#galactic appendix

[jedifallensurvivor]

We now have canon grid coordinated for Zakuul, Odessen among many others.

[komodoclassic]

The signs as quotes from my good friend @authenticparanoidghosts

Aries: “I WISH I was an evil archeologist”

Taurus: “imagine being the guy who knocked the [Stonehenge] stone over and the rush you would feel”

Gemini: “there is no way they have a galactic internet. you gotta land on a planet and figure out what the wifi situation is on a case by case basis”

Cancer: “Oh. Um. Yeah, I named the google doc that in a fit of rage.”

Leo: “if you’re a superhero and you don't have room for love in your heart what's even the point”

Virgo: “I'm creating my own destiny here, I guess. student of the ouroboros”

Libra: “anyway. gotta knock out this last one so we can go to sleep. Appendix A.”

Scorpio: “I can’t believe you’re making me confront the sins of my youth.”

Sagittarius: “I’m being bullied for my thoughtful and philosophical questions about Transformers”

Capricorn: “Daedalus and his labyrinth have nothing on the way my maze of google docs is driving me to madness”

Aquarius: “what’s sexier than time travel and ultra efficient military logistics?? NOTHING”

Pisces: "play the Jaws theme, DJ"

[yodawgiheardyoulikemecha]

Sunray by David Roberts Via Flickr: A racing spaceship from the seldom visited, lateral appendix of the galactic disc. Sunray was noted for its balance of speed and manoeuvrability. Landing the Sunray was a tricky process. First, the outer panels had to be folded flat. then, pilots had to fly vertically and them modulate the thrust to lower gently onto the pad. Finally, the cockpit could be rotated to the horizontal. There are more images, including the ladder truck for the pilot to get down from the cockpit, over on Instagram: www.instagram.com/davidrobertslego/p/DEX9PlQi8j6/?img_ind... & www.instagram.com/davidrobertslego/p/DETALJmiO4e/?img_ind...

[thecrimsonthrone]

Journal Entry 22 - Official Log - First Contact Protocol Initiated

Source: Council Archives, Crimson Throne

Timestamp: 2200.10.17

Location: Basilica of the Waking Star – Obsidian Chamber, High Tier

Subject: Dual Anomalous Discoveries – Precursors and Indigenous Life Filed By: Minister of State, Iraleth Mor Cleared For: Council, High Ecclesiastics, Blood-Sanctioned Academics

Summary: Two major phenomena have been uncovered by the exploratory vessel Bloodlit Grace, currently under the command of Saedra Vireth, Head of Research and youngest Minister of Science in the Throne’s annals.

Precursors: The Cybrex Survey operations on Achernar III have unearthed dormant artifacts belonging to a long-extinct machine empire—self-designated Cybrex. These constructs, estimated at over 600,000 years of age, appear to have functioned as a unified intelligence. Fragmentary data indicates that they conducted a crusade to eradicate all sentient life across this galactic quadrant, purpose unknown. Artifacts have been secured. All scans are under isolation protocol WR-33. Research will proceed under a hybrid archive-insight directive. Saedra Vireth has not commented publicly but has requested extended survey rights without ministerial oversight.

First Confirmed Evidence of Alien Life Achernar III has also revealed a thriving biosphere of non-Nightspire origin. While sapience has yet to be confirmed, signs of structured foraging behavior and rudimentary tool use have been observed in some species. Vireth’s team notes energy fluctuations across the polar regions suggesting the potential for dormant infrastructure buried beneath the ice. Religious orders have requested rites of binding and observation be held before direct contact is initiated.

Council Position: Varek Thorne has declared a Velvet Embargo on all civilian broadcast transmissions related to Achernar III. Until such time as sapience is confirmed, standard observation protocols will be enacted with priority towards data retention and ideological hygiene. The public will be informed via an orchestrated revelation once optimal framing has been devised.

Immediate Orders Issued:

Begin preparation of Observation Platforms pending confirmation of sapience.

Bloodlit Grace is to finish planetary scans, focusing on subglacial scans and relic energy readings.

Veneration Houses across Nightspire are to prepare sermons on The Shattering of Solitude in anticipation of revelation.

