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The 1000s consist of the following years:
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
Centuries:
10th century
11th century
12th century
Decades:
970s
980s
990s
1000s
1010s
1020s
1030s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1003.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists the 100 newest pages. To see the most recent changes, go here.
The 1010s consist of the following years:
1010
1011
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
Centuries:
10th Century
11th Century
12th Century
Decades:
980s
990s
1000s
1010s
1020s
1030s
1040s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1018.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1020.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1020s consist of the following years:
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
Centuries:
10th Century
11th Century
12th...
The 1030s consist of the following years:
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
Centuries:
10th century
11th century
12th...
Summary
July 9, 2008: A new form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has appeared among Americans, creating lots of tiny holes in their brains and gradually causing them to loose their ability to think,...
The 10th Century consists of the following decades:
900s
920s
930s
940s
950s
960s
970s
980s
990s
Centuries:
9th Century
10th Century
11th Century
The 1120s consist of the following years:
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
Centuries:
11th Century
12th Century
13th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1129.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1180s consist of the following years:
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
Centuries:
11th Century
12th Century
13th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1187.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 11th century consists of the following decades:
1000s
1010s
1020s
1030s
1040s
1050s
1060s
1070s
1080s
1090s
Centuries:
10th century
11th century
12th century
"What I tell you three times is true."
—- The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
Basic Information
The human mind is wired to find patterns. One of the ways this manifests can be summed up...
The 1270s consist of the following years:
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
Centuries:
12th century
13th century
14th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1275.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year .
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
The 12th Century consists of the following decades:
1100s
1110s
1120s
1130s
1140s
1150s
1160s
1170s
1180s
1190s
Centuries:
11th Century
12th Century
13th Century
The 1300s consist of the following years:
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
Centuries:
13th Century
14th Century
15th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1307.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Summary
September 22, 2009: The article describes 13 animals (complete with pictures) which are especially gruesome or creepy to look at.
Lurking in the Water:
Abyssal Sea Cucumber
Barreleye
Deep...
The 13th century consists of the following decades:
1200s
1210s
1220s
1230s
1240s
1250s
1260s
1270s
1280s
1290s
Centuries:
12th century
13th century
14th century
The 14th Century consists of the following decades:
1300s
1310s
1320s
1330s
1340s
1350s
1360s
1370s
1380s
1390s
Centuries:
13th Century
14th Century
15th Century
Summary
June 12, 2009: A boy in Essen, Germany has been hit by a meteorite and survived - a Million To One Chance, according to scientists. The meteorite left a scar in his hand and then caused a...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1520.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1520s consist of the following years:
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
Centuries:
15th century
16th century
17th...
The 1530s consist of the following years:
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
Centuries:
15th Century
16th Century
17th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1537
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1630s consists of the following years:
1630
1631
1632
1633
1634
1635
1636
1637
1638
1639
Centuries:
16th century
17th century
18th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1631.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 16th century consists of the following decades:
1500s
1510s
1520s
1530s
1540s
1550s
1560s
1570s
1580s
1590s
Centuries:
15th century
16th century
17th century
The 1700s consist of the following years:
1700
1701
1702
1703
1704
1705
1706
1707
1708
1709
Centuries:
17th Century
18th Century
19th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1710.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1710s consist of the following years:
1710
1711
1712
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
Centuries:
17th Century
18th Century
19th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1719.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1720s consist of the following years:
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
Centuries:
17th Century
18th Century
19th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1726.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1727.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1760s consists of the following years:
1760
1761
1762
1763
1764
1765
1766
1767
1768
1769
Centuries:
17th century
18th century
19th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1764.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1765.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 17th century consists of the following decades:
1600s
1610s
1620s
1630s
1640s
1650s
1660s
1670s
1680s
1690s
Centuries:
16th century
17th century
18th century
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1800.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1800s consist of the following years:
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
Centuries:
18th Century
19th Century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1809.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1810.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1810s consist of the following years:
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1811.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1818.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1819.
