropometamorphic rock and institutes the Bellwether's Cape Prize, which he awards to himself, in commemoration.
 * 1703: Syldanade opens an account with the Upper Farthingside Explorers' Credit Union. This probably isn't important but it was there.
 * 1709: Syldanade discovers a new shade of purple in Malinveer Ashmanning's face.
 * 1716: Syldanade discovers the Acid Wash of Levi VI.
 * 1717: Syldanade contacts former lover Glennis Agintrope for the first time in years.
 * 1719: Sensational murder-sex-and-drugs trial of Lady Clandestina Van Vyvyan is conducted.
 * 1719-1727: Agintrope paints the Agintrope Portraits.
 * 1722: Levi VI is destroyed when Acid Wash eats through it.
 * 1723: Syldanade is expelled from the Farthingside Brotherhood of Explorers for eight years when he fails to provide evidence of the Anti-Tribes of Eastern Khest.
 * 1726: Syldanade breaks a military blockade around planet R'tbon, and in the process destroys the Brexton-Rax flagship "Officer Low-Belly".
 * 1727: Malinveer Ashmanning is killed when his experimental glyphship dissolves.
 * 1728: Bank of Ingletopia v. Harrican Syldanade is held in the Lower Farthingside Vested-Authority Branch Court. Everyone wins.
 * 1731: Syldanade is re-admitted into the Brotherhood of Explorers.
 * 1752: Syldanade's expedition to rogue planetoid HarBeta-5 with Antonio Beta, subsequently Brexton-Rax's military was largely de-fanged.
 * 1808: Glennis Agintrope dies.
 * 1823: The last recorded destruction of a baneship (the leprechaun-powered O Fortuna) occurs.

Distance

 * miles
 * handspans
 * meters
 * kilometers

Weight or Mass or Whatever

 * Harri-Tons

Money

 * miskva (there was apparently massive inflation in these between 1719 and 1728, which is my bad)
 * Terran marks (the way I referred to Terran Marks, i.e. 13000 being a filthy shitton, might make them a higher-end currency, at some point at least- smoove)

Time

 * years

Months of the Terran Calendar

 * Strat.
 * Morduary
 * Second Morduary (Smord.)
 * Val.

Liquid

 * gallons

Speed

 * Lightspeed, faster-than-light, etc. (Spaceships, or at least Harrican's Baneship, can travel faster-than-light).

Places
(This section was getting and would have gotten more out of hand. Cleaned up into sections for easy and lazy reading -smoove)

Stellar Regions and Systems

 * Belt of Nertoh (solar system): Outer galactic rim system. See article for way-too-many details.
 * Gala-212 cluster (stellar region): May or may not contain the Kingdom of Heaven.
 * Globular Cluster Ornax (stellar region, go look up 'globular cluster'): Contains a black hole (Object Ornax 6) that may or may not have been the lair of a Tachyonteron.

Stars / Nebula / Etc.

 * Artis (star): Secondary star of the Nertoh System. Having hot and heavy sex with Mora, the primary, by spewing hydrogen bursts at her.
 * Izer Nebula: Presumably a nebula. Can't communicate to the outside from within.  Has security cameras somewhere outside it.  Probably a bad cell phone pun that flew over my head.
 * Mora (star): Primary of the Nertoh System. Gets hot and heavy lovin' from Artis on a regular basis.

Planets

 * Bizarro Fish Planet: You know, Bizarro Fish Planet.
 * Eborax (planet): Target of the apelagic generator. Sentient (and delicious) algae was discovered here as a result.
 * Eden Prime (planet): Was the site of some kind of cataclysmic performance art (Brachiating Land Kraken: An Adaptive Study In Green) staged by Naombe M'x. Possibly really fucked up now. Or not.
 * Gemeni II (planet): Home to the Bithoraxians.
 * Harold's World: Home to a hive-mind known as "Harold". Phantomed.
 * Kullbradth (planet): Prior to 1709, an aquatic shithole of a world filled with dangerous megafauna. Naombe M'x used an apelagic generator on it, presumably it's less aquatic now. Megafauna possibly moved to Eden Prime.
 * Levi VI (planet): Home of Acid Wash. Indigenous tribes were largely undisturbed before their planet was raped by capitalists and they fled en masse. Destroyed in 1722. Some geographical details given in Acid Wash article.
 * Makramei XII (planet): Home to unnamed lovers of kitsch. (Ow, the pun. -smoove)
 * Nelleb (planet): Yet another (accidental?) target of the apelagic generators. Supposedly parts of it are still burning in the present day.
 * New Ebba (planet): The new home of displaced people from Wet Ebba (now Hell Desert Ebba). They have a military/spy caste dedicated to hunting apelagic generators.
 * Rivalon V (planet): Forested. Nothing else known.
 * R'tbon (planet): Oceanic world, one of many blockaded by Brexton-Rax. Blockade broken by Syldanade in 1726.
 * Spissium IV (planet, presumably): Harrican carpet-bombed half of it (see Breakable Cipher 7).
 * Spund (planet): Mostly notable for having a planet-wide village idiot position or tradition.
 * Terra (planet): Home of Harrican Syldanade and (presumably) humans. Contains Balinwell and Clampwych. Was dominated politically by Brexton-Rax for some period between 1663 and 1752. Native whales live in hive cities. Has more than one moon.
 * Wet Ebba (planet): Planet severely de-wettified by the Apelagic Generator, now known as Helldesert Ebba. Up to current day still under military blockade by the Brexton-Rax Cat Food Consortium.