Appendix Attached:

Classified transmission: partial Cybrex artifact transcript (🔒 Level 4 Clearance)

Scientific briefing: xenobiological index of Achernar III fauna

Drafted liturgical framing: “The Voices of the Hollow Stars”

Seal of Iraleth Mor Minister of State, Voice of the Throne

[kicksnscribs]

Adding onto this by my chest still hurts and I have nothing else better to do anyway:

I’m still trying to get a good grasp on scale in this story, but for the most part the guidelines I’m currently using are

Casettebots and (Minimus) are around 6 to 7 ft and are capable of mass displacement due to their smaller size,

Minibots are around 10 to 12 ft tall with Rung being somewhere in between a Minibot and Scout class in terms of height, pushing about 13 ft

Scout class bots (Rodimus, Skids, Prowl etc.) range anywhere from 14 to 18 ft tall

“Leader” Class bots ( Megatron, Ultra Magnus) range anywhere from 25 to 30ft, Whirl is nestled neatly between Scout and Leader at about 24 ft tall (though this may change in the future) Megatron can mass displace to about Cassettebot size if needed but it takes a ton of energy to do so.

===*

Capsize is a neutral bot in service to the Galactic Railroad, serving as a ferryman between the space elevators in his sector to the massive space-faring vessel that serves as a distribution center to the universe. He is a kind soul, taking the time to console Leigh when she first arrives at the space elevator with Leo Prime in tow before realizing that she has to part ways with her traveling companion.

At first I was planning on space pirate adventures with him, but I’m not sure if I can find a way to fit that into the storyline yet…

===*

Sunder’s abilities can affect more than just Cybertronians. Thankfully, the unlikely friendship Leigh has apparently formed with Ravage comes to bail her out of a horrifying situation.

===*

The Rodimus is just there for practice, but besides that I have a running joke that human appendixes are considered a delicacy in some alien cultures and Leigh has long since offered hers up for a bit of coin when she was down on her luck (she was severely underpaid she would later find out, only adding to her dour and distrusting nature at the beginning of the story) The aliens here are just some funky little dudes I drew on a whim that somehow turned out to be a pretty fun concept to play with. I like their funky eyebrow anatomy lol

===*

The Sauroids are just a fun species to draw in general that I created out of nowhere. I just love the idea of space dinos developing tech that’s just huge mechanical arms 😊

Exploratory concepts for Phantasmagoria that i did earlier this year, trying to slowly work on all of my storylines and this one has been fighting for a while to get back into the spotlight

Edit: forgor a pic

[hanro50]

Ameda square station tales #4: incident report.

Being on the station guard was never a glamorous career. While fighting off jump drive parasites where an occasional occurrence. A much more over looked avenue is keeping peace onboard.

Unlike most stations of its class. Ameda was not in orbit around any solar body. While this saved on the costs associated with constructing the station. It occasionally has some negative effects on species with a rest cycle.

Such as the time a sleep deprived human,Mark, threw a punch at a Vericos, Sir Alivia. Now having to deal with a Death-worlder was already a scary proposition. Having to deal with two well most of the hardier guards where out fighting a jump drive parasite attack in the docking station...was asking a lot from species that could be splattered with one good punch by either combatant.

A"You want to punch me yea dumb Ork? Well let me show you what a punch from a real gentleman can do to yea feeble frame"

M"Stop <error> calling me an Ork you speciest <error>. Or the next punch will be with some force behind it."

A"I thought Orks liked being called Orks. Well not much more than your kind likes calling Planta...the your word for plant with an 'a' added to it."

Mark threw another punch. Sir Alivia blocked it, but this time a few scales got knocked loose from his skin.

A"You <translater failed to re-compile sentence to English due to irregular sentence construction"

Sir Alivia threw a punch down at Mark. Mark had fallen back and had attempted to kick Sir Alivia away. Using Sir Alivia's momentum against himself. He successfully sent the Vericos flying.

