“ A certain culture has a curious pass-time- muscle art.
Muscle artists (who are called by a special name) work hard to sculpt their bodies, trying to become as muscular and buff as possible. The best among muscle artists look almost grotesque in their amazing muscularity, Atlas-like giants with shiny, oiled iron arms and legs.”
“ Daedalus Station is a 550-meter long space hulk drifting in trans-Uranian space, reduced to a derelict by the catastrophic failure of its dimensional reactor. The failure of the short-lived Paradigm VI reactor created a stable dimensional bore, a three-meter wide disc in the engineering section.
What is on the other side of the rift?
Why is the rift anchored to the ship instead of a point in space?”
“ 'It is said that among those people they have a loathsome custom- that they keep a spotted dog always waiting beside the gate of the yard where they bury the dead, and that in every funeral they allow this spotted dog to feast upon the dead, so that it grows fat and wise with the knowledge of the dead... Many necromancers do seek out these spotted dogs, and ask of them sciomantic knowledge, or take them as familiars.' -Author unknown, 'The Ways of the Necromancers'”