Moons and Planetoids

 * Buckrye Black Label(planetoid): Biggest inhabited planetoid in the Belt of Nertoh. Named after Harrican's (then?)-favorite brand of whiskey.
 * HarBeta-5 (rogue planetoid, whatever that is): Explored by Harrican and Antonio Beta in 1752.
 * Needle Moon of Firth (moon?): Who knows.
 * Lifeless Planetoid from Breakable Cipher 5: Harrican tested some kind of unknown machinery that destroyed this uninhabited planetoid with some kind of beam.

Planetary Regions/Continents

 * Apocapelogos (series of islands): See article. Planet unknown.
 * The Auxrhient (region): Sort of like "the Orient" spelled the way some asshole fuckoff would spell it. Probably Terran. The Auxrhient, I mean, not the asshole fuckoff.
 * Dreadfire Flats (region): Once home to the Arshalians, destroyed in Dreadfire Cataclysm. Gronga berries originated here. Planet unknown.
 * Eastern Khest (region): Deltas here are home to the Anti-Tribes of Eastern Khest. Planet unknown. Primitive, dangerous, sucks rather a lot.
 * Syvblixt Mountains (mountains): Unknown, probably mountainous.

Kingdoms/Towns/Cities

 * Ainstoq (city): Fashionable/cosmopolitan city, possible recruiting ground of the Asashi Rosa. Planet unknown.
 * Balinwell: Syldanade's hometown. See article for details.
 * Biały (island): People don't like technology. See Apocapelogos article.
 * Blême (island-network): Constant government turnover due to assassination. Skilled diplomats, though. See Apocapelogos article.
 * Farthingside (town): Town in Clampwych (which is some region larger than a town, probably along the lines of an English county), Terra. Mentioned frequently as Syldanade's longtime home. Also home to the Farthingside Brotherhood of Explorers.
 * Delpfhstadt (city): Fashionable, possible recruiting ground for the Asashi Rosa. Read that article for more. Planet unknown?
 * Firezza (city): Capital of the Belt of Nertoh, cosmopolitan and clothing optional, possible recruiting ground of the Asashi Rosa.
 * Lost City of K'Rozh (city): Phantomed. Presumably lost. Planet unknown.
 * Kuroi (island): Technologically advanced, scientific center of the Apocapelogos islands. See that article.
 * Rød (island): Heavy military, due to island being a volcanic crapsack with (undefined) dangerous life forms. See Apocapelogos article.

Undefined/Unknown

 * Gallantricus: Planet? Region?  Kingdom?  Thorp?  Unknown.  All we know is that Harrican accidentally used nerve gas instead of tear gas on the Presidium of said place.
 * Gulf of Listhmene: Home to two alien races, the Gretzt and the Plotzt. Planet unknown.
 * Pfelt: People are from here. As of now it could be anything.
 * Shree (planet, I think?): Home of the Ferendar, a carnivorous phantomed pygmy tribe.
 * Troxnas Theta (probably planet?): Home of the Forminids, a hive-mind species.
 * Unknown planet/system of the Arshalians: Mentioned in the article as being the most inhospitable in the system, nothing else known. Contains the Dreadfire Flats, which also sound like a crapsack.

