Mast
Antennas, that's a problem. You can't place them on the hull, it blocks them. So you put them on a mast. But then, if you speed up or down too hard, it can break, and in Space, losing antennas is not good at all.
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Rowing
In case the main *and* secondary sources go on the fritz, there's an emergency manifold electrical generator. Granted, yes it takes some rowing, and no it won't get the Locust moving, but at least, it provides some light and a radio link.
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Storm
If I'm afraid that the Locust might get swept by a stellar storm and that I might die in the crash when it sends us right against a telluric planet?
Naaaaah.
I'll die way before, when we get through its outer Van Allen radiation belt.
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Starboard
In space, just like at sea, port lights are red and starboard lights are green. But only in space, when you approach a ship that's red on the left, you must check whether it is facing away from you, or facing you but upside down.
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Jetty
Every deep space station jetty features a tubular rail where you can clip the bit of a lifeline, because nothing's more irksome than losing your grip 50 meters from the airlock and having the rescue shuttle pick you up and bring you back.
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Anchor
Spaceships don't have an anchor. Because sailing in Space means being at least ten thousand kilometers from any rocky surface.
On the other hand, they have grappling hooks. Because you often need to hitch onto another ship.
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Sail
The Shabasch have a model of a stellar sail ship. These ships are easy to maneuver… as long as you're flying away from the star. But when you want to steer *towards* it, you have to tack, and with a 9,000-ton rig and in 3D, that's *tricky*.
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Ocean
It sounds cliché to liken Space to an ocean, but it's actually true: it has its currents, its all too rare islands, its creatures, majestic, mythical, and monstrous all at once… Also, it can kill you in many different horrible ways.
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Spading
'Spading is exhausting! Why dont't we just grow herbs with magic?'
'You already know the answer.'
'... Because it requires more Mana than the herbs would produce.'
'Exactly. Now, resume digging.'
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Pruning shears
'Welcome to our lessons in close quarter zombie fighting. Today: How to use pruning shears. The method is simple: as soon as some part of the zombie is close enough, you snip it. After a certain time, the zombie will stop.'
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Acidity
A Wizard needs several weeks to reduce a potion's acidity so that the patient will agree to drinking it.
A Witch needs only five minutes to describe to the patient what will happen to him if he does not drink this potion NOW.
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Harvest
'WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?'
'If your Boss is anything like mine, Death, there's little chance He'll answer you.'
'I'D RATHER TRY ALL THE SAME, LUCIFER.'
'I never said you shouldn't.'
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Hoeing
"Honestly, R42, I dunno how you manage to keep hoeing eight hours a day without losing your marbles."
"Easily: I consider the benefit of the situation, namely, eight hours away from humans and their depressing chatter."
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Hole
The problem with being a field agent is you quite often spend time in some hole lost at the other end of the world.
The problem with being a field spacetime agent is that this hole is also at the other end of Time.
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Compared to the clay Golem, the fertile soil Golem has one shortcoming (the needs to regularly remove weed from it) and one advantage (its smell after rain).
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Wintering veil
At night, a wintering veil may deceptively look like a more or less human-shaped ectoplasm. One thus runs the risk of seeing a breezy orchard where in fact it is an army of ghosts driven by horribles intentions.
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Watering
Watering is only one of several factors allowing the growth of skeletons from dragon teeth. But contrary to a simplistic reflex, nitrogen should be avoided; instead, burnt or slaked lime should be spread, or even powdered chalk.
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Flowers
'Did the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have a bunch of flowers placed in the Botan ambassador's room?'
'Yes, that's customary. Why?'
'Well, let's just say… What would you think if someone handed you a basket full of severed genitals?'
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Sowing
"Sowing humans on this planet was a mistake."
"My apologies. I shall clean all up."
"No."
"I understand. Now that they are here, they must be given a chance."
"No. Simply, they'll just eliminate themselves in time."
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"Elena the Curious chose to live here for of the climate. As she says, if she has to spend some nights running through the moor naked under the full moon, then it has to be made up for by afternoons naps in a deck chair, drenched in sunlight."
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Seeds
'It is true,' said the Botan ambassador, 'that before the generalization of cutting, we did reproduce through, er, germination. But let's face it, this whole ... *seeds*... business was, well, disgusting.'
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Nitrogen
It's one thing to know the working of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and others; it's another entirely to understand how they all combine and form a sentient being.
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Pruning
This whole fighting business is just a shtick. The truth is, even an adult Dragon's scales keep growing, and they regularly need some pruning, so we might as well make a show of it. Plus, the scale shavings sell pretty well.
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Growth
The cultivation of Ents is not fundamentally different from that of other arboriform species, except in their case, music actually has an effect on their growth. That said, as surprising as it may seem, their favorite genre is death metal.
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Soil
"We vampires", sait Count Scarlat, "have a concept of the right of soil. That is to say, soil has power over us, of life and death, if I may say so. We are at its service. Thus, if you harm the soil, vampires will raise against you."
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'My work,' said the Devil, 'consists in weeding your kind in order to eliminate the, well, weeds, and make room for the wheat. Oh, and suffer the complaints of those mightily surprised to be treated like the weeds they are.'
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Fruits
'So she cured him of hil ailment?'
'Yes.'
'And as payment, she asked foor the power to ensure maturation in fruits?'
'No. That she can already do. What she asked for is the power to teach that power, as many people as she wants.'
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Germination
Beside the usual temperature, humidity, and soil acidity, the germination of dragon teeth also requires a hero stupid enough to wait passively for the skeletons to reach maturity, instead of mowing them all down come the first sprouts.
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Intake
'My daily intake needs,' declared R42, 'is about a hundred and ten watt-hour of electricity, twenty-five milliliters of mineral lubricant, twelve milliliters of anionic cleaning fluid, and roughly thirty gigabytes of network traffic.'
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Marcotting
In Botan spaceships, the hull is made of bark fragments held together by a network of vines, the natural marcotting of which acts like a rrivet. It should not protect from radiations, or even be airtight, yet it is.
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