Pontefract

Pontefract, on Aloysius... well, what can one say? Antiquity for antiquity's sake? Or is it real? Is Pontefract genuine or is it just an annoying masquerade of old customs and boring tradition?

Aloysius was among the first planets colonized from Earth and this definitely reflects on its cities: filled with a special ambience which appears real and authentic. Pontefract is an embodiment of the "Aloysian way". The combination of antiquity and the almost always present mist give the city a distinct atmosphere which you either love or hate. The small alleys, the confined squares, the little piazza's all remind of... well, of "days of old" on Earth and then the people... the stately citizens of Pontefract in their stately garments. One has to see to believe it!

Pontefract grew to be a centre for publishing companies and financial services. One of the landmark buildings in oldest part of the city is the Bramville Tower. It stands there in all its antique flair overlooking St. Paidrigh Square and nowadays acts as the headquarters of Cosmopolis.

And then there's of course the Penwipers Hotel. Overlooking old Tara Square, it's a statement of Aloysius's antiquity in itself. As said in many a traveller's guide, you will have to experience the Penwipers for yourself. A description hardly does it justice. From the inconspicuous entry to the garments provided by the hotel to suit the guests attire while enjoying their stay in Pontefract. As often said by the inhabitants of the old city:

"A person makes a statement about himself with his clothes. A genteel person wears genteel clothes to establish his status, and status, whether we like it or not, is a key factor in human interrelations."

To the north of Pontefract one finds the private estates, where some of the richest and successful people of Aloysius live. But be careful with touring the north of the city as Pontefract's finest are easily disturbed by prying eyes and cling to their privacy as they do to their SVU's. You might fall into the hands of the Inquisition for disturbance of peace. Most likely a very unpleasant end of your journies and without doubt a highly unpleasant experience....

So, Pontefract... real or fake? Well, although it's home to some of the largest enterprises of the Oikumene, Pontefract certainly retained that feel of a small, dozy, pretty litttle city. A city one would come across in the southern parts of Europe on Earth. Our verdict: it looks real enough, so it probably is...

- Eva Immeldos, on Pontefract in Lonely Planet: Aloysius edition, 3rd print

The veil of Misuph

Interviewer: "Can you describe his looks?"

Young woman: "No, his features are one of his treasured secrets. I have only seen him wearing a traditional ritukh(*). And if I did tell you what he looks like, I would die within 24 hours. Misuph's revenge has a far reach."

Interviewer: "Does he ever leave Sarkovy?"

Young woman: "No."

Interviewer: "But how can he kill you then, while you're here, safe on Rigel?"

Young woman: "He has immense powers... he transfers poison in manners you cannot imagine... He can manipulate matter by the sheer intonation of his voice thus turning a harmless product into deadly poison. He can literally kill you over the phone..."

(*) Ritukh - A traditional garment generally dyed black, worn by some Sarkovy venifices. It effectively  hides their face, only exposing their eyes and nose. It's generally worn as a protection and contains antidotes against a large number of poisons. The ritukh is a very personal piece of garment only to be touched by the venifice himself.

- Cosmopolis interviewer talking with an anonymous woman from Sarkovy about Master Venefice Rouyoucouf Misuph, supposedly the most dangerous and powerful venifice of Sarkovy.

Penwipers

You don't just -stay- in the Penwipers. It's an experience. Anything less would be completely unacceptable.

- The General Manager of the Penwipers, Pontefract

Toned!

Campaign by Toned! for their new line of skin dye products called "Facial Frontiers". The latest product range feature not seen before ease in appliance and new, trendy colors with built in light effects for an exciting evening in the expensive clubs.

The model is Miss Jupeau Kilot, the glamorous model from Krokinole

Are we alone?

"What is it that keeps us searching? Do we just keep looking so we can find our next collective challenge? Would we be disappointed? Thrown from our "pedestal of uniqueness" when we find that we're not alone in this vast universe?"

- Beerman Oppenstock, philosopher and supposed owner of several illicit stills.

Buy your own!

Our universe has changed. Not just a bit. It has changed profoundly. Centuries ago the Jarnell engine brought us access to the stars and now almost anybody can afford intergalactic space travel either by public available transport or by acquiring a private space ship. A round trip ticket on one of the Vega - Rigel lines is now less than 30 SVU, including taxes.

However, if you don't fancy a trip on the commercial lines, you should consider buying your private ship. Second hand space ships sell nowadays for under 100.000 SVU. The most popular models like the basic 9B and the bigger Cobalt Cuckoo support up to four people. Although the purchase of a private ship still requires a vast amount of money by anybody's standards, a growing number of financial institutions in Oikumene are willing to supply a funding construct for someone who wants to get hist hands on private access to the stars.