M"You forget our mother world is located in a pocket of dense space Lizard"

A"Hay, low blow calling me a Lizard .... Ok...I think I get it now and it isn't just that the guard over yonder are pointing guns at us both and I'm stuck in this here wall"

M"Huh..." Mark suddenly saw the guard surrounding them and raised his hands. M"I blame you for this" Mark said hushed.

A"The feeling is mutual."

Appendix: Context to aid in the reading of this report.

Death-worlder: a species that has evolved in some particularly inhospitable environments. Granting them abilities and biological traits not commonly seen with species that evolved on less hostile worlds.

Vericos: a cold blooded species with thick layers of skin dotted with lead platting dawning the appearance of scales. Primary food source is vegetation.

Human: a warm blooded species that hails from a section of dense space. As such the world they hail from has a rather aggressive gravitational pull compared to galactic standard.

Ork/Lizard: a derogative term for the human and Vericos species respectively.

[queercraftingchonk]

Currently dealing with appendicitis rn and now I'm wondering what the alien squad mates in Mass Effect would react to finding out that humans can just.... Self destruct? Like, why DO we do that?

Oh goodness, anon, I hope you're feeling better and doing well! This ask had me thinking for a while as to the answer.

Javik would predictably see it as evidence of humanity’s primitive status. Meanwhile, I feel Tali would empathize with having a body that can be downright hostile sometimes, and Liara would simply find it fascinating from a biological standpoint.  Thane would be unsurprised as he knew the anatomy of every spacefaring race very well for assassination purposes. Samara would find it intriguing that many galactic species, including asari, continue to have biological deficiencies, dangers, and disorders--seeing it as a sign of Universal Laws of chaos and evolution found in all species Garrus would assume that the human crewmates were playing a trick on him. “That can’t be right, Shepard,” he would say, and only after repeatedly learning the same facts about the appendix from different humans would he accept that Joker wasn’t shitting him for once. Legion would question whether the appendix served as a conscious self-destruct button; a natural extension of the misunderstanding both Wrex and (especially) Grunt have--as they interpreted appendicitis as a built-in time bomb that a human captive could activate willingly. Grunt even laments at one point that, even among all his redundant organs, he doesn’t have “that big exploding thing humans have” and when Dr. Chakwas tells him that he wildly misunderstands appendicitis...the young krogan chooses to ignore science and has his human action figures heroically blow themselves up with the “bio-appendix bomb” when fighting Reaperized dinosaur toys. Hope that answers your ask well, anon, and I hope even more that you’re healing well~

[a-flickering-soul]

I'm incapable of thinking about characters I like in a normal way. Here's Hux's medical chart, as per @thefearofcod's request, and if asked I will at little to no cost to you explain why I have diagnosed him with any of the above illnesses. Obligatory disclaimer that I'm not a doctor.

(Transcript below cut)

Officers’ Medbay--Medical History

Thank you for visiting the Finalizer’s medbay. Please fill out the information below to the best of your ability so we can give you the most accurate and efficient treatment possible. If you need assistance at any time, please contact staff or a med droid and we will help you.

Name: Armitage Hux Date: 09-22-0034

Title: General Comm Number: 069-77-6632

Average vitals (these can be measured with your issued ident-chip in Galactic Standard):

BP: 130/80 SpO2: 89%

Height: 185.4 Weight: 71 Age: 34

Prescribed medications or substances, assistive tech:

Stims (military grade) (as needed)

Sleeping pills (as needed)

Inhaler (corticosteroids) (as needed)

Back brace (daily)

Hand braces (daily)

Contact lens/glasses (daily)

Medical history:

Tuberculosis

Variation: Arkanisian consumption

Symptoms: infrequent spates of productive, occasionally bloody, cough, fatigue, loss of appetite, chills, headache, low oxygen sat

Treatment: ICS as needed to ease breathing, rest and a multi-drug program strongly suggested

Chronic vitamin D deficiency

Symptoms: fatigue, mild cold symptoms, bone pain, back pain, fragile bones

Treatment: supplements, back brace to ease pain and maintain posture, UV lamp strongly suggested

Carpal tunnel

Symptoms: wrist and tendon pain, numbness, tingling

Treatment: hand braces (compression and boned gloves), with taking breaks from repetitive datapad usage, ergonomic working conditions, and frequent stretching strongly suggested

