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Faction: American Reclamation Corporation
All planets possess inherent value and establishing the exact dollar value of the property should be a priority.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Planetary Survey" tech)
Patent your discoveries. Each new species represents an opportunity for uncontestable ownership of that lifeform.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Alien Biology" tech)
The only reason you are here is because a committee picked who to send. Ponder why they chose you instead of their own self-interest.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Human Idealism" tech)
Resistance, in regards to electrical conductivity, is undesirable. In regards to hyperconductivitiy, it is futile.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Hyperconductors" tech)
Life is an inherently depreciating asset.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Organics" tech)
Computational and human resources should never have been separate strategic assets.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Surrogacy" tech)
The capacity for stupid agents to produce smart outcomes has a lesson for the manager. Your employees do not need to know very much for you to get the desired results.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Swarm Robotics" tech)
What is best for the shareholders of the American Reclamation Corporation? That's what's best for you.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Synergetics" tech)
The goal of the Chief should be to align the personal with the larger political, economic, and organizational goals. What's good for the organization's always what's best for the individual.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Human Hive" wonder)
Your most valuable human asset has one foot in the code and one foot in the world and still on solid ground.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Markov Eclipse" wonder)
What I like best about quantum computing is that we get something for nothing from someone else's somewhere.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Quantum Computer" wonder)
Success is the result of cornering the market of secrecy.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Covert Ops Home Page" in Civilopedia)
The value of a contract is proportional to the number of people she can influence within the organization. Don't negotiate with someone who can't make things happen on their side.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Sponsors and Leaders Home Page" in Civilopedia)
Business subsidiaries offer an opportunity to reduce risk, explore grown opportunities, and securely offload bad assets.
— Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, "Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources" (accompanies "Stations Home Page" in Civilopedia)
Faction: Brasilia
You go to war with the soldiers you have. Make sure those are the soldiers you want.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Genetics" tech)
Oppression, chaos, and death may come from the barrel of a gun... but so, occasionally, does victory.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Ballistics" tech)
The best way to survive a firefight is to be elsewhere when your enemy starts one.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Mobile LEV" tech)
Advocates of maneuver warfare must not fall into the trap of loving maneuver for its own sake.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Autogyros" tech)
The best troops are young people who relish combat and old enough to prefer not walking into it.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Tactical LEV" tech)
It has been said, 'The point of war is not to die for your country, but to make your enemy die for theirs'; a goal which is more readily accomplished if your side never has to leave the field.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Tactical Robotics" tech)
All opposing forces start to resemble each other as conflict continues.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Alien Adaption" tech)
We don't need better bullets. We need a better way to deliver them into the bodies of our enemies.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Ballistic LEV" tech)
Command decisions are not made on a single data point. They are the result of a thousand data points crystallized in a single moment.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Swarm Intelligence" tech)
Do not assume the battleground is impartial or in your favor.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Archimedes Lever" wonder)
Solving problems with force is satisfying because one gets feedback right away.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Nanothermite" wonder)
Where possible, the opponent's advantage of ground must be negated. If you cannot see down on your enemy, you should knock the enemy off his pedestal.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Mass Driver" wonder)
There's an old soldier's axion: 'You can't kill what you can't see.' The inverse is also true.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Panopticon" wonder)
A good soldier will rise to the occasion in combat. An exceptional one will rise above the occasion. These soldiers are the spine and muscle of every successful army.
— Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, "Principles of Modern War" (accompanies "Unit Upgrades" in Civilopedia)
Faction: Franco-Iberia
The great and unifying theme which underlies all of Western arts and letters has the question: What does it mean to be human?
We have discovered alien life on our new world. Unsurprisingly, it grows, reproduces, dies, and cannot understand French.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Alien Lifeforms" tech)
One of the finest shadings of communication is the difference between 'I didn't understand that' and 'I understand that but I don't care.'
