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Challenge #02248-F058: All Hail the Weird Ones

An entire planet seems to be "astronomical at best." -- Anon Guest

Aargus 6F is one of the weirder planets to evolve cogniscent life. Their parental gas giant, Aargus 6, is far out of the 'Goldilocks Zone', yet tidal forces caused by the orbit in combination with a rotating iron core have caused the planet to be warm enough to host life.

The skies are almost always dark on Aargus 5F, when they are not dominated by their parental gas giant, which takes up a good quarter of the visible sky in the correct conditions. The distant sun is not important in their general cosmology, since to them, it is no more than a very bright star. Indeed, the hypothesis that it was the source of illumination for Aargus 6 was hotly debated for eons amongst the populace.

There is, however, something to be said for the ability to look up at any time and see the workings of the cosmos. Generations made myths to explain the bodies in the sky, why neighbouring moons of Aargus 6 only appeared at certain intervals. Why the obscuring mass of Aargus 6 showed itself in different aspects, and so on. The Aargosians developed the magnifying lens and used it to notice things. Things beneath them as well as above.

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Challenge #02247-F057: Slow Progress

Being an anxious over-thinker is hard. You usually scare yourself. -- Anon Guest

Why, oh why, did clinging to the very bottom rung of the social ladder feel like hanging desperately from a trapeze... roughly a hundred Sidu's up[1] and with no safety net? CL-3 tried not to hyperventilate and faint -again- as things continued to deviate from her expected norm. Not that she had been much better within her expected norm, but at least there was a routine. Everything changed

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Challenge #02246-F056: Before You Can Fly

Hope may be the wings,

but courage is the belief

you were born to fly.

~Tyler Knott Gregson -- Anon Guest

Is there any greater motivation to the heart, mind, and soul than the words, you can't? The tinkerer known as Steelfoot didn't think so. She lost her feet to the cruelest winter that had ever cursed the northlands, and her legs below the knee with them. She was told she would never walk, she would never run.

She studied the metalworkers

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Challenge #02245-F055: Meeting Space

What if, to some aliens, the human race were their version of actual Orcs. As in; Mythical evil monsters that are virtually indestructible, can travel any terrain, near impossible to kill and, when in a large group, destroy/devour everything in their wake? -- Amberfox

[AN: I don't hold that any particular species is evil per se. They merely have oppositional goals to everyone else]

Humans are basically unkillable. They can withstand temperatures both hotter and colder than proper species. They can

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Challenge #02244-F054: Made Outta Ticky Tacky

Yet another 'Wonderful Scheme' that was going to make life easier, Might have worked if they'd only listened instead of hiring a "well-known designer." -- Anon Guest

Here's why planned community spaces suck: they're always designed by an older, able-bodied man who is more concerned with aesthetics than practicality. In order to be a Name in the business, they design for beauty in mind. Unfortunately, beauty is both blind and deaf to the needs of anyone not fit, young, or adult.

Stairs

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Challenge #02243-F053: Hardy Malone and the Mystery Missive

The letter appeared on her homework desk, under her second-hand typewriter.

"Nanna! You said you changed things, and I told you to do something about it, and go read the papers from 1940 onwards. And you'll need 10 pounds to buy that chest in the Junk shop."

"But! But I'm 14 and still in school!" -Inspired by Casandre Jones. -- Knitnan

The letter was printed, and not by any means that she recognised. It certainly hadn't come from her typewriter. Her letter

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Challenge #02242-F052: A Critical Lack

"Talk."

"I won't talk even if you torture me."

"Then talk or we'll execute the hostages."

"If I don't talk you'll execute unarmed civilians, including women and children ?"

"Yes !"

"That's the first time you're dealing with Humans, right?" -- Anon Guest

"What does that even mean?" Kyarth frowned at the Human Leader. They were captive. They were all captive. Held helpless and under watch by the strongest of the Ryhijov. They were without any kind of escape, any kind of hope. The

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Challenge #02241-F051: Courage Pour L'enfents

There is no living creature more dangerous than a mother wanting to protect children. Even if the mother is an Havenworlder. -- Anon Guest

The UFTP vessel Vengeance tried their best to make it to the Havenworld Yannomar in time. They had pushed everything to the limit, including the Human crew. They had hoped to make it in time to save lives, and found scenes of devastation instead. Too late. The Konthar had already struck, and apparently left the southern continents in

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Challenge #02240-F050: A Crucial Flaw

"New Eden Space Station Security Service, I'm listening."

"HELP ! WE NEED HELP !"

"Please keep calm. What is happening, Sir ?"

"We tried to rob Habitat 39 and there is a angry human inside ! We locked ourselves inside a locker, and the human is waiting for us outside !" -- Anon Guest

They tell stories about this kind of thing. People who attempt to be criminal masterminds and end up being criminals missing minds. As in, the right mind not to burgle a Deathworlder habitat

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Challenge #02239-F049: A Time to Shine

People need to stop mixing "knowledge" and "intelligence". It's true that a magician can, will and have read and learned more books than the average person, and a barbarian might not know all the rule to live with more civilised person, but it's only knowledge.

Intelligence is knowing that even with all your knowledge, you might not be the more suited person for the task at hand. For example, dealing with a tribal spirit without getting the party slaughtered. Here, the barbarian

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Challenge #02238-F048: The Scale Economy

Being tall means either not being able to see things under a certain height, or constantly looking down and getting a hunch. -- Anon Guest

Here's the thing about Standard Galactic Spaces - they're big. They're made for accessibility for all known cogniscents, from the size of a Terran Terrier through Jelly Dancer swarm to that of a Synapsian Titan. It's easy to forget that there are smaller species who don't see a reason why they have to accommodate others in their

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Challenge #02237-F047: Could Be Worse

So, the big dangerous creature you were supposed to be fighting is now bawling it's eyes out. Worse still, a few of your crewmates/party keep giving it empathetic looks. What are you supposed to do? -- Anon Guest

The gigantic beast sat in the middle of the chamber and howled like an infant. Marvin, Wraithvine, and Lady Anthe all glared at Rumtum.

"You idiot," said Lady Anthe. "Why would you claw a baby inside its nose?"

"Now it's mother's going to

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Challenge #02236-F046: We Always Came Back

Do couples on ships ever sing duets together during their leisure times? That would be adorable. -- Anon Guest

Humans are pack-bonding creatures and thrive in environments where they have ready access to their pack. It is therefore advisable, when hiring Humans, to be sure that you hire Humans who have already established a stable pack bond. -- Douddam's Guide to Surviving the Edge.

The Francetti's were at it again. Human pack-bonding rituals were one thing, but this? This was bizarre, even

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Challenge #02235-F045: Sing Out the Sun

"Hey what song are you singing today?"

"'I love those J-I-N-G-L-E bells.'"

"Oh good. I can hang my laundry today." -- Anon Guest

There are interesting wrinkles to being a life companion for a bard. Especially if that bard took a level or two in the Druidic arts, apparently for the laughs. One of them is the daily practice session. Not that Jiihan needed it. She was a very good bard... but the druidic edge put certain harmonic combinations at a

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Challenge #02234-F044: Incidental Hazards

Young children like to lounge on people, caregivers and companions alike. Do other species deal with this? -- Anon Guest

There is an instinct almost universal to the young of any given species. Stay close to your caregiver. Once able to move about free of the nest/clutch/creche/pouch, the caregiver is still a bastion of protection, font of education, and primary source of emotional resilience. In species with communal childrearing, any older member of the species will do.

Which was

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