Technology in the Era of the Nine Houses

"Faster-than-light travel turned out to be a snare—the way it was originally cracked, anyway. The first method destroyed something to do with time and distance, rendering it unusable for any good purpose…”

A compendium of some of the technologies encountered in The Locked Tomb series.

History

At the time of the fall of humanity on pre-Resurrection Earth, technology had already advanced significantly beyond what is possible in today's world. Space travel was already common enough that installations had been built on or around many of the planets in the Solar System. Indeed, some of the installations that went on to become the Nine Houses were already built, or were in the process of being built, when John Gaius enacted his vengeance on humanity. One notable pre-Resurrection invention, the creation of "faster-than-light" (FTL) ships, allowed a small section of the population to escape from John's wrath as he destroyed all life in the Solar System.

Much of the current (Y10000) technology is based, in whole or in part, on the technologies developed in pre-Resurrection times.

Technology

Flimsy

“She withdrew a piece of flimsy—less impressive than the envelope, but who barring the Emperor would use real paper for a letter?”

Flimsy is a paper substitute, and has all but replaced paper in the Nine Houses, except in rare circumstances. Flimsy is used in any situation that paper would be, from letters all the way up to flimsy facemasks. It can come in multiple colors, from standard white to brown. Real paper is only used in times of pomp or importance, such as the invitation of the Nine Houses to attend the Lyctorhood trials.

Some heirs of the Houses seem to have limited access to paper, as demonstrated by Magnus and Abigail’s use of paper envelopes for invitations to their anniversary dinner and by Harrow’s use of paper for Gideon’s Cohort commission (though Gideon notes that Harrow “must have raided the coffers” for it).

In the Sixth House, there are rare situations where real paper artifacts are discovered when conducting archaeological investigations in older parts of the Library. These real paper artifacts are held in such regard that there are emergency procedures that go into effect the moment paper is discovered, in order to stabilize it and prevent any decay from exposure to the atmosphere.

Outside of the Nine Houses, organic materials from thalergenic planets are more readily available and paper is still widely used. However, some House citizens—including Judith, Camilla, and Crown—take issue with the foreign texture of paper and prefer the more familiar texture of flimsy.

Plexiform

Plexiform, or "plex" as it's more commonly called, is one of the most ubiquitous materials found in the Empire. Often found in locations requiring a strong transparent or non-metallic material, plex appears to share the combined characteristics of glass and plastic. Plex is strong enough to be the primary material used in space-facing windows. Examples of the uses of plex:

• Windows in spacecraft and space stations
• Common objects, such as paper sleeves or ballpoint pens
• Styluses for tablets, such as the ones habitually used by the Emperor
• Architectural applications, such as struts or decorative elements
• Scientific equipment, such as pipettes
• As electrical insulation on wires
• Screens on electronic equipment

Sonic

The sonic cleaner, or simply "sonic", is a replacement technology for showers and baths. Due to the implied water restrictions found in many of the Houses (such as those based in space), the sonic appears to be the primary tool of hygiene in the Nine Houses. Sonic functions grammatically in the same way shower does, so one would choose to "take a sonic" in the same way you would "take a shower". A clean with a sonic is seemingly much faster and more efficient than a shower.

Space Travel

Space travel in the era of the Nine Houses is often portrayed as routine, sensible, and ultimately rather nondescript. The exceptions to this come from the integration of necromancy into some parts of the space travel process, such as navigation by stele and obelisk. Beyond the minor inclusion of necromancy, space-faring ships mostly adhere to common science fiction tropes.

Ships

Spaceships in the Nine Houses vary greatly in size and class, but operate in a similar fashion. They have fuel burning thrusters for both propulsion and maneuvering. Fuel comes in the form of fuel cells that can be made up of different blends. The standard fuel cell is a hydrogen blend, but some ships, such as the Ziz-class shuttle, require more powerful thalergy enriched cells. Artificial-gravity technology is standard on most ships, down to the smallest shuttle classes. Some ships, such as the shuttles that bring Harrowhark Nonagesimus and Gideon Nav to Canaan House, can be piloted remotely, albeit at great expense.

Examples of ship classes in the Nine Houses:

• Behemoth-class: Possibly the largest class of vessel in the Nine Houses fleet; a Behemoth has a crew complement of around 700 people. The Emperor's flagship, the Erebos, is the only known example.
• Gorgon-class: A class of light Cohort craft that is still large enough to carry a stele. The Gorgon-class is old by current Cohort standards, but this did not prevent Blood of Eden from obtaining a working Gorgon-class ship and attempting to use the stele onboard, with information obtained from Judith Deuteros.
• Ziz-class: A smaller shuttle-type craft designed to fit only a few passengers. This class of shuttle is too small for a stele, but it can reach subluminary speeds. Requires the more powerful thalergy-enriched fuel cells. Described as a non-Cohort class shuttle, this may imply that is a more luxurious and comfortable ship than those used by the military.

