Listen well, children: the world is flat.  Any who have courage enough to go beyond the Tomb of the Sun will behold eternal Chaos.  Those who do never return.  Some say they become gods.

But they are liars.

Knives are part of Ikarran folklore. Weaponsmiths keep developing new models even today, blending modern technology with ancient techniques. You'll never see them, of course, unless you piss off an Ikarran...


Now:

We need a "Bump!" smiley.

Albert Richter, Michael Campbell, and David Andre built the first harmonic replayer in 1765, using information culled from the Library of Alexandria. It's rise as a consumer good rose metorically, but later became cemented into history when the young musical prodigy Wolfgang Mozart invented a whole new use for them.

Nothing is more prized than the Phoenix Order's Badge in the Empire. Only the bravest men and women can aspire to join this elite group, which spends most of its time in dangerous covert missions against the nefarious Merchant Combine.

Artist's Rendition of the Lace Empress of the Shaded Archipelago.  She has lived most of her life on the throne, ascending mere days after her birth.  Her most notable achievement to date has been the installation of the Morganic Death Cult as the Archipelago's state religion.

Many were appalled at the Cult's rise to prominence, though few have the courage to stand against it.  Few foreigners have the stomach to remain in the Capitol while the Cult's High Rite rages on and the blood of apostates and heretics flows ankle-deep in the city streets.

The faithful claim that the Death Gods watch over their nation, sparing them from plague and blight.  It is accepted that the Shaded Archipelago experiences none of the malaria and blackwater fever outbreaks that their tropical neighbors do.

Most troubling is the Empress herself.  She has stopped aging.

Now for something a little odd.

I have a caption/story/thing, but no picture. I am shamed.

Quote from: mattormeg

As conditions worsened for the working classes while the rich grew even richer, protests became ever more frequent. Rather than risk the protests becoming a focused action against the parasitical upper class, the authorities ordered police units to crush any visible sign of dissent.

Gas weapons became more and more commonly used as the size of the angry crowds swelled with each day.

Quote from: Sosthenes

As the suffering of the lower classes increased, so did protests. The system ordered any public disply of dissent met with instant and overwhelming force.

This historic photo shows the first Martyr of the Cause, Joan Larson, a second before she destroyed an Oppressor squad with the suicide bomb hidden in her shoulder bag. Her example led to a new wave of resistance that the system's minions could not deal with.

Quote from: Christmas ApeI have a caption/story/thing, but no picture. I am shamed.

Any picture will do, so long as the caption's cool and you don't fuck up the rotation.  Do a little digging on deviantart or fark or something.  I get most of my images from 2chan and 4chan.

Quote from: fonkaygarry

Most of the ancient text, damaged as it was, proved illegible and largely useless to the revolucionarios. However, some sections (including the chapter "On Polymorphing Others", was intact and easily implemented, and its use became widespread.

The Conspiracy has been tampering with our timeline for years, and they protect this secret jealously. Evidence of anomalies, usually found at museums, are one of their main headaches and a magnet to those who suspect something is going on.

*bump*

Valis Spaceport.  Probably built about 20 years ago and already the place stinks like hell -- it's the air here, they say, something about the percentage of nitrogen in the atmosphere reacting with the otherwise-harmless byproducts of Taslat production.  

Or maybe it's just the people.  Tired, worn-out, desperate.  Chased a dream here to this bog of a planet, got caught in the honeytrap of money and success.  Hell, everybody wants those, but there's just something about Valis that...I don't know, it erodes you.  It makes you feel weak, desperate.  I hate the place.  I hate it when they send me here.  

Maybe that's in the air, too.  I'm not a scientist.  I don't unravel mysteries.

As soon as I bump off Galarbo, I'm back out of here.