Strangely enough both the Empire and the Confederation call their official Language 'English'.  That their respective languages are mutually unintelligable, and similarly unintelligable to a time lost traveller from the twentieth century.

In the Confederation 'English' is garaunteed to be spoken in government, that is on Sanctuary and in the FedCom. This english is heavily influenced by Spanish and German influences, coupled with four millenia of linguisitic drift.  Many member worlds, including all former and current provisional colonies, speak English as well, though often bastardized with whatever was the native tongue before the FedCom Navy forced them to change, while Charter member worlds speak a variety of languages decended from Earth, with a few speaking artificial languages (Esperanto and 'Galach' being popular, and 'Machine Code' being a distant third, being only a secondary language on worlds were it is common. Note that despite the name it is not actually useful for programming or talking to machines...)

Many fringe worlds maintain more exotic languages as their primary. The Caliphate worlds speak a variation of Farsi, with old Arabic being restricted to the Imams as a 'holy tongue'.   There is at least one world where Tolkieen languages are kept alive, focusing predominantly on elvish tongues, and another where Klingon is spoken, though only a few scholars know the origins of those languages anymore.   Most old earth languages are hopelessly bastardized and changed, and many are considered dead.   Despite a strong influence of French on linguistic drift to the spinward sectors, only one 'french' language exists, kept alive and static by rigid control for four millenia, almost unchanged from today.


On Domu, the capitol of the Empire, English was only a secondary language at best, used for negotiations and diplomacy.  Russian, various bantu dialects, arabic, three sorts of Chinese, Korean and Japanese languages, among others, all were used by the fractious city-states that devolved from the original hodge podge colonists.  The Emperor's native language wasn't even English, however its utility as a sort of common tongue made it indispensible in forging a single nation from the people.  A similar effort was used to unify the ethnic diversity of Domu, slowly destroying the old cultures in favor of the new.  In the Empire, old english is the language of the Dialogs, which have been updated a few times to reflect drift, and is 'linguistically pure' compared to the conventional language used in everyday, which has absorbed all manner of loan words from the old native tongues and a few bits from conquered worlds.   The english of the Empire does not share a syntactical structure with the Confederation, and only a fraction of the vocabulary, rendered garbled by tonal drift.

The FedCom uses a standardized 'Cargo box' for bulk goods, available in several sizes (lengths), often pre-packaged with standard trade goods, like a prepack 'first contact' kit... undoubtely several boxes actually... containing among other things the hardware to support a CommNode array, basic infrastructure startup programs, possibly to include R-Drive and S-Drive technical specs and so forth.  Due to the cheapness of the actual boxes they are typically abandoned once they've been deployed.

They are shockingly common throughout the fringe as a result.  Some 'layover' worlds, worlds who's only real industry is supporting vessels trade routes, rather than possessing anything of value themselves, may be so littered with abandoned boxes that they are used for housing.

More commonly, however, Fringe captains use them as 'external cargo expansions'.  As Fringe Vessels may often lack proper bulk storage internally, many free captains having repurposed older vessels, they add gantry arms, often with exposed webbing added to them, capable of supporting one or more 'boxes' to a side outside the ship.  While most bulk trade is handled through larger trade combines, a Free Captain who can pick up and deliver a sealed box, no questions asked, can make much better money than one who cannot.

The greatest flaws of the Confederation charters can be found in an open appraisal of one of their most powerful member worlds, Avalon.

Settled long ago, in the earliest days of the Exodus (that is, shortly after the invention of R-Drive technology), and a long standing member of the various political bodies that have since ruled over the core worlds, Avalon was a world originally settled by people who dreamed of past glories, recreating the finest era in human history, as they saw it.   They dreamt of knights and chivalry, of fair maidens and castles and caused it all to be.

The world they chose was only barely able to support life, a large lowland valley, nearly continent sized by the standards of other worlds, was terraformed, cometary ice brought in to provide water, and so forth, the barren, poisonous wastes of the rest of the world were left untouched, mined by robotic workers for the vast mineral wealth of the world.

For a long time Avalon was the paradise it was named for, combining the best aspects of the dreams its colonist clung to and the enlightened thinking and morals of a modern people.  Technology was largely restricted, kept out of sight, beyond the high mountain walls of their world.

Therein lay the problem: The original colonists had all been reasonably educated, knowledgable people, but their dreams of ancient times meant they failed largely to educate their children, fearing perhaps that knowledges of modern conviences would soften them, cause them to destroy the dreams of avalon. Only those responsible for the mining industries and dealing with off worlders remained truly educated... and eventually they came to rule over Avalon.