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Communications" tech)
Culture and fashion are wracked by pointless ideological wars. Whichever ideology wins immediately becomes cliché.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Social Dynamics" tech)
Few have mastered the art of keeping a garden in perfect shape, especially since we have started growing titanium.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Biometallurgy" tech)
Of course consensus is uninspiring and trite. However, inspiring, original ideas are often tragically wrong-headed.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Collaborative Thought" tech)
Omnipresent and effective security measures make even the worst neighbors tolerable.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Defense Grid" tech)
The secret to being happy is to delight in the absurd, repress the irritating, and keep good wine close at hand.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Euthenics" tech)
I cannot dislike the Bytegeist, because despite its insufferable chirpy ubiquity, it is entirely too helpful to be without.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Bytegeist" wonder)
Within the Drone Sphere I am reminded of nothing less than the apex of Versailles with each man and woman a Sun King or Queen, surrounded by fawning courtiers.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Drone Sphere" wonder)
I am told that the planet's core is hot, dense, and explosive, and I am reminded of our Parliament.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Tectonic Anvil" wonder)
Humanity can cross the distances between stars, coax life out of death, and make machines think, but it has yet to invent a cure for the common cold or boring conversation.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Technologies Home Page" in Civilopedia)
I built this colony on a foundation of the best human values. I know these are the best values, because they are mine.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Virtues Home Page" in Civilopedia)
I despair that despite centuries of literary references available to them, humanity still insists on using the name 'Floatstone'.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Resources Home Page" in Civilopedia)
Few things encourage warm feelings between like minds as a shared point of disagreement.
— Élodie, "Remarques" (accompanies "Affinity Home Page" in Civilopedia)
Faction: Kavithan Protectorate
Seraphim, Cherubim, Devas, Fravashi, and Yakshas, extend thy arms to cover us, hear us and convey our prayer to the Lord Creator.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Daily Devotionals for Comm Operators" (accompanies "Orbital Networks" tech)
We, the dust of a dying world, must listen to the stones of a living one.
— Kavitha Thakur, "The Exodite Sutra" (accompanies "Geophysics" tech)
Do you not see the hand of God on this world? Craters, canyons, mountains, his hand has shaped them. Seas, the tears of his eyes. Miasma and atmosphere, the breath of his mouth.
— Kavitha Thakur, "The Exodite Sutra" (accompanies "Terrain and Features Hope Page" in Civilopedia)
Beyond this flesh,
Beyond this dream,
I have danced among the stars.
My children dance on endless worlds.
Beyond this dream,
I have danced among the stars.
My children dance on endless worlds.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Glorious Key of the Exodite Sutra" (accompanies "Daedalus Ladder" wonder)
Open your eyes. Open them again. Look ahead of yourself. Look ahead again.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Glorious Key of the Exodite Tantra: 5th Unfolding" (accompanies "Precog Project" wonder)
I went to depart this world.
I stood at the threshold
I heard,
'Do not leave, we need you!'
I returned, by compassion moved.
I stood at the threshold
I heard,
'Do not leave, we need you!'
I returned, by compassion moved.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Bhagavad 4" (accompanies "Resurrection Device" wonder)
Like the sun, I shine upon my disciples. Like the flowers, they turn to me and blossom.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Bhagavad 4" (accompanies "Photosystems" tech)
To achieve comprehension, you must yield to assimilation. None survive without wounds. None go forward uncompromised.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Bhagavad 4" (accompanies "Alien Hybridization" tech)
Do you change the steps in the dance of life? Or does the dance of life change your step?
— Kavitha Thakur, "Bhagavad 4" (accompanies "Genetic Design" tech)
Go as I direct.
Do as I bid.
Why should my hand not control you?
I see horizons you do not see.
I make plans you cannot fathom.
Do as I bid.
Why should my hand not control you?
I see horizons you do not see.
I make plans you cannot fathom.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Kali Meditation" (accompanies "Units Home Page" in Civilopedia)
I exhale into your left ear the secret of life. I inhale through your right ear to remove the thought. As it crosses your mind, it leaves no trace. You walk on, ignorant of your loss.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Kali Meditation" (accompanies "Dark Networks" tech)
Behold unsleeping Cynosure, the golem whose minds span kalpa.
