A Primer on the Races of Humanity – Arnam

by on June 2, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

Another disadvantage the Arnam have is that they do not see as well as we do in surface daylight. Their eyes are optimized towards seeing in pitch dark, and while their multiple eyelids keep bright lights from blinding them, they lose numerous finer details in the bargain. They see the world through a haze of filters that shift the natural light spectrum, and of course they can see infrared light. They have natural heat vision, which doesn’t work so well on a hot, bright day, in the middle of a desert. But is of much more use on a cool, rainy day, in…oh…Northern Minnesota. Many Arnam happen to live there due to the pleasant, wet, and cool climate. Washington State, Maine, the British Isles, and Scandinavia house other major Arnam populations for similar reasons.

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Virginia

by on June 1, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

The Adams Family is one of the oldest great families of America, having left Britain in the 1600s. They were leading figures in the revolution against British rule, provided two presidents and numerous other public servants to the first republic, and two more presidents to the second republic. They supported and participated in the first expansion of humanity to Luna, Venus, Mars, and beyond, and helped found our first colonies on New Earth and New Washington. Virginia Adams was born into that tradition of public service, and became one of the leading proponents for cooperation with the Peloran after Contact. That is how she found herself taking the Peloran Treatments on public broadcast to prove she trusted them. Little did she know what that would mean until she began noticing the side effects that would become known as the Ageless.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Abbi

by on May 31, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Abigail Adams was the closest advisor and wife of John Adams, second president of the United States. When the Adams Family began working on artificial intelligence, they named the result after her. Generations of Adams children grew up with Abigail, or Abbi as many called her, as one of their earliest friends, confidants, and confessors. She even registered as a pastor with the Congregationalist Church so she could claim the counselor’s right to refuse to divulge anything her children told her. She also picks a different, unique avatar for each child that grows up with them over time. This particular version of Abbi grew up with Virginia Adams, and stayed with her when she fulfilled her family tradition of public service in the Marine Corps Reserve.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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A Primer on the Races of Humanity – Arnam

by on May 30, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Arnam are of course optimized for cool and wet environments. The corollary to that is that they are supremely unsuited for desert environments. Their skin may be dark, but the pigment is for camouflage, not protecting from the sun. A fierce, desert noonday sun can kill an Arnam if it does not find shade. And the dry environment will quickly sap needed moisture out of their body. Arnam visiting such environments must cover themselves from head to toe, and use misters constantly to keep them from dehydrating. It is unsurprising that they consider such environments to be hostile, and they avoid such places whenever possible.

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In Flanders Fields

by on May 29, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

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