Some time within the last thousand or so years, it took a darker turn, and the people of Avalon became truly slaves to their noble class, to their techno-savvy lords, the 'Citizens' of Avalon in a galactic sense.  All knowledge of technology above the stone age became illegal for the peasants to possess, and they work in fear of their lives, hunted for sport or to keep them terrified.  The nobles possess terrible magics that can trace a man no matter how thoroughly he hides, weapons that can kill entire villages.

Of course, among the wealthy citizens of the Confederation, Avalon offers more than surplus grains and a wealth of minerals, it also offers a unique tourist attraction, though the rumored darker practices of the Nobility are hidden away from most guests. Rumors of cannibalism and worse occassionaly surface, but never with any proof, and the nobles of Avalon restrict outside access to their private resorts, and moreso to their estates outside the valley, the only place to land on Avalon for the average man is the small port city a world away from the terraformed valley.

Certainly there are more enlightened nobles, though their hands are bound by the majority of their brethen. The Nobles are not above murdering their own, and many live paranoid lives, alternating between running their estates from the stone castles in the valley and the solitary sanctuaries of their chateau's on the barren plains of the rest of the world, cared for by the finest machines.  In terms of robotics, Avalon's technology base is surprisingly high, and each citizen is not just a tyrant but a scientist and engineer capable of ensuring their automated mines run smoothly.

When the FedCom demands their Tithe, it is always drawn from the illiterate peasants, particularly several 'garden' villages kept away from the worst abuses just for this reason.  Despite this the newest recruits are almost universally appalled by their former lives and there is a very strong dislike for Avalon amidst the FedCom structure as a result.   FedCom regularly forms punative blockades over the flimsiest excuses in Avalon's orbit, and is just as regularly recalled by the Senate on Sanctuary due to the political power and wealth of the Avalonian citizens.

The worst of it is, the serfs of Avalon serve no real purpose. The wealth of Avalon is largely generated by machines, and those same machines could be turned easily to harvesting grain as they are to mining.  Many of the Citizens find their duties in the Valley onerous and unwanted, hating the costume pagentry and the dirty castles, never mind the constant fear of assassination or the brutality of suppressing the frequent but ineffectual revolts. More than a few enjoy themselves, naturally, but in the main its an unwanted series of tasks imposed by ancient laws.   If the entire Valley was scoured clean of life, very little would change for the citizens except they'd have more free time.

The servants and denizens of the Castles are sort of a hybrid half-caste. Many of them are second sons of former Citizens (and second Daughters. Among the Citizens, gender is relatively unimportant, though among the serfs brutal misogyny has risen its ugly head. Large families are necessary to survive the harsh conditions and daughters and wives are little more than brood mares.). These half castes have it almost worse than the serfs, unable to leave the castle as they are as hated as the nobles, but lacking access to the technology of the nobility themselves.  Of course, the citizen/nobles draw upon the castle servants to provide children as heirs, so its not all bad. Typically the various children of a citizen will reside at the chateau until they've proven incapable of mastering the technologies of the nobility, at which time they are 'demoted' back to servant status, while only the brightest remain, allowing a very small growth in the citizen caste.  At least within the Valley the citizens maintain a formal fuedal rank structure, with the King of Avalon also being the Governor, though outside the structure is less enforced and occasionally dependent upon the 'real' wealth of the nobles in question.  Still, a good half of the 'Knights' of Avalon are merely very sophisticated robot bodyguards of the nobility who accompany them on their forays outside the castle.

There is a fair amount of infighting amongst the Nobility. Particularly bold serfs may protest their treatment at the hands of a noble to their local lord (provided he isn't the one doing the mistreatment...) or his superior (if he is), and occasionally survive the protest.  A more sympathetic noble will occasionally fight on behalf of his 'people', though to be sure the outcome of successfully murdering his neighbor is the addition of that person's estates, usually to be parcelled out to a secondary or tertiary heir. This is really common if a noble has several good heirs he wants to find homes for.

My next post here will most likely offend some people to one extent or another as I will be dealing with some of the things that makes Imperial Culture different from pretty much the rest of the galaxy and will include many touchier subjects including sexual mores.

To understand, the entire setting was originally concieved around the idea of a culture that had few, if any, ties to any existing culture, how it evolved and was different from our culture. That experimental nation evolved eventually into the Empire, and from there the rest of the Galaxy.  While there are a number of facets to the Empire I personally, as the writer, view as 'good things' I do not, and have not, attempted to make them an ideal society.  In many ways the Empire should be almost alien to us, and the Confederation, while often presented in a negative light, is meant to be far more familiar and comforting for a reason, and to our eyes should, despite their flaws and the growing corruption, be seen as 'good guys' compared to the Empire to many people.  I understand that I have mostly presented the warts; the problem is essentially one of focus.