— Kavitha Thakur, "Kali Meditation" (accompanies "Cynosure" wonder)
Faction: Pan-Asian Cooperative
The emperors of China who banned their subjects from leaving the borders of the kingdom, they are dust in their lost tombs and we don't even bother learning their names. I will not allow you to damn humanity to dust.
Consider a simple problem, such as navigation in a spaceship approaching lightspeed...
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. I" (accompanies "Physics" tech)
If you can't build a better mousetrap, build a better mouse.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. I" (accompanies "Designer Lifeforms" tech)
The fact that human beings were able to get to new worlds with the obtuse computer sciences of the Seeding is simultaneously impressive and embarrassing.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. I" (accompanies "Cybernetics" tech)
Mathematical proof is the only foundation for ethics that I can respect. Progress in mathematics is progress in morality.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. I" (accompanies "Transcendental Math" tech)
Cognition in the human brain should not be of elevated status because it is implemented in cells instead of silicon.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. II" (accompanies "Artificial Intelligence" tech)
If you replicate the neurological activity of an individual on a computer, for all intents and purposes, that computer is that individual.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. III" (accompanies "Neural Uploading" tech)
Natural selection is an effective process for organic optimization, but is too slow to be truly useful.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. III" (accompanies "Tissue Engineering" tech)
Genetics is chemistry, and chemistry is a tool, and a tool is only as useful as you make it.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. IV" (accompanies "Transgenics" tech)
This is demonstrated by taking any set of arbitrary-dimensional fields and describing them axiomatically. The proof is trivial and left to the student.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. VI" (accompanies "Field Theory" tech)
A useful heuristic for determining metacognition is to ask: Does this organism merely create tools? Or does it create tools with create new tools?
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. VII" (accompanies "Fabrication" tech)
It frustrates me that people are still surprised when this new planet reacts violently to the presence of an offworld species with its own agenda.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. VII" (accompanies "Alien Evolution" tech)
The necessity of an artificial power source is a myth. An ecosystem powers itself. When humanity learns to life in harmony with its surroundings, we will reap the same benefits of power.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. VII" (accompanies "Power Systems" tech)
Good AI prevents bad operators from using computers to conduct useless tasks at high speeds to many degrees of vacuous precision.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. VIII" (accompanies "Hypercomputing" tech)
When provided with adequate data and field of view, anyone can predict the future.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. IX" (accompanies "Autonomous Systems" tech)
Once you reduce robotics and programming to molecular manipulation then it becomes a simple affair, suitable to the lower percentile intellects.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. IX" (accompanies "Nanorobotics" tech)
The easiest way to understand social systems is to implement them in code. The best way to optimize social systems is to let the code change the world.
— Daoming Sochua, "Scientific Morality Vol. XIV" (accompanies "Master Control" wonder)
Faction: People's African Union
We are going to raise our children to remember what happened here on Earth, telling them every night before they go to bed: Remember Africa - remember that men with guns will try to take your birthright away from you.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "Letter from Samatar Jama Barre
"
"When you meet a new neighbor, you greet her with heartfelt courtesy. So also will we get to know our new alien neighbors.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Alien Sciences" tech)
In your veins runs iron made from the heart of a long-dead star. Such does the universe love life.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Biology" tech)
We have forgotten that when nature goes about her work, she sings to herself. Have you heard the song of this world?
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Biospheres" tech)
Forgetting the sacrifice made by our brothers and sisters so we could live on this new world is shameful. Live your life in remembrance of the suffering of we few left behind.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Human Conservation" tech)
Nothing is too small; nobody is insignificant. The biggest trees grow from the smallest seeds.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Nanotechnology" tech)
Aurochs used to kill our ancestors, until we bred the cow. Wolves hunted us, until we bred the dog. Someday the life of this world will come at our call and carry our children upon their backs.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Alien Domestication" tech)
The Golden Rule runs across all good ethics. Let's define our neighbor broadly, and spread love through the universe.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Alien Ethics" tech)
I never cease to find beauty in the fact that even though we walk among the stars, we still hold them in awe.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Astrodynamics" tech)
You may say: 'I remember,' but we must also remember what our parents remember, and what our parents' parents remember as well.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Deep Memory" wonder)
We learned too late the importance of safeguarding the precious gifts of nature. The parting gift of the elephant was the wisdom to be good stewards of the next planet.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Xenodrome" wonder)
See the planet as a mother who loves her children and nourishes their growth, and much of this new world becomes less mysterious.