Retinopathy of prematurity

Symptoms: poor peripheral vision

Treatment: prismal contact lens, prismal glasses, vision exercises

Nearsightedness

Symptoms: difficulty seeing faraway objects

Treatment: corrective contact lens, corrective glasses, option for laser surgery

Further notes (for medbay staff only):

Psych evals note highly-addictive personality prone to insomnia and periods of mania, with initial bloodwork returning high amounts of Order-sourced stims (about 28% higher concentration than the average officer’s dose) with no signs of overactivity, suggesting dependency. While stims may be obtained from medbay if needed, this officer highly suggests a weaning-off period to both increase stim efficacy and overall health of the patient.

Bloodwork also returns mild anemia (nothing that can’t be fixed by regular rations), and more concerningly, trace amounts of lead (which may partially explain the high blood pressure, headaches, and overall irritability). Chelation may be necessary--will confer with others to come to a solution.

Furthermore, he is underweight (which, again, would improve tremendously with regular meals), has poor circulation, complains of jaw pain which, along with passive observed jaw-clenching indicates bruxism, and has (as does most of his generation) poor immune systems and high allergies as a result of growing up largely on ships. It is this officer’s personal and professional opinion that medbay takes preventative measures to remove high-risk organs (including appendix, tonsils, and wisdom teeth) before they become compromised, as they most likely will.

Personal officer’s side note: if it were during the early ages of the Empire, this man would be diagnosed with hysteria and then some. He is high-strung, suffers what looks like some form of PTSD carried over from childhood, neurotic, self-motivated, dangerously ambitious, lacks empathy, and displays an unsettlingly megalomaniacal streak. His history is littered with dead bodies, with a stunning lack of concern for them or himself. He is unreliable, untrustworthy, and unsustainable. He seems to believe he is running on borrowed time, and is making the most of it. I cannot advise this man to be trusted with any form of authority, and yet at the same time he is so absurdly hypercompetent I would trust no one else to take the First Order to as-of-yet unforeseen military and technological heights. I am giving him a clean enough bill of health to perform his duties, as I strongly suspect he would have me poisoned if I refused to do so.

[laylainalaska]

Further thoughts on The Pride of Chanur - now getting into the interesting gender and cultural stuff. No real spoilers here except for just general natterings about the way hani culture is set up in the books.

I don’t think I appreciated (or really thought about it at all), when I first read this book as a teenager, how extraordinary it is for a book published in 1982 to have a cast that’s almost entirely female, and a bunch of macho and (judiciously) violent women at that. The hani women of the Pride may be honest merchant traders, but there is something very piratical about them anyway, with their gold earrings and scars and willingness to use teeth, claws, and weapons to get what they want. And the main viewpoint character is middle-aged, with a husband and grown children back home!

I liked, however, that the gender roles in hani society are not merely human gender roles inverted. Their society is loosely built on lions as inspiration, so males are technically in charge, but are believed to be too violent and unstable to interact with outsiders, so women handle all foreign trade and diplomacy, as well as most of the fighting. Hani women enjoy freedom and power quite enviable to human women ... but their position is also precarious, deeply dependent upon male hani politics back home, while male hani live a life of strictures and boundaries if they “win” (they’re protected and cosseted, living a life of luxury for as long as they can defeat challengers) but most can look forward only to a short, violent, lonely life in the wilderness.

The hani very easily could've ended up as some sort of Noble Savage stereotype, as a species very new to space travel, still very much embroiled in violently gladiatorial politics, effectively "primitives" who've been given spaceships by their mehendo’sat discoverers ... except they are very much not that; they are not even considered "primitive" by galactic standards, simply different in a galaxy full of very different groups of sentients, even though you can see how much their society is being influenced and changed by very recent contact with spacefaring species. They may be new to space travel, but Pyanfar & co. are canny, cynical, smart, cosmopolitan, and technologically sophisticated, even though their society has not yet adapted to dealing with galactic outsiders on a regular basis.