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th...
The 1820s consist of the following years:
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
Centuries:
18th Century
19th Century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1823.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1830s consist of the following years:
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
Centuries:
18th Century
19th Century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1832.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1836.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1837.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1839.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1840.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1840s consist of the following years:
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1841.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1842.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1844.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1850.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1850s consist of the following years:
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
Centuries:
18th Century
19th Century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1854.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1856.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1859.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1860s consist of the following years:
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1861.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1865.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1866.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1867.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1869.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1870.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1870s consist of the following years:
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1871.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1874.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1876.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1877.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1878.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1879.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1880.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1880s consist of the following years:
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1881.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1882.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1883.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Basic Information
The 1883 "No Cents" Liberty Head nickel is a genuine US coin, but the term also refers to an old confidence game developed by con artists that electroplated Liberty Head nickels,...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1884.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1885.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1887.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1888.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year .
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
The 1890s consist of the following years:
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1891.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1893.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1896.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1897.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1898.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 18th century consists of the following decades:
1700s
1710s
1720s
1730s
1740s
1750s
1760s
1770s
1780s
1790s
Centuries:
17th century
18th century
19th century
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1900.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1900s consist of the following years:
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1901.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1905.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1907.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1908.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1910.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1910s consist of the following years:
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1911.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1914.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1915.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1918.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1919.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1920s consist of the following years:
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1922.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1923.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1929.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1930s consist of the following years:
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1931.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1932.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1933.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1938.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1939.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1940.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1940s consist of the following years:
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1941.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1943.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1945.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1947.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1948.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1950.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1950s consist of the following years:
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1952.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1955.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1957.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1958.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1959.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1960s consist of the following years:
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1961.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1962.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1963.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1967.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1969.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1970s consist of the following years:
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1971.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1972.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1973.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1977.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1979.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1980.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1980s consist of the following years:
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1981.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1982.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1983.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1984.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year .
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1988.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 1990s consist of the following years:
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1991.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1992.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1993.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1994.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1995.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1997.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1999.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 19th century consists of the following decades:
1800s
1810s
1820s
1830s
1840s
1850s
1860s
1870s
1880s
1890s
Centuries:
18th century
19th century
20th century
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2000.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 2000s consist of the following years:
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Centuries:
20th century
21st century
22nd...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2001.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2002.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2003.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2004
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2005.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2006.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2007.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2008.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Summary
February 9, 2008: Two Russian mathematicians speculate that the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland could produce miniature wormholes, thus making time travel possible.
See...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2009.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2010.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 2010s consist of the following years:
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Centuries:
20th century
21st century
22nd...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2012.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 2014.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Summary
May 7, 2009: The article takes a report by National Geographic that a certain species of wolf spider in Greenland currently seems to grow by 10% in size per year (possibly as a result of...
The 20th century consists of the following decades:
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
Centuries:
19th century
20th century
21st century
The 21st century consists of the following decades:
2000s
2010s
2020s
2030s
2040s
2050s
2060s
2070s
2080s
2090s
Centuries:
20th century
21st century
22nd century
The 300s consist of the following years:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
Centuries:
3rd century
4th century
5th century
Decades:
270s
280s
290s
300s
310s
320s
330s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 301.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 340s consist of the following years:
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
Centuries:
3rd Century
4th Century
5th Century
Decades:
310s
320s
330s
340s
350s
360s
370s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 346.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Basic Information
3753 Cruithne is an asteroid that is a quasi-satellite of Earth, having a horseshoe orbit in regards to Earth. That means it's a big rock that orbits the sun in about the same...
The 3950s BC consist of the following years:
3959 BC
3958 BC
3957 BC
3956 BC
3955 BC
3954 BC
3953 BC
3952 BC
3951 BC
3950 BC
Centuries:
41st Century BC
40th Century BC
39th Century...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 3952 BC.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Basic Information
3D Printing is the technology of creating three dimensional objects through applying multiple layers of material through a printer array.