I encourage people to read the next post with the understanding that they Empire's mores are not their own and that this is not an attempt to present those mores as superior, they are not.   Recall always that this is nothing more than a fictional universe

I have spent a fair amount of time discussing the grand scheme of space and politics in regards to the Empire, but we have not yet delved into the day to day lives of the denizens of that place.  

It helps, of course, to understand the history of the Empire, its founding and subsequent evolution into the power it is today.  While the grand sweep of history must be dealt with in turn, the relevant details take little time.

The Empire was founded, as you might recall, by mercenaries, a multicultural band of rough military men and women united to a common goal, and the campaign to unify all of their world was not conducted with any regard to a civilian population, a civilian government who's cultures and laws could be adapted to the situations that inevitably arose as the generation long campaign was conducted.   Even FOST, held by some to be a driving force behind the Emperor's success was subservient to the military might of the Emperor and his Armies, and their cooperation was not entirely voluntary, limiting their influence on the nascent empire's structure.

It is also necessary to understand that the Emperor did not create a lasting empire by accident but by design, destroying deliberately all cultural influences that threatened his vision.  The Empire does not exist by accident but by deliberate and terrible will, and its structure is as much a matter of pragmatic necessity as ethical decision making.  


Domu is a world with virtually no axial tilt, and thus non-existant seasons. The primary occupied regions of Domu are found in the wide temperate bands of perpetual summer, and as a result natives tend to have relaxed views towards clothing and nudity.  Those from more northern latitudes are more modest due to the perpetual cold, those from father south often went without clothing all together, or nearly so.  

The Empire never declared a formal 'coming of age', certainly not from a legal standpoint, and there are numerous tales, many apocryphal, of 'Heroes of the Unification Era' who were children, orphans seeking revenge or homes, bastards of the soldiers and camp followers and so forth.  If one could carry a sword and shield, and later a gun,  and were willing to kill, the Emperor was willing to put you on the lines to fight.  To date there is no legal guideline on when a child should stop living on the generousity of his parents, or when they should stop being responsible for their children.  As a practical matter, Imperials tend to enter the work force young, and view those who are not independent by twenty standard years (which in Domu's calander is approaching 7, I will have to find my original notes on the Domu calendar one day...) are viewed as potential serfs (though as long as their families provide for them there is little risk of actually becoming such.).

As you might imagine, this system is very permissive in some respects. Recall that one must opt in to governance in many aspects of Imperial life, and abuses of this permissiveness are far from unheard of.  Of course, little stops a 'child' of any age from using the existing legal system to seek retribution, or the lack of the same from getting their retribution on their own.  There are also activist groups, often tied to the Mithraic Church, or the Orthodox Christians, who work independently to curb the worst examples of man's inhumanity to the weakest members of society. Of course, that many such groups often use that aid as a recruitment technique is expected.

Aside from Treason there is one crime that exists almost universally that can be applied to the worst examples, and does not require extensive use of the magisterial system.  Recall that the average citizen is called a Free Man for a reason, and that the very first chapter of the Dialogs establish that no man has a right to impose ownership or control over another (though of course, people have the right to give up their freedom by their own choice or actions).  Slavery is a universal crime in Imperial Space, enslaving another, even ones own children, is not just a capital crime, but a sin.  To kill a slaver is the duty of all Imperal citizens, and even a lowly Serf (viewed erroneously by some as a slave himself) has the right and duty to kill a slaver and many of the worst abusers of children fall easily into that category.  

Contracts in the Empire are shaped by this same cultural force.  Any two people can sign a contract, only requiring a third to witness it (more on that later), regardless of age and other factors. Contracts will always have easy outs for both parties, and must be written so that the terms of the contract are completely clear. Using force or treachery to create abusive contracts with blatently unfair obligations from one party tends to fall under the 'Slavery' clause... and serious challenges to a contract using the clause usually go uncontested, rather than risk a legal judgement that one is a 'slaver'.

This is the legal landscape, but what of the cultural?  Families can be unstable in the Empire.  Religious marriages (including Mithraic) are uncommon and most 'marriages' are contractual relationships, including reproductive terms.   Any two people can enter a 'contract marriage', and there are no legal limits to the numbers of such contracts one person can have, or who they can have them with.  Love is not expected in most marriages, and is not held in high esteem (romantic love that is) in the Empire.  Producing heirs is a culturally mandated fact of life however.  Loving another man (or woman) isn't an issue, as long as reproduction occurs (two minimum, one for each family, more is better).  Religious ceremonies are typically conducted by families attempting to create deeper bonds, common in Clans and Blooded Families, but again, no expectation of romantic love exists.  Obviously, fidelity is also not particularly expected in the Empire, though production of genetic heirs is, and often a part of marriage contracts.  Due to the open nature of contractual marriage, occasional complex sprawling families occur, with multiple spouses of various members co-existing under one roof, complete with all the children of those various pairings.  In such cases, all the children would form a single sibling group, though they retain the right to form or reject closer bonds.  

