…both the blade and handle will change length to make this weapon the equal of a long knife, swords of various sizes, or a 3 m (10 ft) pole arm, all the while remaining nearly weightless and perfectly balanced…

…Even those depicted in the artworks of other species have all been replaced by blank spaces on canvases, gaps in bas-reliefs, and empty lines in songs. Just about everyone on Haven is certain the Rakshasas went extinct during the same magical catastrophe that gave rise to the White Waste.

A warrior who attains vita ngoma ya akili (battle dance mind) is aware of the flow of an entire battle at the same time she notices one minute flaw in an opponent’s defenses, and can anticipate attacks split seconds before they hit.

Proposed as long ago as 1994 CE by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, this faster-than-light space drive did not become a reality until one was finally forged from dark matter itself … When activated, it wraps the ship in a bubble of space-time that experiences no acceleration, while outside the bubble it warps space in a wave, contracting it ahead of the ship while expanding the space behind it…