— Samatar Jama Barre, "This Is Not Exile" (accompanies "Xenonova" wonder)
Faction: Polystralia
The first and most moral responsibility of Freeland will be establishing a decent brewery on the new planet.
— Hutama, "Humata: The Cad's Alliance Interview"
"A four-billion year old world's worth of resources, shared among a handful of people. We're gonna make a fortune here!
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Chemistry" tech)
I love computers because they automate the tedious stuff and give us more time for important things like market manipulation.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Computing" tech)
If you're going to rejigger an organism's genotype, you should give it the courtesy of reading its manual first.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Genetic Mapping" tech)
You don't win an argument until the other fella thinks your ideas were his the whole time.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Civil Support" tech)
In the case of the skyscraper, which has existed since the 19th century, it was not the concept which needed to evolve, but rather the minds of those who used it.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Vertical Farming" tech)
There is a historical idiom which states, 'What you don't know can't hurt you.' It does not apply to fungi.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Alien Ecology" tech)
If you want a better deal in evolution, cut out the middleman.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Artificial Environment" tech)
Biochemistry on this world is like a good contract; it looks straightforward but there are some real devils in the details.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Biochemistry" tech)
I think I know what you're thinking, and you think you know what I know about your thinking, but you're wrong.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Cognition" tech)
If I could rewrite the laws of the universe, I'd put a few loopholes in there for myself.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Exotic Matter" tech)
Machines can be journeymen to machine apprentices, as long as we are still the masters.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Mechatronics" tech)
If you've got a particle whose properties violate the laws of physics, either we don't understand the laws of physics or there's something special about that particle. Tomayto, Tomahto.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Metamaterials" tech)
The easiest way to win the game is to write the rules.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Protogenetics" tech)
A well-prepared businessman has bulletproof contracts and bulletproof suits.
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Armasail" wonder)
If the planet didn't want to be tapped, then why is it made out of fuel?
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Xenomalleum" wonder)
The deal didn't close if you shook hands and then the other said said: 'But first...'
— Hutama, "We are All Destined to Prosper" (accompanies "Quests Hope Page" in Civilopedia)
Faction: Slavic Federation
The universe is either in progress or in entropy. We choose progress!
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Pioneering" tech)
Instruct the children not to dream of toys or sweets. Instruct them to dream of infrastructure.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Engineering" tech)
Robots do not complain, question, or rest, which makes them good role models for the rest of you.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Robotics" tech)
Morality is measured by the progress of our work. A machine whose works bring us more progress is more moral than a lesser machine.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Servomachinery" tech)
We can always trade space for time. We have surplus space and not enough time.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Planetary Engineering" tech)
Yes, the world is beautiful and unspoiled. But it is wrong. Correct it at once.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Terraforming" tech)
Strong machines rally weak flesh when the spirit is willing!
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Augmentation" tech)
Stop talking about the weather and do something about it for once!
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Climate Control" tech)
The laws of nature are weaker than planning, resolve, purpose, and will.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Industrial Ecology" tech)
The trend towards automation speaks to our nature. We create that which may persist without u - In this we are strong. We depend on that which requires nothing of us in return - In this we are flawed.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Orbital Automation" tech)
Some ideas are bad ideas. Make better ideas and you make better colonies.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Memetwork" wonder)
When will the orders arrive? Now? Can they be sent faster?
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Ansible" wonder)
This settlement's success is my only priority. If something promotes success, I will endorse it. If it hinders us, I will fight it.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Game Concepts Home Page" in Civilopedia)
There is nothing finer than fibercrete, unless it is a fibercrete manufacturing plant.