Children generally do not 'play' in the Empire.  Education starts early and is focused on developing 'real' skills.  Public education focuses on the basics of reading and writing, basic math and little more. Scientific and technical skills are reserved for members of FOST families, or those who wish to join FOST, and in learning them one automatically joins that organization.   When they are old enough, they typically begin working in any family businesses, or lacking that, in community projects suitable for their age and education.  They are paid for this work, though things like food and board are deducted, absolving them of the minimum wage as they learn the basics of budgeting. The children of Serfs are given more attention than ordinary children, though they are typically raised in crèches rather than staying with their parents.   By the time a child has reached 10 standard years (two and a half to three Domu years), he is expected to have chosen a direction for his life and may even begin higher training, apprentice-ships or otherwise started 'real work', though he probably still lives with his parents. Most of the advanced training academies do not except full time students until they've reached four Domu years, though there are exceptions.

When a child starts having their sexual awakening, though this is skewed towards when male children start for both sexes, the parents or other responsible adults are expected to take them to the nearest Flower House to learn from a professional the basics of sex. This is shockingly young by Confederation and modern standards, though there is no standard age for this.  It is not something parents want to leave up to chance.   Culturally, this is seen as the first step towards true adult-hood, and explains why few training schools accept people younger than the common age this is done.  

Culturally this event marks the divide that doesn't exist legally between childhood and adulthood.  Children can, and do, enter contracts with other children, but for an 'Adult' to do so with a child is seen as exploitive, and culturally, if not legally, all childhood contracts are rendered null and void once one of the participants becomes and adult, though some are re-done after both have become adults.  Note that this is only the 'first step' towards adulthood, other steps include completion of 'Academies' or other training programs, ones first child and so on.  Regardless of the formal or informal steps, by the time one is 17 to 18 standards one is expected to be a full adult, with adult responsiblities and behaviors.

Typically it is during these formative years that the young Imperial will begin to form associations with groups outside of immediate family. Obviously the school or academy that teaches him will have an alumni program, more intimate apprenticeships will still typically lead to guild or union membership, and of course smaller circles of intimacy are quite common within that.   There isn't much pressure to find and join groups or clubs, it typically happens quite organically, and it is common to drift away from clubs or groups that no longer interest you, though it is uncommon to actually quit, though trading on connections with, say,  a chess club you haven't supported in decades out of convenience is something of a faux pas, unless you get away with it.

Imperials have a high degree of respect for their elders and, compared to Confederation worlds and related Fringe worlds, a low tendency towards urbanization.  Due to the lack of inheritance laws, parents will typically sell their goods to their most successful children and move in with them. Having ones parents move in with you is a mark of honor, a sign you've earned the respect and trust of the elder generation.  It is not uncommon to find four or more generations under one roof, though 'Selling the Store' is generally not done prior to hitting fifty or sixty standards, and may be accomplished in phases. Selling the business is the common first step while selling the home is usually the last, excepting both home run businesses (farms and the like) and occupants of the city of Domu, where despite the corrective measures following the landlord crisis is still an expensive place to buy homes in.  Note that Imperials may stop owning property at any point after having children, but it is extremely uncommon for them to stop working at any age.
Among the Nobility 'selling the Store' is unheard of unless one is involved in a Clan.  Noble Titles can not be sold off or handed over, and a noble who is tired of meeting his obligations to the Emperor may simply retire with whatever wealth they've saved up, often moving in with family just as freemen do, and spreading their saved Dinars around the family.  Clan Nobles will retire far more frequently, putting forth a contender from their Clan to take their place in running the business. The Emperor generally approves this, if only because its hard to beat the clean hand off of power in maintaining a successful business, though in recent decades the Emperor has been more aggressive about stripping titles from Clans to reduce their influence. This is, however, a drop in the proverbial bucket.

Due to the havoc that follows unexpected deaths of primary breadwinners, it is quite common for Imperials to 'spread their wealth' around their families, though given that many families are at a risk of sudden flux due to the contractual nature of many relationships this can have unexpected side effects.  A common clause in many marriages is to include a minimum financial gain for the female so that in event that her husband dies not all of his property reverts to the state while she is unable to earn a proper living.

