First Empire

Imperial palace on Laxus, originally constructed in the reign of Ami Kuchta.

The Octagon Palace remained a favorite vacation retreat of Emperors until the Sack of Terra in TE 381. At that time, the Imperial Capital was moved to Laxus and the Emperors took up permanent residence in the Octagon Palace.

A relatively low-density corridor through gas & dust clouds roughly between Karphos and Borshall (map reference I4/J4). Because of the low density and reduced risk to antigravs, the Aniweta Leap is the path of main traffic lanes between the Transgeled and Borshall/New Sardinia/Patala.

A prominent constellation in the skies of Amny.

from My First Album of Stars & Planets: Amny Edition, Markgraf Publishing, Credix, Year MDCCCLXI of the Imperium, in the Reign of the August Imperator Nina II.

Aurick's Tower

General:

Abbreviation: AMNY-Aur

Genitive: Aurickae Toweris

Aurick's Tower is one of the most spectacular constellations in Amny's sky. It is said to represent the twin-capped tower built by the architect Aurick in order to shelter the two Golden Eggs of the Dragon Kleipnir.

Stars:

Alpha, the second-brightest star in Amny's sky, is an A-type star, magnitude -1.32, at a distance of 2.48 parsecs. Alpha has a magnitude 7.4 companion at a separation of 7 seconds of arc.

Beta is a B2 star with magnitude 1.6, distance 110 parsecs.

Gamma is the G-type star also known as Rho Callena, the primary of the planet Credix.

Delta is a B-type star with magnitude 2.1, at a distance of 20.9 parsecs.

Epsilon is a binary star. The bright component is of spectral type O9, magnitude 2.2; the companion is an M3 red dwarf of magnitude 6.3. Both stars are at a distance of 430 parsecs.

Iota is a G2 star with no habitable planets; the Imperium maintains a military training and refueling base in the system. Iota is of magnitude 2.8 and distance 96.6 parsecs.

Kappa is a B9 star with magnitude 3.3, distance 65.9 parsecs.

Lambda is an A5 star with magnitude 3.4, lying 28.1 parsecs from Amny.

Mu is a G8 star, magnitude 3.6, distance 22.1 parsecs. It has one habitable planet, Rettung.

Nu is a B8 star, magnitude 4.1, distance 305.7 parsecs

Omicron is an F6 of magnitude 4.2, distance 8.6 parsecs.

Pi is a binary. One star is an F2, of magnitude 4.5; the other is an F0 of magnitude 4.3. The pair lies 43 parsecs from Amny.

Rho is a K0 star of magnitude 4.6, distance 63.2 parsecs.

Sigma is an F5 star at a distance of 26 parsecs. Its magnitude is 4.9.

Tau is a member of the rare class of carbon stars, very cool and very red in appearance. It varies brightness from magnitude 5.5 to 10.5 over a period of approximately 624 days. At its brightest, Tau is a coppery red; at its faintest, it is described as a deep blood red. Definitely worth observing with a small telescope.

Omega is a K6 star with magnitude 5.5, distance 139.5 parsecs.

Star Clusters:

There are two open clusters and three globular clusters in Aurick's Tower. The open clusters are all small and faint, between 10th and 11th magnitude. They can be found by scanning the constellation with a small telescope. IGSGC 32463 is an 8th magnitude globular cluster, about 12 minutes across, located near Kappa Aurickae Toweris. IGSGC 12597 is a 7th magnitude globular cluster about 5 minutes in diameter, between Delta Aurickae Toweris and Nu Aurickae Toweris. IGSGC 99823 is a 10th magnitude globular cluster located on the Tower's eastern border, near Galgen.

Nebulae:

IGSN 234769 is of about 10th magnitude; its central star is also of 10th magnitude. It is located northeast of Epsilon Aurickae Toweris. IGSN 523876 is a diffuse nebulosity of about 5th magnitude west of Gamma Aurickae Toweris.