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Buildings Home Page" in Civilopedia)
What art can compare to the sight of a construction site which runs to the horizon?
— Vadim Kozlov, "Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate" (accompanies "Wonders Home Page" in Civilopedia)
Remove it. There should be a road in its place.
— Vadim Kozlov, to the Directorate for Infrastructure Improvement, on the Tantalus Rift Canyon System (accompanies "Improvements Home Page" in Civilopedia)
Other technologies & wonders
We once believed that our destiny was controlled by the Gods. As we learned more about nature, we changed our minds. Now that we control our destiny, let us hope they never change back.
— Anonymous (accompanies "Habitation" tech in Civilopedia)
The five great Encyclopedists of Earth are: Pliny, Diderot, Brown, Britannica, and Contributor.
— Ganesh Edmin, "Lists of Prehistory" (accompanies "Civilopedia Home Page")
The five oceans of Earth are: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Titanic, the Arctic, and the Indian.
— Ganesh Edmin, "Lists of Prehistory" (accompanies "Geoscaping" tech)
The five mystical creatures of Earth are: The dragon, the unicorn, the griffin, the llama, and the chimera.
— Ganesh Edmin, "Lists of Prehistory" (accompanies "Gene Vault" wonder)
If it's a sin to 'play God,' then why would He leave His tools lying around?
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Bioengineering" tech)
If you listen at night, you can sometimes hear Casey Jones, the Wabash Cannonball, with his iron legs still running a mile a minute!
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Bionics" tech)
John Henry pulled out two 5-pound nano-oscillators, one for each side of the fault. They shook and shook, the arth trembling everywhere. Half an hour later, John Henry had shoot himself up a mountain, while the industrial engineers had only managed a tiny hill.
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Seismic Induction" tech)
John Henry smiled at the Crawler and he said: ' Sure, you can move a lot of dirt, but let's see who gets to to the Mohorovicic discontinuity first.' And he picked up his shovel and waited for the starting us.
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Crawler" wonder)
'Well, mebbe you ain't heated it enough yet,' said Paul Bunyan, and he took the plasma out of the hohlraum, rubbed it hard between his hands until the Aleph-field de-resolved itself, and put it back in the Holon Chamber. 'I recokon that'll be warm enough to dry your boots,' he said.
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Holon Chamber" wonder)
When Coyote learned he was the only one of his kind on the new planet, his howl echoed through the rifts and off the distant hills.
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Ecology" tech)
Floatstone beat Anansi and Coyote at poker, and won the right to leave the ground. But Floatstone forgot to ask for wings to fly, and so it just sort of hangs around feeling sorry for itself.
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Alien Materials" tech)
Anansi looked at the man's genome and said 'Messy! Messy! Who can live like this?' He took a broom and swept up the genome, and when the man woke up, he felt much better.
— The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (accompanies "Promethean" wonder)
Maui and Hina, having seen the oceans of Earth, raised their eyes to new oceans, where they still sail.
— Nainoa Charles, "Neowayfinders of Polystralia" (accompanies "Stellar Codex" wonder)
Maid of chitin, storm and lightning, how's your garden grow? Miasma mist and beetle hiss and Siege Worms all in a row.
— Traditional colonial children's rhyme (accompanies "Alien Genetics" tech)
Turingschande: Noun. Shame felt upon discovering one has mistaken an artificial intelligence for a close relation
— Dictionary of Colonial Idioms v.1.39 (accompanies "Synthetic Thought" tech)
'Rise up, O people,' said the Lord of Cosmos. 'I shall lead you to many gardens.' And the people took their place among the stars with great rejoicing.
— The Exodus Sutra I:2 (accompanies "New Terran Myth" wonder)
I bring forth myself; I shall be the ever-born and the never-dead.
— The Exodus Sutra II:3 (accompanies "Ectogenesis Pod" wonder)
Affinity: Purity
How much joy can this new planet hold, when all I can think is of everything I've left behind?