Alphabetical List
(for people listed by role in regards to Harrican, at least so far in the story, see People, Listed By Role (OOC). Aka "my attempt to make this section somewhat more navigable.-smoove)
 * Glennis Agintrope: Artist, Syldanade's former lover.
 * Mr. Alice B. Alice: Famed mercenary journalist, was tagging along with Harrican during the discovery of the Belt
 * Chank Allen: Time-scummer who had a brilliant career as a "lawyer from the future" and another one later as a romantic poet.
 * Malinveer Ashmanning: Also a gentleman adventurer, main roval (so far) to Harrican. Killed in 1727 when his glyphship dissolved.
 * Nigel Beam: Commander of whatever the Shadow Forces are. Rumored to have had his sense of humor surgically removed so that he could smell crime and shit fear. Wait, not shit fear. Some other thing. ("Shit fear" is infinitely cooler, though. I should've written "shit fear." Live and learn I guess.)
 * Judge Eustace Beavers: Presided over Bank of Ingletopia v. Harrican Syldanade.
 * Antonio Beta, Robot Explorer, Super Spy, and Cat Burglar of a Thousand Faces: Explored HarBeta-5 with Harrican in 1752, was supposedly a friendly rival otherwise. (According to my brother, he intended the name and title to be pronounced like "A Tribe Called Quest" or "A Pimp Named Slickback". That, is, all in one go. -smoove). Phantomed.
 * Vicaria Botheringford: Cashier at Bank of Ingletopia.
 * Erasmus Brexton III: Continual president, chairman and co-founder of Brexton-Rax. Now a communicative brain in a jar of tonic water. Records so far paint him as a sweet old man who inappropriately named things after his pet cats.
 * Watlington Burrow: Bank of Ingletopia president driven insane by Syldanade. (Why do all the NPC's last names in that article start with B? Because it was the B round? I did not even notice I was doing that.)
 * Meri Caneagle: BKE Amalgamated's self-proclaimed "destructor of silica" and a horrible horrible pun.
 * Chief Steward: Guy who said "all rise" during BoI v. HS. Has gastric issues and an interesting life story (as yet unknown).
 * Reta Corpula: Opera singer nicknamed "The Fat Lady." Kidnapped by Julius Naranja, who wanted her voice to power his ship.
 * Annika Ffitz-Ffinchington: Combat grammarian and Syldanade's longtime writing partner and editor. Phantomed.
 * Pauline Giacomo: Astrophysicist and acclaimed author, apparently made it her life mission to discredit/slander/prove Harrican wrong.
 * Franklin Greenleaf: Horace Greenleaf's nephew. Vanished mysteriously.
 * Dr. Horace Greenleaf: Obtained interviews with former Asashi Rosa members, was subsequently murdered.
 * Martha Horngell: Syldanade's longtime partner. May have been able to use a double-wide corset as a batarang. Phantomed.
 * Pelisius Ipswitch: Yeoman of the doomed flagship "Officer Low-Belly". Presumed dead, since Harrican crashed his baneship through the bridge.
 * Joffy Jiffenbock: Supreme Commander of something. Has awesome name.
 * Tommy Law: Represented the Robotic Anti-Disassembly League in their suit against Syldanade and won, despite not actually having a Terran law license. Turn-ons: no disassemble. Turn-offs: disassemble.
 * Talon Maldoni: Second corporate vizier and former chief underling of Brexton-Rax. Took office in 1752, later status unknown.
 * Williams Maud: One of Harrican's crewmen. Missing since the Argos was scuttled in the Belt of Nertoh. His journal appears 30 years before it was written, on an unknown planet, and became the natives' holy book.
 * Terlin Morell: Former phonograph lord (whatever that is), found out that Stars Fuck.
 * Julius Naranja: Star baron turned pirate and the owner of baneship Aria.
 * Tinner Northerlysouth: Explorer, made a failed attempt to map the Belt of Nertoh in a spaceship powered by treadmills. Status unknown.
 * Dweecisco Offields: Friend of Syldanade's, avant-garde artist and dilettante.
 * Ebo Orrinde: Archaeo-musicologist.
 * Pene del Cavallo: Delphstadt's middle-aged boy king. Name is Babelfishtalian for "horse penis."
 * Quentin Quelfin: Art biologist, alive in 1893. Also alive (and working) sometime in the early 1700's (was present for Naombe M'x doing something terrible to Eden Prime). Possibly decendants?
 * Lesster Sideburnsteen: Music critic.
 * Erric Tadynasty: Village idiot for the undefined planet of Spund. Executed by the Nertoh Tourism Board for being honest.
 * Theodoren Van Rax: Co-founder and First Corporate Vizier of the Brexton-Rax Consortium. Was probably evil, or at least very dominance-oriented. Comitted suicide in 1752.
 * Vanthraxus the Nebula-Gorger, Gentleman Overlord: Presumably his name and title have some truth to them. Tried to conquer the Belt of Nertoh, was stopped by a vacationing Syldanade (suggested that Syldanade has stopped him before). Seems to enjoy "utopia-building" military actions, polite fisticuffs, and manners (other likes and dislikes unknown). Dislikes being punched in the ovipositor. Phantomed. Have fun with this one, guys!
 * Emithile Voghannaucht: Eminent Bithoraxian romance-mystery novelist. Famous for being able to write with both halves of her body at the same time.
 * Lady Clandestina Van Vyvyan: Heiress-by-day, prosecuted in 1719 for, well, lots of things. Results of that trial unknown.
 * Wix: Native anti-tribesman, escorted Syldanade's party through Khest Delta. Unknown if Syldanade's having been the sole survivor of that expedition refers to him as well.
 * Pellman Yurl: former department chair of Anthropological Mistakes at Ordroom University.