The Rule of Two:  During the early days of the Unification the Emperor was frequently called upon to adjudicate disputes between people who had been wronged. Rather than waste time trying to sort truth from self serving lies he simply instituited a policy that unless an essentially neutral third party witnessed something, than it never happened. This has had a range of unintended side effects that never been properly addressed in Imperial Law.  Obviously certain wrongs that happen in private can be addressed without witness. Murder, for example, can only be treated as concensual if there are additional witnesses (duels, for example), and the survivor of a private affair is assumed to have done wrong if anyone presses the case.  Rape is a much more challenging situation.  Physical violence done to the victim can and does lead to successful Warrents being issued, if extreme enough, but is held by some to be a violation of the principle guiding the Rule of Two, particularly if the accused claims the violence was requested or self inflicted.  If no violence is evident than it is almost impossible to prove a rape occurred. It is simply a given that if a man and a woman, or if an openly homosexual individual and a member of the appropriate gender go somewhere private that they will have sex. Thus people tend to travel in groups of three if they are worried about the issue.  Rape is not held to be nearly as damaging to the victim as it is in Confed space either, depending upon the level of violence used.  This is used in the Confederation as justification for condemnation of the Empire to good effect, though sex crimes are quite rare in the Empire despite the difficulty in prosecuting them.  Obviously, if the victim did not go with the accused, but was followed after the fact or especially did not know their attacker they have a much easier time of it.  If there is an upside, the punishment for Rape, like many crimes in the Empire is quite harsh if the victim is willing to pursue their case completely.  The Empire is not keen on prisons, and aggressive predatory behavior, particularly violent behavior,  makes it quite easy to secure a death sentence.  The easier it is to prove the crime, the easier it is to get a harsh sentence.

The low number of sex crimes in the Empire is not, as you might suspect, related to the difficulty of proscecuting such crimes but actually has much to do with the open sexual mores of the populace at large, and particularly the prevelance of the Flower Guild.

History has it that during the Unification (as with many long standing Imperial traditions...) there was an outbreak of disease and petty crime among the soldiers of the Emperor, all traced back to the camp followers, the whores and vendors and the like that trailed armies wherever they marched.   With his soldiers sickened by bad food, venereal diseases, injured in petty robberies or even murdered for their coin, or distracted by the demands of unexpected families formed over the long years, the Emperor moved as he always did, swiftly and mercilessly. Drawing upon troops from other Armies with no ties in his own trains, he surrounded the camp followers, intending to put them, one and all, to the sword and torch.  The story varies here. In some tales it was Mithras who asked the Emperor about the righteousness of the deed, in others it was an old toothless woman, a whore long past her prime who demanded of the Emperor what right he had to stand judgement over those who had done nothing but support his troops.

Either way the Emperor proclaimed that 'This House is infested with filth and Fleas. It must be cleansed. If they (you) will not do it, I will."  

Again, depending upon the story, Mithras or the old woman asked the Emperor for time, the exact length varies from three days to one month.  Either way, they got it.  The House of Flowers, often called the Flower Guild, was the result.   History records that it was formed by the whores and of the whores with no outside interference. They are not merely an outlet for sexual frustration, but also the providers of training in all manners of erotica, providers of concubines and even basic matchmakers.  Over the four millennia of their history they have become one of the most powerful guilds in the Empire, though they rarely exercise that power.  Nearly every Emperor after the first could reasonably claim a Flower, or former Flower as a parent or grandparent.  They are not idle, they begin collecting information on Imperials from their very first visit, what their tastes are, their personalities and so forth.  Even FOST has ceded most of the soft sciences (Psychology and Sociology among others) to the Flowers over time.  The Guild has long since lost control over the food industry, focusing as they did on sexual things, but has picked up the Dancers Guild (despite their 'recent' reputation as a cover for assassins) and utterly subsumed the major actors unions, though unaligned actors are still common, as are lesser actors guilds and unions, among others.  

Quite a few Flowers, particularly those born to the House, view their work as a holy calling, and traditional symbols of this branch faith hold the Emperor's Sword still hanging over the Flowers themselves, a sign that he can still chose to Clean their house. It is notable that in all stories the Emperor never officially gave the Flowers approval, that the time they bought was never officially closed.  A little known secret is that the House opened their vast intelligence operation to the Emperor during the troubles three decade earlier and see no way to close them again.

The Flowers, aside from the massive Jump Ships, remain one of the most visible symbols of the Empire to many Confeds, the first thing they think of when they think of the Empire. It has shapped the opinion of many Confeds and Fringers that the Empire is a decadent, immoral place, and 'To vacation in the Empire' is slang for taking a sex tour, though man Confeds who are wealthy enough and bold enough to try this are often in for a rude awakening, as are the few bold slave takers who think that Imperial girls make good trade goods. To be sure, despite their political power and ubiquity, only a tiny percentage of individuals in the Empire are Flowers, and they protect themselves quite handily.  


