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Model Snow Plough in Action (against real snow) |
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*Agora; The public open space that
formed the heart of ancient Greek cities and it's the origin of
most western conceptions of public, or civil, space as center of
for social interaction for ceremony and democratic life on a
pedestrian scale. |
Kurt Bremen, the leader of the knights, scanned the warriors on the battlements seeing several had trained bows on them, and his frown deepened. ‘All I am hoping,’ replied Bremen in his clipped Altdorf accent, ‘is that none of the soldiers up there have loose bow fingers. How you permit the lower orders to address you is none of my concern. My only priority, Ambassador von Velten, is to see you safely to your post.’ Kaspar nodded, ignoring Bremen’s oblique disdain for his current task, and followed his stare. ‘You don’t think highly of the Kislev soldiery, Kurt? I commanded many of them in battle. They are wild, it’s true, but they are men of courage and honour. The winged lancers are the equal of any Empire knightly order...’
What you must know !
CONTROL SYSTEMS ! The actual appearance of equipment is as variable as the populatons of the different planets. With over a million worlds in the Imperium, local tastes and materials will inevitable produce a riot of different forms. Some worlds favour an archaic pattern of instrumentation, believing that the arrangements of buttons and levers form part of a runic pattern itself important to proper functioning. Other worlds prefer to mimic the higher technical achievenents of their ancestors, utilising the more advanced (although no more effective) pure crystal or holographic control systems. When it comes down to it, all are forms of pushing a button, and are equally effective. Only if characters encounter a system radically different from one they are used to will problems arise. Archaic controls are basically buttons, levers, switches and dials set into a panel and monitored by video, digital or dial display. This is the sort of thing anyone from the Twentieth Century could easily understand and use. Pure Crystal Technology and stacked atomic chains have no visible components - control panels often take the form of either black slabs of material or transparent sheets like glass. Held by suspensors, an inactive control panel could appear as a floating pane of glass or slab of stone - the same panel could be recessed into fioor or ceilin and might float into position by vocal command, radio-signal, pressure sensors, presence detectors, etc. A panel is activated by coded radio-signal, voice or simply by touch. An active panel displays information visually like a vid-screen. Its equivalent of buttons are differently coloured lights which are touch or heat sensitive. Holographic Projection envelops the user in holographic images somewhat a three-dimensional wrap-round vid-screen. Activation is usually by presence, or by any of the methods used for crystal technology - so the operator simply sits in a control seat to activate the 'panel'. The projection can be manipulated to provide monitoring or control functions. Projectors sense the movement of the user's eyes and limbs and translate these into instructions - the user only has to press imaginary buttons! This is the most specialised type of tactile panel, being almost impossible for the uninitiated to use. The slightest gesture will change the entire set-up, and unique arm/hand/finger and eye movements form the basis of the operating procedure. Mind Impulse dispenses with any sort of panel or control gear, allowing the user to control and monitor a system by thought alone. These system are technically complex and producing them is difficult. Consequently they are rare. Their most common appiication is in Dreadnought suits: some spacecraft employ mind impulse links but this is not usual. Such devices require considerable training to use at all, and a great deal of practice if they are to be used efficiently. The physical component is a headring which picks up and amplifies the wearer's instructions. A cruder, but equally effective, version is the spinal tap. This is engineered into the wearer's spinal cortex and works in the same way as the headring but is difficult to remove without causing physical or mental damage.