See Also
News: 'Organ Printing' Could...
The 4000s BC consist of the following years:
4009 BC
4008BC
4007 BC
4006 BC
4005 BC
4004 BC
4003 BC
4002 BC
4001 BC
4000 BC
Centuries:
42nd Century BC
41st Century BC
40th Century...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 4004 BC.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 40th Century BC consists of the following decades:
3990s BC
3980s BC
3970s BC
3960s BC
3950s BC
3940s BC
3930s BC
3920s BC
3910s BC
3900s BC
Centuries:
41st Century BC
40th Century BC
39th...
The 41st Century BC consists of the following decades:
4090s BC
4080s BC
4070s BC
4060s BC
4050s BC
4040s BC
4030s BC
4020s BC
4010s BC
4000s BC
Centuries:
42nd Century BC
41st Century BC
40th...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 490 BC.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 490s BC consist of the following years:
499 BC
498 BC
497 BC
496 BC
495 BC
494 BC
493 BC
492 BC
491 BC
490 BC
Centuries:
6th Century BC
5th Century BC
4th Century BC
Decades:
520s BC
510s...
The 4th century consists of the following decades:
300s
310s
320s
330s
340s
350s
360s
370s
380s
390s
Centuries:
3rd century
4th century
5th century
The 520s BC consist of the following years:
529 BC
528 BC
527 BC
526 BC
525 BC
524 BC
523 BC
522 BC
521 BC
520 BC
Centuries:
7th Centruy BC
6th Century BC
5th Century BC
Decades:
550s BC
540s...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 525 BC.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Summary
April 13, 2009: A 5cm fir tree has been found growing in the lung of a man who was coughing blood. It was surgically removed.
See Also
Nightmare Fuel
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Summary
September 15, 2009: The article details 5 popular tactics in the event of a zombie outbreak - and why they are a bad idea:
Raiding the gun store: Everyone will have the same idea, making...
The 5th century consists of the following decades:
400s
410s
420s
430s
440s
450s
460s
470s
480s
490s
Centuries:
4th century
5th century
6th century
The 5th Century BC consists of the following decades:
490s BC
480s BC
470s BC
460s BC
450s BC
440s BC
430s BC
420s BC
410s BC
400s BC
Centuries:
6th Century BC
5th Century BC
4th Century BC
The 670s consist of the following years:
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
Centuries:
6th Century
7th Century
8th Century
Decades:
640s
650s
660s
670s
680s
690s
700s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 673.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 6th Century BC consists of the following decades:
590s BC
580s BC
570s BC
560s BC
550s BC
540s BC
530s BC
520s BC
510s BC
500s BC
Centuries:
7th Century
6th Century
5th Century
The 700s consist of the following years:
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
Centuries:
7th Century
8th Century
9th Century
Decades:
670s
680s
690s
700s
710s
720s
730s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 702.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 730s consist of the following years:
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
Centuries:
7th Century
8th Century
9th Century
Decades:
700s
710s
720s
730s
740s
750s
760s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 735.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 770s consist of the following years:
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
Centuries:
7th century
8th century
9th century
Decades:
740s
750s
760s
770s
780s
790s
800s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 779.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Summary
April 10, 2009: In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States government sponsored Project Plowshare, which investigated possible civilian uses of nuclear weapons. Among the possible uses...
The 7th Century consists of the following decades:
600s
610s
620s
630s
640s
650s
660s
670s
680s
690s
Centuries:
6th Century
7th Century
8th Century
The 850s consist of the following years:
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
Centuries:
8th century
9th century
10th century
Decades:
820s
830s
840s
850s
860s
870s
880s
This page lists news articles and events for the year 853.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for the year 855.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
The 8th century consists of the following decades:
700s
710s
720s
730s
740s
750s
760s
770s
780s
790s
Centuries:
7th century
8th century
9th century
Summary
May 3, 2008: A volcano in Chile that had remained dormant for 9,000 years erupted unexpectedly and during a stunning lightning storm.[2] Many photos were taken and they are breath-taking....