Organizations

 * Asashi Rosa: Groovy all-female assassin squad now. Details in article.
 * BKE Amalgamated: Corporation responsible for creating Acid Wash and destroying Levi VI.
 * Brexton-Rax Cat Food Consortium: see article.
 * Ecosystem-Rustlers of Second Io: Who knows?
 * Farthingside Brotherhood of Explorers: Met in the Farthingside Gentleman's Club in Clampwych. Syldanade and Malinveer Ashmanning were members. Gives out Explorer of the Year medallion, Bellwether's Cape Prize.
 * Harricanites: Group who worship Syldanade as their only god.
 * Neufbranzen Mounted Postal Society: I have no fucking clue. What the hell are they mounted on? Also no clue. Exists in the present day, may not matter, but has a cool name.
 * Nertoh Tourism Board: Somehow important in the larger galaxy, started as the elected government of the Nertoh System.
 * Pathologic Order: Group of nuns who owned a baneship, which they called "The Holy Beam of St. Agnes Granularity." Phantomed.
 * Robotic Anti-Disassembly League: Successfully sued Syldanade over the destruction of countless robot butlers. Phantomed.
 * Shintuda monks: Pacifists now, allegedly were not always so. Phantomed.
 * Tavendish and Gleem: Calculation firm, whatever that is.
 * Tyrant Gourmands of Angusheim-5: Phantomed, will be very exciting for someone to write.

Animal

 * Aetheric Eyeworms: Parasites attracted to Silicate Trees on Eudos. Seem to be capable of phasing or other dimensional travel ("ripple into existence"). Residue they leave behind on leaves makes the natural variety of Byzant. Damn, the Byzant article is awesome.
 * Arshalians (aliens): See article. Presumably destroyed after they stole a doomsday bomb Harrican was accidentally carrying, although some might be left.
 * Aurochs: If they're anything like the extinct ones on Earth, big-ass hairy cattle. That might or might not put Khest on Terra.
 * Bithoraxians (aliens): See article. Dual-entity hive mind with a crazy awesome culture.
 * Cats: cats.
 * Cetaceans: Whales and whale-likes. Seem to exist on multiple worlds in various local forms (two mentioned: Terra's oceans and formerly Eborax, the Eboraxian ones having sought political asylum on Terra).
 * Forminids (aliens): Presumably an animal of some kind. Hive-minds, otherwise details unknown.  Sound cool, though!
 * Humans: What? Humans are animals.
 * Pipe Organ: Proabably belongs under "technology", but Archaeo-musicologist Ebo Orrinde doesn't seem to think so.
 * Tachyonteron: Borderline mythical. Can't move slower than the speed of light, possibly live in black holes. Described as a star-sized maw.  Harrican claims to have been chased by one.

Vegetable

 * Eboraxian Algae: Discovered through use of an apelagic generator. Sentient AND delicious!
 * Kinetivoric Fungus of Nertoh: Eats kinetic energy, lives on small meteorites and planetoids, makes flying through the Nertoh Belt a serious pain in the ass. No mention on if it's found elsewhere.
 * Silicate Trees of Eudos: Cultivated silicate/flora hybrids. Attract Aetheric Eyeworms.

Mineral

 * Tricesian Crystals: A type of crystal, presumably. Known that it powers beam weapons, is highly sought, and was found on Levi IV. Phantomed.

Drugs/Narcotics/Booze

 * Buckrye Black Label: Harrican's favorite brand of whiskey.
 * Byzant: See article.
 * Gronga Berries: extremely addictive psychotropic berries. Phantomed.
 * 'Tobacco, but moreso': The common name for a substance used by the natives of the Fevorssian Cluster.