The book does suffer somewhat from the “one planet, one culture” problem, and also “one species, one cultural trait” with the more exotic aliens and the kif, though future books develop them more. And there’s an appendix to one of the books that explains the hani are effectively monocultural because the group of hani who first made contact with the mehendo’sat were able to expand their influence all over the planet due to controlling space travel. It ... sort of works. I wish we saw more variety within the hani, though it’s also plausible that they don’t have as much cultural variation as humans do because, as a species, they aren’t particularly innovative. The most humanlike aliens in the books, the curious and exploration-oriented mehendo’sat, do seem to have a lot more ethnic and linguistic variety (which is seen a little bit in this book, and more in future books).

[trewtitlesandtribulations-blog]

Excerpt from On the Humans of Earth

Sol Vitra Publishing, GC 130,045

"...which brings us to Earth, a rocky inner-system planet host to innumerable carbon-based species. The most famous of these life forms are our fellow sentients, the bipedal Terrans, who made their bombastic entrance to the Galactic Society with the Directed Pulsar event of 2472. Since then, the Terrans (or, as they refer to themselves, Humans (Hyū-minns)) have proven their intelligent and daring nature many times over. It is a known and respected fact that they have the curiosity to get into trouble, and the brainpower to get themselves right back out.

Galactic sapiologists have long studied the origins of Humanity's (Hyū-mann-a-teez) propensity for boldly going where none have gone before. New research suggests a major factor is their durable biology.

Their home planet is well-documented as being inhospitable and dangerous in all but the most temperate areas, featuring lethal temperatures, salinities, and aridities on much of it's surface. Where a number of sentients achieved our emergent minds via abundant resources allowing unchecked expansion of cerebral structures (the Tylomerian and Kyritian societies, for example) Humans went a different route. They ventured forth from their well-stocked cradle, into ever-more perilous environments, their insatiable wanderlust carrying them across the globe and into the very vacuum of space.

It was not without sacrifice. Many died exploring the polar regions, where temperatures went so far below their internal conditions that they expired in mere minutes if caught without countermeasures. But it is thanks to this ancient struggle that Humans gained a biology uniquely suited to their rough-and-tumble ways.

Elastic, adaptable outer muscles allow for quick and agile movement. A lack of outer insulation permits rapid dispersal of excess heat using specialized liquid-producing glands embedded in their skin. That same skin is capable of adapting to UV exposure, temporarily darkening in a matter of days to prevent genetic damage, and permanently darkening over several generations to give increased protection to offspring. A full complement of sensory organs gives them potent observational capabilities, and damage to their skeleton, skeletal muscle, and skin heals quickly, if with the caveat of visible scarring that only partially fades over time.

Of particular interest, their durable outer surfaces are so designed because their internal organs and skeleton cannot regrow once separated from the main body. A severed limb will forever stay severed, and destroyed organs will not grow back, barring a transplant*. Their most vital tissues and structures are permanent and non-regeneratable, with no internal stores of base cells to replenish them. The aforementioned Tylomerian and Kyritian societies have vast collections of such cells, which can be moved about to heavily damaged areas, a common phenomenon due to the two species' weak, fragile biology. But Humans opted for much higher durability, at the cost of most regrowth.

Some of the scholars interviewed for this text, exercising dry wit, commented that it is all the better that Humans are incapable of regeneration on a bodily scale. The logic being that if such crafty, bold creatures were given such power, they would no doubt abuse it to the utmost. Humans interviewed on these comments agreed wholeheartedly."

*A notable exception is the Human liver, able to regrow to a shocking extent, considering the complete lack of such regeneration in other Human organs. This is believed to be due to Humans' incredible knack for adapting to consume toxic substances, such as caffeine, capsaicin, and alcohol (see appendix for further elaboration).

So the human body produces enough cells to grow exactly what it needs and is generally sturdy enough to not fuck up. What if this is uncommon? A sign that we live in a world that only gives us the exact amount we need to survive and other aliens have likes stores of extra bits that can get channeled to wherever needed because their homeworlds provided sustenance and safety in surplus throughout their entire evolution? The aliens are softer and more easily broken but regenerate faster, where as humans are sturdy but regenerate slower.