The Dancers Guild deserves more treatment, but I realized that I had lost out on one tidbit and I'm feeling a bit bummed. About a year before I heard of Dark Heresy coming out I had determined the name of the patron saint of dance in the Empire... which is only a few letter off from the name of the sector that Dark Heresy is set in... and I refuse to use it.  So, I'm bummed.  Anyway: Dancers are made members much earlier than most professions (four standards is Old!) and make more extensive use of medical technology than the average imperial to offset aging (and from a much earlier age) to offset the damage caused by their training.  They have a dark reputation as assassins and spies going back several centuries, though this does not stop people from enjoying their performances.  Imperial 'dances'... those reserved for professionals anyway, are extremely athletic, even acrobatic.  The ultimate dance, usually only performed once in a lifetime, is the infamous Dance of Blades, that dates back to the Immortal Emperor era and the patron saint of the dance.  It is a four hour piece that frequently sees the death of the performer (taking the Thorn is to deliberately end the dance early... by dying), and is rarely performed 'pure' (poisoned blades).  Aside from its length and lethality it is actually not any more entertaining than any other solo dance routine... though it is quite a social coup to see a live performance.  There are no breaks.


Saints:  This is a major point of difference between Ascetic and Church Mithraists.   Ascetics don't view Mithras as a Saint himself, and while they do acknowledge the existence of the Saints, they view them a people to be emulated, rather than divine intercessors.  Many Imperial Saints survived to see their beatification by the Emperor and are promoted one of two ways. The first is to be a supremely gifted expert in a given field, the unparalleled master of a skill.  The second is to be a 'divinely appointed protector' of the Empire, that is to do something heroic, noble and self sacrificing for the Empire as a whole.   The Church holds Mithras as the first Saint, holding both variations of sainthood in him/herself. Ascetics hold that Mithras was a divine messenger who was never human, and thus not a saint.  In the Ascetic tradition, only Mithras can intercede with God directly, and the Emperor was God's chosen representative, the divinely chosen ruler of the world/galaxy.  Where Mithras and the Emperor disagreed in the Dialogs is viewed as divine tests of the Emperor.  Some of the Ascetic traditions hold that Mithras disappeared before the Dialogs could be completed, that the Emperor's test was incomplete as well... though for obvious reasons this is not discussed too loudly... others hold that the dialogs are incomplete, but that the Emperor holds the rest because they were not meant for ordinary men and discuss higher mysteries.  Certainly the existence of apocrypha (such as the Flower Myths) suggest that not everything is covered by the Dialogs themselves.



Clothing wise the Empire is a bit more varied than in other elements of their culture. In Domu (the city), men and women alike tend to wear leather kilts and sandles, due to the heat though this is far from universal.  This fashion does carry over to space crews, though they tend to abjure the sandels in favor of bare feet.  Citizens from colder climates tend to wear pants and jackets. Pins and insignia of all sorts are common means of denoting memberships or ranks and titles.  Soldiers rarely wear kilts, and when they do they wear them over pants unless it's a formal occasion, and the 'military kilt' is distinctively made up of wide belts in overlapping layers, rather than a single piece.  Frequently such kilts are studded or otherwise reinforced by metal, though meant more as a decoration.  Highly polished breastplates are common for ranking soldiers for formal events, as are other archaic bits of armor modeled off of common depictions of Mithras. Most adult citizens carry a blade of some sort, though usually this is nothing more than a small symbolic dagger, used for ritual bloodlettings that are common expressions of faith in the Empire.  Such daggers are often gifts to mark an important event in the citizens life and are highly decorative.

Throughout the Empire there is a common drink (coffee/tea analog) made with the juice of Domu native berries, fermented milk and various spices and can be served hot or cold.  Some people skip the various ingredients and chew the berries straight, which tends to stain the teeth black.  These people are dangerous, as the high concentrations of toxins tend to increase aggressive responses in combination with the powerful dose of stimulants, and are avoided by most citizens, and frequently come to bad ends.   The drink, when prepared properly, creates a momentary buzz followed by a mild soothing numbness. I have the name somewhere and will eventually put it in here.

