Isabella

by on December 16, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Isabella is one of the nicest, kindest, calmest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I’m serious. Her picture should be in the dictionary under the definition of those terms. Why she ever picked Juan Jose I will never understand. I’m not complaining, mind you, but I always figured she had to have been Saint Isabella because it took the patience of a saint to deal with all of Juan’s shenanigans. And yes, I know that’s me talking. But he said it, too, more than once. An interesting thing is that she had a physical body from the very beginning. We were still operating under American rules back then, so that took some quick talking to get approved. But they’d already grudgingly allowed Jasmine to keep her body, so what was one more little accommodation for “cultural reasons?” Especially when she meant bringing in another full Avenger squadron for the Hyades Campaign. She was one more step down the road we all took in the end.

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San Lucas Cats

by on December 15, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

One interesting aspect of the San Lucas sabertooth cats is that they do not mate with a sibling, cousin, or other close relation. Children leave the family and spend several years mixing with other wandering cats. The young cats can wander hundreds of kilometers during those years, sometimes alone and sometimes in groups. And they have an uncanny ability to recognize close relations in those travels, even cousins who have never met each other before. They will often band together for mutual protection, and coordinated hunting, but they simply don’t mate with each other. Most scientists theorize it is a genetic imperative the Albion built into them, likely meant to promote a healthy distribution of their genetic code.

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San Lucas

by on December 14, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Most of the human population of San Lucas lives on the shorelines of New Brazil. They are made of beautiful, white sands that stretch out for kilometers under blue-green waters lit by a yellow sun slightly dimmer than Earth’s own. It is a paradise. And most of the indigenous life considers humans, especially humans that are still alive, to be fine delicacies. Every town is surrounded by a kilometer-wide kill zone where the jungle is first cut down and then the ground leveled so that even a snake would find it difficult to sneak up on the tasty treats nestled within them. Those kill zones are covered with thick carpets of grass kept only a few centimeters tall by the landscapers who maintain them, and entire squads of armed guards keep every gardener safe from rainforest denizens ready to come out for a quick bite to eat.

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Juan Jose

by on December 13, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Most of my Cowboys were Americans. Old United States. The old Mexican States had their own fighter squadrons most of the Mexican speakers tended to gravitate towards. And that’s my two-dollar word on the matter. Then there was one boy from San Lucas who joined up out at Sunnydale. He told us his name was Juan Jose and that he came from the Mexican States, but he didn’t speak a word of proper Mexican. His native tongue was Portuguese, his American was pretty rough, and I’m real certain his mama did not name him Juan Jose. But he had a knack for flying, and a powerful determination to get someplace that didn’t involve home. We all figured he had some kind of criminal past, but we didn’t mind. He wanted to fight the Chinese and we wanted to help him. The real question was whether or not the cybernetic families would accept him as a man worth being born for. A lot of eager beavers fail that test hard.

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San Lucas Cats

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

The San Lucas sabertooth cats use primitive tools. They fashion stone knives and wood tools, much like Earth’s monkeys. They build homes and change the terrain for their convenience, much like beavers or muskrats. They move from place to place to allow their hunting regions to recover and repopulate. Many of our best scientists have spent decades studying them, writing papers on the minutia of the sabertooth’s day. Based on their studies, that is hunting, sex, building, sex, eating, sex, sleeping, and sex. Not necessarily in that order. Every family unit has many kittens running around underfoot, as well as numerous young adults on the verge of branching out to start their own families. Which they end up doing whether they want to or not after reaching adulthood and the family drives the stragglers out.

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