People used to go to a bank to lend money for building or buying a house. With real estate prices dropping to historic lows due to new and highly optimized building technologies - a decent family house nowadays sells for under 1.000 SVU in the Rigel Concourse - there's no longer a real need for funding in this segment. Housing has become a true commodity. So banks are looking for emerging markets. Such an emerging market is financing the purchase by an individual of his or hers private space ship.

Today, prospective buyers can choose from a fast growing range of interesting offers. The popular ones from The Bank of Rigel and VF Bank on Aloysius - both considered experts and market leaders in this segment - offer a complete all-in package including insurance, pre-buy survey, registered maintenance and operator training courses for about 200 SVU per month for a basic 9B model space ship.

What will the future hold? Several scenario's are likely however private spaceflight is here to stay. Private space flight becoming a commodity is probably only a matter of time...

- "Buy your own!", abstract of a feature article in Cosmopolis on the popularity of privately owned space ships by Finn Komatsen.

Universe without money

What a preposterous idea! A universe without money would be like a world without air, water, food... Inhabitable!!! Money is what makes our worlds go round. It has been, it still is and it will always be...

- Kipper D. Storm, senior vice president of the Bank of Vega during a talk show on Vegan's Business TV Daily

Fine cuisine

Of all cuisines the one from Dar Sai is probably among the most remarkable ones. The Darsh's best known dishes are ahagaree, pourrain and chatowsies. Actually all of them are well off the measuring scale of my own taste budds, but alas... so much for off-world food.

[...]

However, if you're looking for true local atmosphere and cooking you should not miss out on Tintle's Shade in Rath Eileann. Madame Tintle is said to cook a very authentic ahagaree - based on an old family recipee - which is guaranteed to surprise you and is served in a typical Darsh' environment.

[...]

The most remarkable thing is that without exception any non-Darsh will find the food of the Dar Sai remarkable at best and probably horrible. The second remarkable thing is that the Darsh love it. They consume their food with obvious taste and ravishment. It's almost hypnothising to witness a Darsh gobble up his platter of ahagaree. A word of warning though! The Darsh tend to be proud and get rather short fused when they suspect being the centre of mockery...

[...]

- Youssoun Therain, master chef. Clipping from his column in "Food Guide".

Skin dye

Skin dye... a strange phenomenon which started out when space travel became common. Initially it was used to protect the skin from harsh, direct light of stars during space flight but it soon swinged to become a fashion statement. Today's skin dye products - the most popular today is the product range from Toned! - are very much adapted to suit all people in almost all situations.

First there's the easy care. Good dye basically behaves like a second skin and doesn't prevent your skin from breathing. Once applied, it doesn't smudge your clothes nor does it stain your hands when you touch your face. The more expensive products have an "easy apply" feature which requires you to only leave a little bit on your forehead. Within a couple of minutes the dye has spread over your face leaving an smooth tone. Also, removal is very easy. Just apply a little bit of water over the forehead and wipe with a special skin dye tissue.

Remember, skin dye makes a statement, although the combination of color and location determine the exact statement you're making. There's the universal "Space traveller" image, recognized and acccepted everywhere. But wearing a green dye in a classy bank in Pontefract would not be looked upon with approval, while that same red would set your status as "wealthy nobleman" in the planets of the Karima system. Be careful with your choice and make yourself familiair with local customs. It's so easy to make a wrong impression. Black dye is alsmost never a good choice!

Dye can be bought at every spaceport, so don't panic if you lost yours or forgot to pack it for your trip. If you can't find a suitable color, just buy the one available for space travellers. You will not be frowned upon!

Mr. Pink

Mr. Pink was a customer I initially met on a trip to Alphanor. He was probably in his late fifties or early sixties, although I never really asked. He was slim, of average height, very tanned skin, thin mouth and blue eyes. I would call him the "silent type", maybe even submissive although we never really entered that specific game.

Mr. Pink was of course not his real name as nothing is real in this line of business. It was just a name I made up for him, when I found out he had a pink fetish. It started when I was wearing pink underwear - accidentally! - on the first evening we met in a very expensive restaurant.

He found out when his napkin fell on the ground. He must have looked up my skirt... the naughty boy! He became extremely excited and insisted we leave immediately. Without touching our food! Of course much to the dismay of the maître d', I might add, who had gone through considerable effort to get us a first class table. We continued our evening at his apartment in downtown Avente.

After that I visited him almost every night for maybe three months. He really must have spent a fortune on me and I took everything I could get... He bought me pink underwear, pink flowers, pink sweets, pink jewelry and even showed remarkable artistic capabilities by making "pink" drawings of me in erotic underwear...

After three months, the frequency of his visits slowly decreased. Probably his wife found out or he ran into financial problems or maybe he became bored with seeing the same woman each and every time. The excitement wears off eventually... The last time I saw him was... well, at least ten years ago, maybe more.... I still have some of his drawings in a chest in the loft...