Natives to Domu (compared to Imperials from other worlds) are fairly ethnically heterogeneous, due to extensive efforts in the early days to promote cross breeding. They tend to be shorter, with nut colored skin and darker hair, though lighter skin and hair colors are not uncommon.  Curls are common and held to be an attractive feature, though only among the blooded houses are people vain enough to cultivate fake curls. Obesity is uncommon due to cultural tendencies, though a sleek 'well fed' appearance is also held to be attractive.  Native Domu Imperials believe that the strange hybrid haemovore species (blood eaters), that have managed to cross breed with terran species (there is an entire branch of evolutionary biology that discusses how species interact with xeno-worlds, including adaptive evolution... many of the plants on unterraformed Domu are toxic to non-native humans, but a simple regimen of pills, taken daily for several months can provide the proper intestinal flora to not only digest such fruits but also to savor their unique flavors... a deeper study of the newer branches of biology and physics is beyond what I want to cover here... just establishing that I am aware of the biological theories I am tromping on by suggesting such cross breeds exist... technically Domu's animal species aren't actually animals, excepting the hybrids, but that's a matter for another day)... er... that crossbred with terran species... like the Domu wolf, actually bond spiritually with their owners and can share strength and vigor, though this has been disproven time and again by FOST, it remains a popular superstition.  Many Imperials believe in psychic powers, particularly native Imperials, though the nature of those beliefs is significantly different from old terran beliefs.

A quick apology for the more than usual lack of clarity and organization in yesterday's post. I have been seriously under the weather in the brain pan and thinking is harder than usual.

During the dark ages of the Diaspora, not every colony ship made it to a habitable world, or even to a system that contained worlds at all. These tragedies were expected, an unfortunate consequence of the early days of colonization.

But the doom sayers always fail to account for the determination and ingenuity of people when put in untenable situations. Certainly untold thousands did perish, ships lost to disasters and even population decay, yet far more survived, stopping where they had to, surviving.

At times generational ships, often turned into ragged fleets would finally find their promised homes, only to find some Exodus era FTL colonists had long since set up shop. Other times historians and anthropologists would search out the trails of ancient vessels that had yet to be accounted for, finding the survivors living handily in a system, using hydroponics and mining or skimming resources from asteriods and comets and gas giants.

These were the genesis, the very origins of the Spacers, the nomads of the Big Open, what some call Gypsies.  Humans who have lived for generations without the benefit of gravity wells, many late adopters of FTL drives.  Even to this day there are unknown numbers of slow ships drifting in the void.

Many Spacer Fleets continue to use Slow drive, drifting on inertia through the void, in no hurry to find themselves in the hurly burly existance of FTL space, relying on smaller support fleets of R-drive equipped vessels to engage in trade or even simply keep up on the news.  Some barren systems have massive colony habitats of die hard spacer 'worlds', with only a few intrepid souls who venture into 'mudder' space.  

Some even formed during the later stages of the Exodus, long after the invention of R and even S drives, keenly aware that any habitable or terraformable world would one day be brought back into the fold, while the Big Open was full of areas that Earth never cared for, spiritual inheritors of the early Jovian's or Ceresi colonists.

There are as many types of 'True Spacers' as their are Dirtsiders, but still we can speak of generalities without doing much disservice to anyone. Living in deep space for generations at a time requires certain traits that will be found almost universally.

Spacers, even those with access to R-Drive for gravity, prefer lighter gravities than any dirtsider would care for. Some, primatives who come from benighted colonies that found even centrifugal gravity hard to maintain may be so fragile that the idea of setting foot dirtside is not just unthinkable but physically impossible, though such unfortunates are thankfully rare.  Body hair is uncommon, and total dapilation is very common for males and females, both natural and artificially created. Long hair and beards are virtually unheard of even accounting for cultural biases.  Likewise, Spacers tend to have lax standards of modesty. Clothing is easy to shed in favor of space suits, privacy is almost unheard of, though they are also prone to ignoring things that others would prefer to be kept private out of 'common curtesy'. True Spacers keep unusual sleep cycles, resting when tired, working when not, the concept of 'play' has been subsumed into a nigh universal preoccupation with safety, maintenance and so forth. 'Games' tend to reinforce these ideals, spotting errors fastest, or getting the highest score on a maintanance ispection... these are the contests and diversions that occupy most Spacers out of simple survival needs.

Given the low standards of modesty and high risk living conditions, many spacers are remarkably promiscuious, with some fleets being almost famous for the lax cultural standards.  On the flip side, however, many Spacer fleets are the opposite, holding exotic, even extreme requirments for even the most casual coupling, often due to fears of inbreeding, excessive population growth and other earnest fears.  A few Fleets do hold to antiquated cultural ideas that have little business in deep space, and even the most exotic of behaviors can be found in those fleets that have had little outside contact for nearly four millenia.   Dockside horror stories of 'lost fleets' populated by cannibals and worshipping insane gods to keep their ships running are popular on the Fringe.