[kumarneeraj111]

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[dontletmeontheinternet]

Closer to a Space-Travel Future: Branson Prepares for Flight to Outer Space

In two hours, Richard Branson (and five other Virgin Galactic employees) will attempt a historic flight to the edge of outer space. Bloomberg points out it will be followed 9 days later by Jeff Bezos's rocket trip with Blue Origin on July 20. "Yeah, there's a little bit of competition in the who's going first or when things are happening," Virgin President Mike Moses, a former space shuttle manager at NASA, told CBS News. "But it's really not a race. It's not a competition. I know that sounds maybe a little shallow or disingenuous, but it's not. "It's a small community. I know dozens of people who work at Blue Origin, I know dozens and dozens of people at SpaceX, and we all used to work together at NASA. And I wish every single one of them the best.... Because all of us together is what's going to get humans into space and our culture to recognize that space travel is the foundation for the future for everyone..." "This has been a long journey for him," Mike Moses said of Branson. "He's like a kid in a candy store here in training this week. He's bouncing around, he's happy, excited. ... But that excitement is really infectious. And so the whole crew is feeling it." CNN points out that Branson has "narrowly avoided being killed numerous times in his nearly 71 years," including dangerous stunts like bunjee jumping that left him bloody and injured, as well as accidents during long-distance balloon flights while attempting to set records. Here's how Branson describes some of them in his second autobiography, "Finding My Virginity," which includes an appendix called "75 Close Shaves": 1972: Survived a fishing boat sinking on honeymoon with my first wife, Kristen, off Mexico. We decided to jump off the boat and swim for shore, while the others stayed put -- we were the only survivors. 1976: Flew a microlight aircraft by mistake. It was the first time I'd sat in it, I had no idea how to fly it and accidentally took off. I was pulling wires out desperately. I cut the engine and managed to crash-land into a field. My instructor died in an accident the next day... 1986: On my first time skydiving, there was one cord that opened the parachute and one that got rid of it. I pulled the wrong cord by mistake. I was falling through the air before an instructor managed to yank my spare ripcord... 1989: I decided to make an entrance to my wedding with Joan, dangling from a helicopter in an all-white suit. I dropped into the shallow end of the pool by mistake, smashed my legs, and spent the whole wedding hobbling.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

from Slashdot https://ift.tt/3xxqhdy

[hanro50]

Ameda square station tales #5: Help wanted.

The Overseer was looking over her datapad as she sat down with Debbie for lunch.

D"What is on your mind Overseer?"

O"I'm off duty Debbie, you can call me Olivia. Anyway, no I'm just looking over some data on a new species that moved onto the station [approximately 5 months] back."

D"Planning on adding a few to the station guard? Personally I'd advocate for Planta, although I've seen what they can muster with their kinetics"

O"I'm aware, Planta would be more deadly... which is the problem. I need a species that can join the station guard without a [approximately a month] worth of chemistry training each time a new species comes aboard."

D"To be fair, I'd still like a Death-worlder type species among the ranks. The squishier species onboard can be rather reluctant when it comes to dealing with more serious incidents."

O"I did look at a Beedroid, not quite a Death-worlder, but close.... Although we need Richard in the maintenance wing more than we need a new recruit. Also can't employ a varicose."

D"I promise to try not to overreact at one eating a [a type of fruit like object native to V7] near me again."

O"I'd just... avoid another 'incident' in the first place"

D"Well human it is then...any candidates?"

O"We have and I'm already running the logistics to arrange interviews"

D"I thought you where off duty"

O"I have multiple processing cores. I can do more than one task at a time."

D"Fair enough. I do forget you're a personality construct from machine space at times. Although this avatar you use really makes that story hard to believe."

O"Which is why I use it. In any case, we should start the interviews in [approximate 3 human cycles]. I'd like you to inform these 2 applicants that I have selected."

D"Let me see...so a huh...Jhon and a... Delilah? Seems easy enough to deliver this news"

O"I'll leave you to it"

D"See you later Oversee...I mean Olivia"

Appendix: A bit of background for this report.

Machine space: A cluster controlled and operated by an ever evolving ancient super computer. Responsible for, amongst other pieces of technology, the universal translators used by the greater galactic community.