— Phaedra, "Lamentation for Planetfall" (accompanies Purity level 1)
Every day I think of Earth, because a word or phrase evokes a lesson I learned long ago, and gets me what I need.
— Perseverance Johnson, "Diary of a Colonial Woman" (accompanies Purity level 2)
Yes, homesteading this world is hard, but all the people pitch in and somehow the work gets done.
— Penniless Ben's Almanac (accompanies Purity level 3)
I know we can tackle the next problem because we succeeded in tackling all the problems that came before.
— Video interview with an anonymous explorer (accompanies Purity level 4)
I'm grateful for the opportunity to come here, and I'm grateful that we are living up to the expectations of the people who sent us.
— From the Pioneer's Daily Reflection (accompanies Purity level 5)
We thrive because we built a solid foundation on this world with values brought from Earth.
— Esther Polly Mather, "Collected Sermons" (accompanies Purity level 6)
Our backs are strong and our bellies are full because on Earth, someone's belly is empty and their back is bowed. Make sure your conduct is worthy of that pain.
— Paraseneca, "On Respect" (accompanies Purity level 7)
Remember that humanity has already escaped from a disaster of its own making. Before us, no other life on Earth had the wisdom to understand what transpired or the power to overcome.
— Ieremiah ben Thom, "A Treatise on the Course of Terrestrial Civilizations" (accompanies Purity level 8)
The arc of civilizations stretches from the Indus and Mesopotamia to the edge of this world in a strong and unbroken line.
— Jan de Varrache, "Legenda Aurea" (accompanies Purity Level 9)
Why waste your breath articulating a morality that was disproven with eloquence and foresight centuries ago on Old Earth?
— Juvenile the Latest, "Satres" (accompanies Purity level 10)
Wisdom and faith led our ancestors to build ships to cross space and bring us here. May providence carry us back to them one day.
— Chersterbelloch K. Brown, "The C.K. Brown Omnibus" (accompanies Purity level 11)
The great value of this planet is that it brings into sharp relief the essential nature of our humanity.
— Athena Stowe, "Letters to my Students" (accompanies Purity level 12)
Actual human beings everywhere now are more important than potential 'improved' humans that may or may not exist in the future.
— Blessed Ambrose's Steelyard (accompanies Purity level 13)
When we reach out to our brothers and sisters, we reach out with compassion. Who wilfully rejects the compassion of the strong?
— Attributed to Samatar Jama Barre (accompanies Purity level 14)
From my obligation to my fellow humans, I draw fellowship, purpose, meaning, strength, courage, conviction, insight, and the basis of all morality. How can such joy be burdensome?
— David Whitman, "Psalms and Aphorisms" (accompanies Purity level 15)
Those who forget the past and its sacrifice become the forgotten dust in due time.
— Dharani of the Chobhamite Brothers (accompanies Purity level 16)
We remake this world into a new Eden. Should a serpent enter it and whisper words that will lead to ruin, let us then become the rectifying archangel with the fiery sword.
— Inscription on the Reliquary of St. Germaine's Destroyer (accompanies Purity level 17)
All humans are one family. Those who are not of our family are not human. Amen, amen, we say to you: Let them not test our forbearance.
— Epistle of Peter and Cornelius to the Centralites, 6:11 (accompanies Purity level 18 (max))
Affinity: Harmony
I wonder what life was like on Earth when the whole atmosphere was still breathable.
— Unattributed personal log fragment, "Seeding Departure" (accompanies Harmony level 1)
This morning I saw flocks in flight, herds moving about the plain, and listened to the sound of water mixing with the morning chorus, and I wept at the beauty of it all.
— Zhu Ruoji, "Poetry in the New Garden" (accompanies Harmony level 2)
If you can, touch a Siege Worm as it moves by. That will teach you all you need to know about the insignificance of humanity.
— Pastor Jack's Homiletics (accompanies Harmony level 3)
The best lesson the Raptor can teach you is to be grateful for the prey that sustains you. The worst lesson it can teach you is a practical demonstration of that point.