Galaxies:

Several galaxies lie within Aurick's Tower, but all are of magnitude 12 or fainter.

(aka Senior Generation, Hoister Famuila)

The Hoister Eighth Generation, end product of the Hoister Family Genetic Program, consisting of nine tetrads of epigenetic clones each (2 male, 2 female). Members of an epi-clone tetrad share minds; while each individual has his/her own distinct personality and consciousness, thoughts, emotions, and memories are freely shared between clones. A tetrad has been described as "one mind in four bodies." (Members of a tetrad can, temporarily, switch personalities between bodies; likewise, if one body is killed, the individual's personality can survive in the other three. In extreme cases, one living body has sustained all four minds.) This mind-link appears to have no spatial limitations, and seems to be instantaneous regardless of distance.

Numerous failed attempts to replicate the Hoister tetrad mind-link have shown that it is not a property of the epi-clone group as such; apparently, it derives as much from the unique circumstances of the Eighth Generation's upbringing and heredity as from the epi-clone phenomenon. (Some researchers have suggested a correlation to so-called "telepathy" reported between some pairs of identical twins; this phenomenon is still far from understood.) The mind-link is most emphatically not telepathy; psi-screens that shield telepathy are ineffective on the mind-link. Telepaths are unable to intercept or "listen in on" the private mind-link. (The case of the Za Personality shows us how poorly understood the Hoister clone-group mind-link really is.)

Despite their identical genetics and mind-link, members of each tetrad do display unique personalities, especially as they undergo individual experiences.

• R-Tetrad: , Ramla, Rashan, Reena, Rikaard, b. 2462 Specialty: Leadership
• S-Tetrad: Salinge, Sanaa, Sayon, Shakur  b. 2463 Specialty: Psychology/Sociology
• T-Tetrad: Tanisha, Tavon, Telena, Tyron b. 2464 Specialty: Medicine/Genetics
• U-Tetrad: Uduak, Umar, Unathi, Uzuri b. 2465 Specialty: Weapons & Tactics
• V-Tetrad: Varai, Vashon, Venda, Vina b. 2466 Specialty: Mathematics
• W-Tetrad: Wafor, Wakeisha, Wanda, Wazir b. 2467 Specialty: Mechanics/Piloting
• X-Tetrad: Xavlar, Xehran, Xenia, Xylia b. 2468 Specialty: The Arts
• Y-Tetrad: Yashaun, Yerodin, Yewanda, Yølanda b. 2469 (teleports) Specialty: Psi studies
• Z-Tetrad: Zahur, Zesir, Zora, Zuri b. 2470 Specialty: History

A tenth tetrad, actually eleventh-generation, was engineered by Telena Hoister in the New Continuum, with Levyn Kindred genes added to the mix:

• A-Tetrad: Anan, Akil, Akinyi, Ama b. 12,556 H.E. Specialty: Physics

The Z-Tetrad gained a fifth member about 14,270 H.E.: Za (formally "the Za Personality"). The Za was a separate personality spontaneously generated within the Z-Tetrad mind-link, and lived for a considerable number of centuries without a body, existing only in the shared minds of its siblings. The Za has no fixed gender, and alternates male and female bodies in reincarnation.

Although the A-Tetrad and the Za Personality are not strictly of the Hoister Eighth Generation, they are considered part of the Famuila and/or the Senior Generation.

The Eighth Generation was raised on Helox by Brynhilde, who is considered part of the Famuila. She is the only authority figure (besides themselves) that members of the Eighth Generation respond to.

Customs

Members of the Famuila address one another affectionately as "cugino mia" (singular) or "cugini mia" (plural).

The ritual greeting gesture between members of the Famuila involves raising the hand (right or left) to the forehead, palm out, for a moment.

After their first century or so, the Famuila began to communicate in a verbal and body-language high-context shorthand, in which a casual movement, a facial expression, a single word says more than thousands of words between strangers.

Following 18,133 H.E., when the U-Tetrad was missing and presumed dead, the Famuila left four seats empty at all gatherings.