Personality construct: An artificial intelligence generated by the aforementioned super computer in a bid to understand companionship. Said test was a failure... mostly. It has since taken a parental role to its many 'children'.

Avatar: a 'body' of sorts used by a construct to interact with other species in the intergalactic community. The number of avatars a construct can control depends on said construct's computing power.

[codylabs]

APPENDIX A: Gladius Major II Standard Calendar

(All numbers rendered here in decimal notation for Earth reader's convenience. When appropriate for clarity, senary notation will be included in parentheses.)

With the invention of the underdrive and its distribution to the outer colonies, there came a sudden need for a unified system of timekeeping, one independent of the years and days of individual worlds, and also independent of the time slippage (both forward and backward) incurred by ships traversing underspace. For that purpose, a unified relativistic calendar was popularized, which references to the solar cycles of the Gladius Major II binary system.

The GMII system consists of a pair of variable stars of significantly different elemental makeup, both of which are visible (and distinct) when viewed by telescope from nearly any point in the Sagittarius arm, and both of which pulse brighter and dimmer over a predictable period. GM1 pulses once every 0.94 Earth Standard Years, and GM2 every 0.91 ESY. Therefore, by measuring the relative brightness of the wavelengths of both stars, one can acquire the time of year (from GM1's brightness) and the year itself (by the phase offset between them). the GMII system orbits perpendicular to the galactic plane, so the stars eclipse each other only very rarely from very specific angles. Ships can use the GMII system to quickly calibrate themselves to the normal universe's date when emerging from underspace. Because GM1's peak brightness lies in the 550nm range (when observed from galactic-core-standstill) the Gladius Major II calendar is often referred to as "green date" or "greentime".

Of particular note is that, because of its nature based on observable light, the GMII calendar is relativistic. That is, the date does not depend on corrected 'real' time but on apparent time: year 1340 on a planet 40 lightyears from GMII may be happening concurrent to year 1330 on a planet 50 lightyears from GMII. The math gets complicated if one thinks about it too hard, but shipboard computers do most of the work, so most spacers don't need to know how to calculate or convert it except to pass a highschool test.

The GMII calendar is one of the primary "true-time" calibration metric used by navies, nomads, and merchant fleets, as it's easier to keep track of than adjusting to the solar calendars of each planet they happen across. Although, frequent drops into and out of underspace make the GMII dates and years appear to skip forward and backward randomly, so many ships and fleets also keep their own internal calendars, with the same year length as GMII but continuously offset for internal consistency.

A GMII year is approximately 29620300 standard seconds long. In keeping with standard galactic metrics, it is base-6: minutes are 36 (b6-100) seconds long, hours are 36 (b6-100) minutes, days are 72 (b6-200) hours, a year is 317 (b6-1245) days long, divided into 12 (b6-20) months of 26 (b6-42) days each, with the last month longer by 5-6 (b6 5-10) days (depending on whether it's a leap year, which it usually is), which constitutes the holiday week of Yuul. For traditional and religious reasons, days are still divided into weeks 7 (b6-11) days long, which do not divide evenly into either the months or the years. For reasons of superstition, a year is not permitted to start on a Moonday, and will instead start on a Sunday whenever such event is threatened.

Months are named as follows:

1- January

2- February

3 - March

4 - Kerlomb

5 - Haystol

6 - July

7 - September

8 - October

9 - November

10 - December

11 - Persers

12 - Yuultide

Days of week named as follows:

1 - Sunday

2 - Moonday

3 - Hardday

4 - Ferrday

5 - Allsday

6 - Numday

7 - Sabbathday

GET READY

I'm gonna post some APPENDICES FOR MY SCIFI WORLD

They're the bottom dregs of worldbuilding, just authorial administrative stuff to help me keep stuff like titles/dates/times right, so it's gonna be main dry reading for you guys, but I had a lot of fun with them anyway.