Technologies

 * Ablative gold: Man, I have no idea. I just pulled it out of my ass. "Ablative armor" generally means a type of covering meant to chip or burn away in a controlled manner to prevent damage to the underlying structures.
 * Ansible Radio: Like a stellar internet-radio-telegraph service maybe? "ansible" is the generic scifi term for a device that can convey information instantly across vast distances of interstellar space. Anyway, there's news reports on at least one channel. Maybe multiple channels, some for private use? Note: as mentioned below in the What We Know section, there's probably no handheld versions, because that would make a lot of shit not make sense.
 * Apelagic Generator: see article. Possibly teleports water instead of destroying it.
 * Baneship: see article. Four specific baneships mentioned so far, should probably be detailed in a "starship" sub-section. The running gag seems to be that Baneships are the only thing in this wiki that get around the "No real-world references, please" rule, and even then it's possible that the artifacts that power them are not their real-world counterparts. They might just have the same names by coincidence.
 * Beam Guns: Powered by tricesian crystals. Supposedly fairly devastating.
 * Bombs: Bombs capable of burning up half a world (in a quantity firable from one spaceship) exist (see Breakable Cipher 7). Not mentioned whether nuclear or some other type.
 * Brains-In-A-Jar: The president of Brexton-Rax is, in the current day, a brain in a jar that can communicate. For sanity purposes (and to avoid Futurama trope), maybe this is only something available to the extremely rich?
 * Coin machines: The bank of Ingletopia used them.
 * Crossbows: Crossbows exist. Harrican used one during one of his trips to Khest, to kill an Auroch.
 * Dirigible: Rigid-structure lighter-than-air conveyance, presumably (just like real life). Harrican used one on his 8th trip to Levi IV.
 * Force Fields: Several mentions are made of large protective forcefields. Ashmanning had one on his solar schooner, and the Brexton-Rax Consortium used them to protect things. The ones mentioned so far were not proof against everything.
 * Galactic Listening Technology: Placed by some kind of organization near the Outer Rim of the Galaxy to try and pick up noises from other Galaxies. Can read magnetic resonances at least.
 * Glyphship: Ashmanning died when his dissolved. Nothing else is known, except that some people race(d) them.
 * Gravity Railgun: Vanthraxus speaks lovingly of them. Planet to planet weapon that potentially fires moons, presumably some kind of gravity-based accelerator.
 * Microwave Cannon: Mentioned lovingly by Vanthraxus as a planet-to-planet weapon. I guess it fires microwaves somehow?
 * Nerve Gas: It exists (see Breakable Cipher 1)
 * Robots: They exist. Are often addicted to Apelagic Generator Beams. See people section for specific robots, or Robotic Anti-Disassembly League for their advocacy group.
 * Robot Submarines: Were used in some kind of Shoals War.
 * Solar Schooner: A type of spaceship. Ashmanning used one at least once (he seemed to be a man in favor of experimental aircraft). Uses solar sails.
 * Tear Gas: It exists (see Breakable Cipher 1).
 * World-Drilling Engine: Again, Vanthraxus owns/owned one. Details unknown, although a capacity to drill worlds somehow is a strong possibility.

Named Spaceships

 * Argos (baneship): Harrican's ship, powered by the Golden Fleece. Scuttled in the Belt of Nertoh.
 * Aria (baneship): Powered by the voice of the Fat Lady, the original baneship. Status Unknown.
 * Holy Beam of Saint Agnes Granularity (baneship): presumably powered by the granularity of St. Agnes (whatever that is), presumably lost in 1810 (unknown)
 * O Fortuna (baneship): powered by a leprechaun, destroyed in 1810.
 * Officer Low-Belly: Former flagship of the Brexton-Rax Fleet, type unknown, destroyed in 1726 via ramming. Probably friggin' huge if Harrican could drive a baneship through the bridge of one. Presumably all other Brexton Rax ships were named after the company presidents' cats.
 * The Percival (baneship): Powered by some important cup or other, status unknown.

General Science Ranting (What We Know)
Okay, so the on-going theme seems to be high-tech with a sort of Victorian/baroque/art deco quality. At least human tech is. This seems to be in-line with the sort of "Jules Verne/Gulliver/John Carter of Mars/Buck Rogers" pastiche that's going on, although of course some "Hitchhiker's" seems to have unavoidably crept in (some of which is my fault!). Apelagic generators work on princples of anti-matter or quantum-physics (supposedly), but they look like pipe organs and you could presumably tinker with one using a wrench. Manda's pictures of baneships look like something Fritz Lang would have sketched after watching Flight of the Navigator.