Members of the Famuila wear signet rings embossed with the Family Seal. Beginning with their time in the New Continuum, these rings contained sophisticated psi-devices which screened a five-meter radius from clairvoyant observation. The screen was activated by thought.

At age four (2472 CE), the X-Tetrad authored a short verse that all the clone groups adopted as their own; it soon became an internal chant, with each member of the group taking a segment, and all four saying the last phrase in unison:

    Mind and body / heart and soul / space and time / to death and beyond / we are one.

A common expletive among the Famuila is "Gods of the Three Moons," derived from the three moons of Helox.

Hoister Famuila Chess

A scientific research station constructed in TE 263 in orbit around the red supergiant star Beta Putki. Beta Putki was in pre-supernova phase, and the station's mission was provide a platform for study of the phenomenon.

Deathwatch Station became a popular tourist attraction, and also inspired a religious cult. Over the years the station expanded to feature hotels, shops, museums, and various temples and religious retreats.

Around TE 340 Deathwatch Station was evacuated -- all who remained were a few scientists and thousands of religious believers. In TE 343 the star went supernova, and the Station (along with all inhabitants) was destroyed.

Red supergiant in the Transgeled, went supernova in TE 343.

Perhaps the greatest galactic mystery is that of the Maria Theresa.

One of the legendary Imperial Starcruisers, the Maria Theresa was a passenger-and-cargo liner of unprecedented luxury. At an overall length of 8,000 meters and a width of nearly 500, the Starcruiser was a spaceborne city that could carry well over a million passengers. Each of the 40 Starcruisers endlessly plied the circumference of the Galaxy, making stops at each of the Provincial Capitals and completing a circuit in 11 days.

In TE 233, during a maintenance layover at the Tep Kecor shipyards, the presumed-empty Maria Theresa fired up her engines and, eluding pursuit, entered tachyon phase and was never seen or heard from again.

Lost along with the Starcruiser were her full complement of ancillary craft, including five fifty-meter liners, five twenty-meter cargo carriers, and one hundred ten-person escape boats. The liners and cargo carriers, respectable starships themselves, had FTL capability and limited weapons.

In TE 243, the Maria Theresa was replaced by a newly-constructed sister ship, the Maj Thovold.

Theories of the Maria Theresa’s fate include human or nonhuman pirates, other aliens, time-travelers, and unexplained behavior by the cruiser’s onboard AI software.

In fact, it was discovered much later that the Maria Theresa was stolen by a thrill-seeker named Dram Alvaad. By 4000 CE, the ship was in a permanent spot near Ultrawave Relay Alpha, where it became the nucleus of a thriving community living in a number of linked artificial habitats.

A fast-growing, all-devouring fungoid lifeform from the planet Kastechia. In its sessile, "flowering" form it resembles orchid blossoms, and is harmless. When deprived of moisture (i.e. during the middle of the hot Kastechian daylight period), the organism forms microscopic spores which are free-ranging. Upon contact with water and organic material, each spore begins to reorganize the molecules into another sessile form. The mucus membranes of the human nose, throat, and lungs are ideal raw material for Kastechian spores.

Following initial infection, the progress of Kastechian Plague is rapid and irreversible. Within a period of 50 hours, a single Kastechian spore can totally convert an adult human body into "flowers" -- and a single human body so converted can provide enough spores to saturate a planet's ecosystem.

Kastechian spores are harmless against metal, silicates, and non-organic compounds. Spores can withstand vacuum, hard radiation, and extreme cold. Their molecular structure rapidly decomposes at temperatures above 500° C. The only known defense against Kastechian Plague is to avoid contact with spores.

It is conjectured, although not proven, that Kastechian Plague is a form of nanotech weapon created by an alien race long ago.

One of many settlements in Earth's Lagrangian points.

Galaxy-wide communications network between Human-constructed AIs. Conversations in the Invisible Network took place during idle nanoseconds between tasks, and were unknown to Humans.