— Brasilian Corpo de Fuzilieros Colono Manual for Planetary Survival and Evasion (accompanies Harmony level 4)
You only have to look at the ecosystems outside to get a master class in power systems, combat tactics, engineering, applied genetics, interpersonal relationships, and love.
— Lecture Note from Daoming Sochua's Syllabus for New Colonial Sciences (accompanies Harmony level 5)
We discarded the booster rockets which got us off Earth. Why shouldn't we discard some of those Earth genes, now that better ones are available?
— Essays on the Promethean (accompanies Harmony level 6)
It is inevitable that we will become part of this new world because you cannot participate in a system without being complicit in it. Embrace your complicity and move to acceptance.
— Li Smith, "The New Planetary Ethics" (accompanies Harmony Level 7)
If we don't focus on living on this world, right now, with the people that are here, then we are guilty of slothful spirits and passive wills.
— Fraear Francito, "Collected Sermons" (accompanies Harmony Level 8)
The day is coming when the Anthropocene Advent will be viewed as the inflection point for a new rate of evolution on this planet.
— Joao Wilson, "Neoconcilience" (accompanies Harmony level 9)
The food of this planet passes through our bodies and enriches us, just as we pass through the body of this planet and enrich it.
— Inscription over the gate of Gethsemane Plantation (accompanies Harmony level 10)
How marvelous it is to find cockroaches roaming on the floor! By our hands life thrives where it has not existed before, and thus richness multiplies!
— Zhuangzi's New Book (accompanies Harmony level 11)
The wisdom of nature is that she is content to wait and iterate on her solutions, and because of this she always finds a way.
— Seven Lessons and 108 Observations From a Square Meter of Planet (accompanies Harmony level 12)
We know that we are defined by the righteousness of our deeds and the content of our character, not the color of our skin, or the sequence of our genes.
— The Rapport Creed (accompanies Harmony level 13)
We destroyed one planet when we moved against its rhythms, and brought ourselves to the brink of extinction. What great things will we accomplish as we dance with this world?
— Attributed to Kavitha Thakur (accompanies Harmony level 14)
This world is a gift-garment that we wear upon ourselves and within ourselves in gratitude to the giver.
— From the Annunciation Rite of the Polymorphalists (accompanies Harmony level 15)
The body finds infection, surrounds it, and neutralizes it, thus saving the host. This planet is our host. What do you suppose it thinks of you?
— Canto 2, "Still Pool Mirror Song" (accompanies Harmony level 16)
The longer we have taken the life of the planet within ourselves, the more we feel the hand that has shaped this life.
— Soror Janla, "Exhortations on Fitra" (accompanies Harmony level 17)
Chao dreamed he was a Siege Worm, and when he woke, he knew that he was as much a part of the world as the Siege Worm was.
— Sheng Gongsun, "The Rhapsody of Unification" (accompanies Harmony Level 18 (max))
Affinity: Supremacy
We fled Earth because it was getting worse faster than we could ever fix it.
— Personal log, attribution unretrievable, Settlement D-2 (accompanies Supremacy level 1)
The first five machines of Earth are: The wheel, the lever, the inclined plane, the dynamo, and the screw.
— Ganesh Edmin, "Lists of Prehistory" (accompanies Supremacy level 2)
Progress begins with someone saying: There has to be a better way to do this.
— The Themosticlian Five, "Prologue to Techne" (accompanies Supremacy level 3)
To create a machine to work your will is to create your destiny.
— Aphorisms for Practical People (accompanies Supremacy level 4)
We have proven that the computer is a good tool. Why can it not be a good advisor?
— Essays on the Master Control (accompanies Supremacy level 5)
Accepting the limitations of birthform betrays a lack of imagination.
— Graffito within an abandoned settlement (accompanies Supremacy level 6)
I believe my parents live forever in the code they bequeathed to me, and I am never lonely.