[itunesbooks]

Astronomy For Dummies - Stephen P. Maran

Astronomy For Dummies Stephen P. Maran Genre: Astronomy Price: $14.99 Publish Date: August 15, 2017 Publisher: Wiley Seller: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Your updated guide to exploring the night sky Do you know the difference between a red giant and a white dwarf? From asteroids to black holes, this easy-to-understand guide takes you on a grand tour of the universe. Featuring updated star maps, charts, and an insert with gorgeous full-color photographs,  Astronomy For Dummies provides an easy-to-follow introduction to exploring the night sky. Plus, this new edition also comes with chapter quizzes online to help your understanding. For as long as people have been walking the earth, those people have looked up into the night sky and wondered about the nature of the cosmos. Without the benefit of science to provide answers, they relied on myth and superstition to help them make sense of what they saw. Lucky for us, we live at a time when regular folks, equipped with nothing more than their naked eyes, can look up into the night sky and gain admittance to infinite wonders. If you know what to look for, you can make out planets, stars, galaxies, and even galactic clusters comprising hundreds of millions of stars and spanning millions of light-years. Whether you're an amateur astronomer, space enthusiast, or enrolled in a first year astronomy course,  Astronomy For Dummies gives you a reason to look into the heavens. Includes updated schedules of coming eclipses of the Sun and Moon and a revised planetary appendix Covers recent discoveries in space, such as water on the Moon and Pluto's demotion from "planet" status Collects new websites, lists of telescope motels, sky-watching guides, and suggestions for beginner's telescopes and suppliers Provides free online access to chapter quizzes to help you understand the content Ever wonder what's out there in the big ol' universe? This is the book for you! http://dlvr.it/R0zjSf

[whatevercomestomymind]

Galactic Guide to Humans, Physiology, note 1

Evolving on a Death World, human physiology is dangerously contradictory and yet precariously balanced. Within their own bodies, humans carry substances that are toxic, poisonous, corrosive or even deadly to other species but also themselves. These substances (see Appendix, Immune System, Digestive System/Excretive bateria), when kept in their regular locations within the human body pose no threat, and are not only beneficial but critically necessary for human survival.

That said, it is not uncommon for human bodies to become damaged, malformed, or in some way compromised either from genetic or or external factors, such as injury, nutritional intake imbalance, infection (see Immune System) or other proximate causes. When these substances move into locations within the human body that are not designed to contain them, it is quite likely to be fatal.

Of course, with humans, there are always exceptions.

Heartburn or Gastroesophogeal Reflux Disease (GERD): no their circulatory system does not spontaneously combust (this would be fatal, even to a human), it is named for the common sensation of the corrosive acid contained within their upper digestive system escaping the containment valves and rising up into their feeding tube, which is centrally located in the thorax, just in front of their primary circulatory organ. This can be caused by genetic defect of either the glands that produce the acid (producing too much) or containment valve defect. Generally not considered a serious condition by humans, but rather they view their internal structures being dissolved by acid as a "mere inconvenience" and have created commonly available remedies for it, usually ingested. This condition can also be exacerbated by the types of food they ingest, particularly if that food contains other known toxins that they seem to enjoy consuming (see Foods: Coffee, Capsaicin, Citrus). Alien foods will usually be consumed by humans prior to scanning by most humans so it is advisable to have a stock of common remedies on hand (see Common Ailments- Treatment).

Humans have the capacity to digest nearly anything, so they will assume something to be safe for consumption if it appears to be organic in nature, especially (but not always) if they consider it to either visually appear or smell appealing. Their criteria for this judgement is found in sub section Food - Identification and Consumption, as it is too lengthy a subject to be covered here.

Acid

“Friend Anna, why are you taking tablets? Are you ill?”  Glarak was concerned, as completing the task ahead without the unique skills of her human assistant would be extremely difficult.   “I’m fine, Glarak,” Anna responded, “It’s just acid reflux.” “Acid reflux?” Glarak was now doubly concerned, this sounded very serious indeed to her.   “Sometimes our stomach contents leak into our oesophagus, it’s rather uncomfortable.  These tablets neutralise the acid and stop it burning.” “Kranack!  Are you telling me that not only do your bodies produce flesh dissolving acids, but that sometimes this acid leaks to the wrong place?”  Glarak quivered, now convinced she would have to finish her shift alone.