Methods of space travel

• "Rapid Travel" or faster than light travel is implied to be possible by most Nine House craft. The small shuttle that traveled from the Ninth House to the First took about an hour to do so. Assuming that the Ninth House is one of the furthest planets from the sun, this would translate to a speed of up to roughly five billion kilometers per hour.
• "Subluminary", or slower than light speed travel, is described to be a slower than standard speed for spacecraft. The Emperor directs Admiral Sarpedon to fly the Erebos at subluminary speeds in conjunction with the phrase "no hurry". Subluminary likely applies to a large range of speeds, rather than a specific speed.
• "Stelitic Travel" relies on necromancy to guide and transmit a craft through space. Ships large enough to carry a stele can use them to "hook" onto an obelisk stationed at some desired destination. Steles, which are eight feet tall and carved with dead languages, must be first charged on thanergenic planets before being used. During their use, they must be bathed in thanergy-rich oxygenated blood by necromancers. Steles also contain a number of bone cylinders with residual thanergy, to help with deep-space transitions. It is unknown how the speed of stelitic travel compares to other methods of space travel.
  • Obelisks have a limited capacity, so heavier ships have to compensate by using multiple obelisks. When the Sixth House moves their entire installation out of the Dominican system, they use 532 obelisks to do so.
• Travel through the River: See River Travel

Space Elevators

Space elevators, such as the one seen on New Rho, allow bulk cargo transfer between the ground, or geostation, and an orbital station. Cargo launcher shuttles use large hooks on the top of the craft to attach onto the space elevator, where they are then able to launch directly into orbit. This technology is actually pre-Resurrection, as space elevators were used to transport people and items between the ground and the orbital launch platforms of the FTL ships that escaped Earth.

Weaponry

There does not appear to have been many advances in weapon technology in the ten thousand years since the Resurrection. The primary opposing factions in the Empire, the Nine Houses and Blood of Eden, both use very different types of weaponry:

Nine Houses

The ground based forces of the Cohort exclusively use bladed melee weapons, with cavaliers carrying various offhanded weapons. Examples include:

• Two-Handed Sword: The two-handed sword, or Zweihander, is the one of the standard issue weapons of frontline Cohort troops. Gideon Nav famously prefers the two-hander.
• The Rapier: Primarily carried by cavaliers of the Nine Houses, this thin and light one-handed sword is preferred in necromancer/cavalier pairings due the ease of use by the Lyctoral necromancer when the soul of the cavalier takes control of their body. The rapier is always accompanied by an offhand weapon, when carried by a cavalier.
• Dagger (offhand): A simple parrying dagger, carried in the offhand (or "main-gauche") of a rapier wielder. Naberius Tern uses a variant of the parrying dagger called a "triple dagger", which excels at capturing and controlling the main weapon of an opponent.
• Buckler (offhand): The small shield, or "buckler", is an offhand weapon suited for defensive styles of sword combat. The buckler was carried by Colum Asht and Ortus Nigenad, before his training was interrupted by the death of his father Mortus.
• Knuckle knives (offhand): Considered a "brawler's weapon", the knuckle knives are rarely used by cavaliers. Gideon Nav's set of knuckle knives were leather and steel, with three obsidian blades protruding at the knuckles.
• Chain (offhand): A length of chain with a weighted end, used both offensively and to capture an opponent's weapons. Wielders of the offhand chain include Samael Novenary and Protesilaus Ebdoma.
• Net (offhand): A weighted net, carried wrapped around the offhand. Mercymorn the First uses the net in a manner similar to bolas or a lasso, capturing the limbs of an opponent and dragging them towards her.
• Dual blades: A pair of double-edged short swords, wielded simultaneously. Preferred by Camilla Hect. Camilla did learn and use the rapier while at Canaan House, but stated that she would be using her dual blades in a serious combat situation.
• Spear: Primarily used to attack an opponent from a distance, a spear consists of a long shaft with a pointed head. Because of its length, the spear is an uncommon choice for an offhand weapon but is favored by Gideon the First.

In situations requiring long range or widespread destruction, Cohort spaceships are capable of some manner of orbital bombardment. The exact destructive nature of these orbital strikes is unknown.

Blood of Eden

I killed them with guns, and bombs, and knives, and gas, and when I didn’t have any of those I just got in real close and put my thumbs through their fucking eyes.

Blood of Eden forces are the polar opposite of the Nine Houses when it comes to weapon technology. They will happily use any and all types of modern weaponry in their fight against necromancers. It is notable that the firearms used by Blood of Eden forces and others throughout the Empire are functionally identical to what we know today. Firearms use gunpowder-based bullets, and come in familiar configurations such as carbine rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, and pistols. There are no examples of "futuristic" styles of weaponry common in science fiction, such as energy based weapons.

Explosive weapons are also common and come in the form of explosive charges, munitions launchers, and even missiles. In extremely rare cases, Blood of Eden forces have used nuclear missiles to destroy Cohort warships.

After learning of the Resurrection Beasts (RB) from her Lyctoral source (likely Pyrrha Dve or Gideon the First), Commander Wake launches a mission to seek out a RB. Though Blood of Eden loses several ships in the process, they manage to isolate and kill a Herald. Capitalizing on the Herald’s ability to induce insanity in necromancers, Blood of Eden uses its corpse to create weapons of all kinds: knives, axes, armour, bullets, darts, etc. Though these enhanced weapons might not kill a Lyctor—Augustine survives being shot between the eyes with a Herald bullet—they can slow a Lyctor’s healing abilities and temporarily incapacitate them by causing a spasmodic fit.

Trivia

• While many of the weapons used by cavaliers are based off of real-world examples, Gideon's famous knuckle knives are a fabrication of author Tamsyn Muir.
• In the short story As Yet Unsent Judith Deuteros, Camilla Hect, and Coronabeth Tridentarius all admit to hating the texture of real paper, preferring to use flimsy. Author Tamsyn Muir has stated that, much like her characters, she "can’t bear the touch of paper." This dislike of paper forced her to give up a job as a library assistant.