The situations things are used in is also a bit of a pastiche. Coin machines, time-travel devices, swords and crossbows are all mentioned in the same article. A guy who's referred to as a "phonograph lord" used a SETI-like array to listen to Stars fucking. Personally I think this is pretty fucking cool, and I'm saying that as someone who doesn't like that kind of mixing normally.

I'd advance some theories about why this is (the Galaxy's technologically decentralized, Jules Vernian tech worked and a Victorian society visited the stars), but frankly I don't want to any more than I just did, because it might prevent new mysteries like "glyphships" from coming up (as you might notice, I'm in love with that word and almost hope they're never defined).

Things there's not: There's no mention of magic per se (yet). There's a reference to a bio-magician (mine) but this could be a superstitious title or something relating to a genetic artist, or it could be a not-understood talent. Or it could be magic! There are also the baneship artifacts and the glyphships, but glyphships are so far undefined (They sound mysterious to me, though). There might well be some Raiders of the Lost Ark-type mystic stuff waiting to be found.

There aren't any references to straight up guns (yet), with the exception of gunpowder itself. Like, the hand-held kind don't exist. There are ship armament lasers powered by tricesian crystals, but not much else in the way of personal armament mentioned besides swords and crossbows. As gunpowder is mentioned, presumably powder weapons of some kind exist, and possibly pistol beam-weapons. The rarity of beam-weapons might be due to the rarity of triscesian crystals, even. There might or might not be a reason personal firearms are rare as opposed to swords/crossbows (ala Dune's personal forcefields), hard to say since there's been no need to bring them in to things yet.

Space travel, we won't know much except that faster than light travel exists. Baneships seem to work fundamentally differently than other ships, due to artifact power-source. They also just seem to go really fast, rather than using a time-bubble or any of that theoretical hard-science nonsense. I mentioned solar sailers myself, because solar sailers are fucking cool.

I also brought the term "ansible radio" in, in case of any internet or stellar communication needs (because if anyone used the words "internet" I would've gagged a little). How it's used and whatnot is not defined, but it definitely provides a way for people in different parts of the galaxy to communicate real-time. Based on Harrican having to bring back exploration results at all, ansible radios are probably bulky as all hell or incredibly expensive (so no galactic walkie-talkies yet). Ships seem to be able to communicate with each other, although that could just be by standard radio transmission or semaphore flags or throwing fish with words written on them at each other.

Mostly-real-world science seems to be the way of things as far as astrophysics goes. Suns work similarly, planets are round and have moons sometimes, the speed of light is probably the same. There are nebulas and globular clusters and black holes and stuff like that. I don't think anyone's being particularly anal about it either way (which is good).

Alternate dimensions is possible. The article on Byzant suggests that Aetheric Eyeworms (note their name) might travel multi-dimensionally, although this possibly falls under "weird semi-magical stuff".

Oh, right, time travel. Temporal travel's been mentioned in a couple of places, but it seems either exceedingly rare, exceedingly dangerous, exceedingly illegal, or a delicious combination of all three. Having a better-outcome device is illegal, time-scumming (making short backwards hops or something like that) is illegal, and I keep mentioning that if you time travel longer lengths (if you have the ability to survive a black hole, say) you have to take precautions against accidentally impregnating yourself with chronal lizard baby clones or going insane or whatever. We should probably keep it that way for sanity reasons; cheap easy time-travel = bullshit most of the time. Time travel doesn't seem to create alternate timelines (yet), or at least shorter hops don't.

That's about all I can think of for now. This'll probably get weirder and awesomer as time goes on, just from people throwing random cool-sounding shit out there.

Oh, and one more thing. Someone'll probably read this an introduce firearms. If that person, or any other person involved in this, has Harrican wandering around with a 9-millimeter looking for a Jewel-Encrusted Skull (in some kind of desert), be aware: I will cut you. Or at least yell at you via talk page, and not in a friendly "haha" sort of way. A mean "make you cry" way. I'm serious, I will make you cry like a baby. Andronicus Paulicus 12:23, July 15, 2010 (UTC)

(If anyone who knows stuff about actual science wants to write a "What We Know About Science" section, that'd be awesome. I'd do it myself, but... yeah.) Maribel le Cire-Têtard 09:26, July 14, 2010 (UTC)