As a rule, Spacer Fleets don't have economic systems. The demanding survival needs of their closed populations lead to a very communal way of life. Many Fringers veiw Spacers as theives as a result, and the FedCom has traditionally had a very dim view of Spacer Fleets, even chasing them from systems by force.  Not surprisingly, the Empire is quite different viewing the Spacers as the ultimate expression of the Imperial conceit of Free Men.  That hasn't stopped the Empire from proselytizing them and even attempting to assimlate them, with mixed but usually dismal, results.  Still, many Spacers are quite comfortable in dealing with the crews of Jumpships and Jump Fleets, who in many ways ARE Spacers, only with more ties to the dirtsiders.

 Many of the more Mobile fleets, small armadas of ancient ragged vessels cruising from system to system under slow but reliable R-Drives, have a regular circuit of worlds they visit, enabling them to build weak relationships and trade partnerships with the dirtsiders they deal with.   Even the less mobile fleets will trade infrequently with the same partners.

As you can imagine, many Spacers are quite comfortable hiring on with outsider vessels, the chance to meet new people and work on new and more reliable vessels is quite exciting. Many captains are happy to have a Spacer or two in the crew, barring any prejudice against the breed. Hard workers who never object to weird shifts and tend to triple check everything? Whats not to like? Most of them never even think to ask for pay!  Some even consider them lucky.

There is, of course, plenty of prejudice against Spacers. THeives, immoral degenerates, madmen and worse.

On Terraforming:

As sciences go, the art of terraforming a world is one that has long been practiced by the natives of Earth.  In the bad old days of the Diaspora Era, before FTL drive made exploring distant systems a real possibility, the natives of Sol only had one habitable world, and they'd already filled it to the brim.

They also had, however, two other worlds in the habitable band, and several moons in deeper space that had... potential.  Thus, the art of Terraforming was born.  Venus and Mars were, by the Exodus Era, fully habitable and nearly as densly populated as Earth. THe Jovian War period between the two saw them fully under the sway of the Earth Government, with Mars being a staging point for many outgoing fleets to bring the Jovians under sway, and after the Europa Massacre, was along with Earth targeted by the Silent Death (Guass fired asteriods on impact trajectories, landing weeks after they were launched with no warning).  

There is no single standard means of performing Terraforming upon a world; every world is different. However, the purpose remains the same, to make marginally earth like worlds more so.   Early attempts were massive projects, requiring centuries to fully bear fruit, and even four thousand years later Mars is still unpleasantly cold and thin of atmosphere, though Venus is considered a classic example of a properly terraformed world.  

Ideally a world should already have the proper gravity, as there is no good means of altering a planetary gravity to match 'earth norms'. Atmospheres with decent amounts of native oxygen, and a hydrosphere made of actual water are considered mandatory by most, though the classic example of Venus shows that this is unnecessary.  Large 'bricks' of chemical catalysts designed for any given world are seeded around the planet to absorb unwanted pollutants, and later removed and 'recycled' for their raw consitutants, this being the original method used to clean up Venus (though, again, its rarely done on the scale used to make Venus Habitable).  If necessary oxygen and water are brought to a world in massive quantities by harvesting the cometary ice available in an Oort cloud, if the world is uninhabited at the time they will simply be dropped to the surface 'as is', if a gentler method is required they will be carved up and atmospherically seeded.  Even still, worlds requiring this sort of treatment tend to remain arid, desert like, often with thin atomspheres, depending.  Destruction of native ecosystems is tolerated openly, though if compatable with earth life (which virtually garuantees that wide spread terraforming is unnecessary), allowed to remain in competition.  A world is considered terraformed if earth crops can grow openly on the surface, worlds that this is not true of, and not feasable to be made true of, are largely ignored by the Confederation as 'wastes of time', though in some cases the slow process of Terraforming continues, taking centuries or millenia to bear fruit.

The Empire does not terraform worlds, in fact the average Imperial barely realizes that it is possible to do so, and only advanced FOST members and the Emperor even recoginze that the Empire has the ability.  OF course, the original settlers of Domu, having a mostly terrestrial world to settle on did not require, nor had the resources to alter their world, and are textbook examples of the Yeardly-Jingu Xeno-Adaptive evolutionary theories, having developed intestinal flora that allow them to safely consume native fruits and vegetables, for example.  A more extreme example found within the Empire include the natives of the Hassalti Kingdom, whose thin atmospheres and lighter than normal gravities on their home world has resulted in freakishly tall humans with enormous lungs, among other adaptions.

Terraforming, while becoming more practical, has fallen in popularity during the later stages of Exodus.  Early astronomers failed to predict the number of reasonably 'earthlike' worlds by a vast margin, and the ease of travel means that less habitable worlds are often overlooked in favor of more habitable worlds. This day and age 'Terraforming' largely means importing a 'terran' biosphere, and destruction of any hostile life forms that keep the terran ecology from taking root, often by targeted bacteria and fungi created to feed only on non-terran lifeforms.