- Lisa Greenwood, "Memories of a call girl"

The Higher Being

"I reject any notion of a cosmos-wide higher being or divine entity. As of now, there has not been conclusive evidence to proof the existence of such a being or entity.

[...]

People are known to convert to religion or supreme beings in time of despair or during emotional or physical distress."

[...]

- Peter Thorstein, atheist and Fellow of the Institute (72nd phase)

The congregation of Father Olmadoza

[...]

The congregation of Father Olmadoza is a small community living on Boniface. The name of the community refers to their founding father, a priest of Earth working in South America during the early 1800's (Earth's counting, nearly 1800 years ago). The last headcount (performed 3 years ago) of the congregation was 312 people. It's a remarkable community as their members are totally devoted to their religion: a traditional variant of the Church of Jesus Christ.

During their frequent sermons the community elder reads from an ancient scroll containing the preachings of Jesus. The scroll is said to be written by the apostle John and is believed to be the only true historic teaching of Jesus. If authentic, the scroll is estimated to be at least 3000 years old... The reading is followed by extensive and intense community praying.

The sermons used to be public, however after getting too much attention as a holy shrine, the community expelled all outside attendance to their sermons. Requests from scientists to have an opportunity to inspect and study the scroll have always been ignored.

The community elder appears a tormented man, with several stigmata (bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus) and is on occasions known to loose as much as two liters of blood during the sermons. It is a known fact that all the elders have been of the male gender. When the elder becomes too weak to take care of himself, he's appointed two sisters seeing after his bandages and generally taking care of him.

The community lives of a modest piece of land where they cultivate small crops of wheat and vegetables. They also maintain small hurds of livestock supplying them with milk and basic materials for clothing and shoes.

Only recently an effort has been made by an unknown and undisclosed party from outside of Boniface to obtain the scroll. By timely intervention of the Boniface armed authorities the attempted embezzlement was prevented. Nowadays the community enjoys a very strict guardianship of the Boniface authorities and any infringement of their peace is dealt with swiftly with very severe punishments.

I am the light that shines over all things. I am everywhere. From me all came forth, and to me all return. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift a stone, and you will find me there.
[Gospel of Thomas, v. 77]

- From "Modern Fate" by Father Lucas MacInnes, Boniface. The full work of Father MacInnes covers interesting views regarding the diffusion of the human race across the stars and the evolution of the Christian fate.

Tablet 1710-A1B10 from Fomalhaut

"When all is done and [completion: ? possibly: reference to an important goal] stares at you with [reference to an unknown metalurgic compound] eyes[1], there's not but one [road: journey, path, goal] left to travel. Our road is marked and clear. The final [destination: ? possibly: level, universe] welcomes us...?"

[1] There's nothing known yet about their physical appearance. The word used refers to "visual recognition, blurred by overwhelming emotion"

- Partial translation of Tablet 1710-A1B10, found at the archaeological site on Kummer, moon of Fomalhaut IV in the Fomalhaut system. The relics are the remnants of a - probably non-human - civilization that disappeared about 10.000 Earth years ago.

Honors of the Trade.

"Do you consider your trade an honorable one?".

"Surely, I work hard for my money. I treat my workforce as good as I can, of course within the limits of my business. I never inflict any physical harm on them - nor psychological for that matter."

"But you buy and sell humans, you take their freedom and bond them to slavery. That's hardly an honorable profession, is it?"

"I operate my business in Beyond, away from laws and rules of The Oikumene. I am a reasonable man with a reasonable attitude towards my business and all the people involved. I'm sure that if any of my workforce were to be handled by some of my less scrupulous colleagues, they would be far worse off!"

"It's obvious that you have a severe lacking of conscious..."

"Conscious has nothing to do with it, my dear madam. I tend to see myself as a broker in workforce. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control the individuals in my workforce have no longer say over their destiny. Maybe their lack of control is temporarily and they regain their freedom within time, I don't know."

- Gascoyne the Wholesaler of Vlurchison's Star in an interview with an anonymous female editor from New Ossining, Olliphane.

Open World Museum

Today Mrs. Elisabeth Bummerbottom - spokesman of the Board of Executive Trustees of the Open World Museum on Alphanor - announced that the Museum will host as of today a special department dedicated to the life and times of the infamous Demon Prices. The department will feature rare artifacts and personal belongings (amongst which is Lens Larque's whip) on display from all five criminals, as well as an extensive library of digital footage containing films, interviews and scanned documents amongst others.

"This department has been carefully prepared and set up for the past six years and we are very excited to present it to the public now.", stated Mrs. Bummerbottom today in her opening speech. "One of the key feature is of course the personal spacecraft of Howard Alan Treesong. The ship has been carefully restored to its original state and is fully accessible to the public. We are extremely proud of our new department and invite everybody to come and visit us.", according to Mrs. Bummerbottom.

Open World Museum
Jarnell Memorial Building, Esplanade
Avente, Alphanor

- Finn Komatsen