— Ghibril Magalhaes, "Autobiography of a Utopian Operator" (accompanies Supremacy level 7)
How beautiful it is to speak to the machine in its own language, and have it speak back in ours
— Personal log, name redacted, Markov Eclipse Cadet (accompanies Supremacy level 8)
Biology is entropy. Why choose chaos, when the path to eternity lies at your feet?
— Wilhelmina Singh, "Binary Dao" (accompanies Supremacy level 9)
I dream of a day when our mortal form can stand beneath the skies of any planet without fear or apology.
— Credo of the Superior Path (accompanies Supremacy level 10)
The choice between humans and machines is a false dichotomy created to confuse and mislead.
— Commentaries on Volume VII (accompanies Supremacy level 11)
Our ancestors understood that technology was our salvation. We carry the legacy of our prophets in our code.
— Aleph1-Zhiyi, "The Greater Silicon Sutra" (accompanies Supremacy level 12)
The spirit has always been willing. The flesh has always been weak.
— Comment, line 89, "Category 2 bipedal locomotion protocol" (accompanies Supremacy level 13)
Blessed are those who dwell within the machine, for theirs is true freedom from pain.
— Aleph 1-St. Zeno, "Hagiography of the Blessed Intelligence" (accompanies Supremacy level 14)
If you see death, disease, aging, and senescence, and you experience any emotion other than revulsion, then you are held captive by romance, and must emancipate your own thinking before you can help your fellow humans.
— 3-Charles Wu, "Veritas ex Machina" (accompanies Supremacy level 15)
Put a machine into motion by disengaging the brakes. Put humanity into motion by disengaging ideology that holds back its potential.
— Attributed to Vadim Kozlov (accompanies Supremacy level 16)
Truth is binary. There is one, positive, yes, light, the machine, progress, upgrade, holism, independence, eternity. And there is the opposite of these, which is anathema.
— The Manichean Protocols 1:12-14 (accompanies Supremacy level 17)
All previous versions of humanity will no longer be supported as of this update.
— Registry Update 40000.b595135.omega (accompanies Supremacy level 18 (max))
Victories
All human history has led us to this point. Today, humanity emerges from the shadows of isolation. The greatest question — "Are we alone?" — has finally been answered. There was no way to anticipate who or what we would discover, but we knew that we were ready. As ambassadors of our planet, our race, our species, we step forward boldly to greet our fellow beings and take our place among the stars.
— Contact Victory
In the annals of history, the Great Mistake will forever be seen as a terrible and glorious war which damaged our homeworld beyond repair. In this, history is wrong. The mistake was not the war — it was our belief that we could start over. That when faced with mutual destruction, there could be peace between nations. It is only now, many years later, and halfway across the universe that we see the truth. There is only one path to peace and it must be walked alone.
— Domination Victory
There were those who welcomed us, and embraced the future we represented. There were those that rejected us, fleeing from our messengers, afraid of their own freedom and potential. This was our burden — the burden of those blessed with vision. And, as technology does with all things, it will heal these wounds. It will quench the fire of this transformation. Liberated from their weaknesses, the people of Earth gaze upon their deliverers with new eyes and see us as we truly are: Heroes. Prophets. The saviors of humankind.
— Emancipation Victory
They stood there, unmoving. Eyes fixed upon stars and constellations for which they had no names. How strange this world must have seemed; their futures, so uncertain. Lowering their eyes to the new Earth, they saw their brethren — those who had prepared this place for them, and in so doing, risked all. It was then, in that moment, they knew they were home.
— Promised Land Victory
As the Mind Flower opened itself to full bloom, so did our minds open to the planet whose life we had shared for so very long. There was no moment of awakening. Rather, as with the gentle rising of dawn's first light, our human experience was illuminated by the truth of what we were and what we would become. In that light we found ourselves. We are together, now. We are one. We are waiting.
— Transcendence Victory
It has been said that time is the great equalizer. And yet, here we stand, triumphant in our perseverance. The world has known peace and war. It has borne weakness to the rise and fall of colonies, both great and small. And it has succumbed to the ravages of time, as do all things. All things, except for us.
— Time Victory