Basic Information
99942 Apophis (also known as 2004 MN4) is a near-Earth Asteroid that may crash into the Earth in 2029, 2036 or 2037. Since it's about 350 meters (1,100 ft) long, it would be...
The 9th century consists of the following decades:
800s
810s
820s
830s
840s
850s
860s
870s
880s
890s
Centuries:
7th century
8th century
9th century
Basic Information
Aachen is the westernmost city of Germany. It was founded by the Romans when they discovered some local hot springs. It was the seat of Emperor Charlemagne. During World War II,...
Summary
November 15, 2007: Unnamed people entered a laboratory in Moscow where the Soviet Armed Forces conducted experiments on human and animal brains and took photos of the abandoned...
Basic Information
Above The Ruins is an Action Adventure Trope.
After a climatic fight or disaster, the protagonists escape to higher ground where they can have a good look at the ruins and...
Basic Information
Abraham features in the Book of Genesis. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Abraham symbolizes the man chosen by God to safeguard the holy...
Basic Information
The Absent-Minded Professor is a Stock Character of a brilliant scientist or professor who's terribly unorganized and forgetful. They're also frequently a poor judge of character...
Basic Information
Absurdity Ascendant represents tropes about nonsense, the bizarre, and surrealism.
List of Absurdity Ascendant Tropes
Are You Pondering What Im Pondering
Beyond The...
Basic Information
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, compromising 86% of its land. It has the second highest population in the UAW after...
Basic Information
Abusive Precursors are the ancient evil from The Dark Times. They are like Neglectful Precursors, except they meant to create the mess they left behind. This can range from...
Basic Information
Acacia are plants which grow as either shrubs ortrees. Most of the known species exist in Australia, with other species existing in warm-temperate to tropical regions of Africa,...
Basic Information
An accent is a distinct way of pronouncing a particular language, usually because the speaker grew up with a different language.
See Also
Accent Tropes
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Related to Language Tropes, these are tropes that deal with the way in which characters from a certain region and their actors pronounce words, and the character traits these...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
An Accretion Disk is a disc-shaped cloud of gases, debris, etc that is spiraling in towards a central stellar body. Typically this central unit is a young star, a protostar, a...
Basic Information
Historically, an Ace Pilot is a fighter pilot who has shot down 5 or more enemy aircraft.
Sometimes the term is used more casually to mean any hotshot pilot, be they military or...
Basic Information
The ACM-R5 is a snake-like robot that can move similar to snakes - both on the ground and underwater.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Amphibious snake-like robot "ACM-R5" - company...
Basic Information
Action Adventure Tropes are tropes used for exciting action sequences, or primarily only found in stories about adventure.
List of Action Adventure Tropes
Above The...
Basic Information
She's beautiful, she's sexy and she can clean your clock. She's the Action Girl. Perhaps she comes from an Amazon culture of warrior women; perhaps her father was a kick-butt...
Basic Information
An Active Galactic Nucleus (abbreviated AGN) is a region at the center of some galaxies that is highly luminous. Such a nucleus releases huge amounts of electromagnetic...
Basic Information
An Active Galaxy is a Galaxy with an Active Galactic Nucleus.
See Also:
Radio galaxy
Quasar
Supermassive black hole
M-sigma relation
Relativistic jet
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
The Book of Genesis in the Bible describe Adam and Eve as the first people on earth, and the progenitors of the human race. According to Genesis 2:7, "the LORD God formed the man...
Basic Information
This character trope is the Archaeologist (or Professor, or other Badass Bookworm) who forgoes dusty academia and meticulous fieldwork in favor of grave robbing and punching...
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Basic Information
Adventure towns are a type of setting which the protagonists visit and soon after get involved in an adventure. Typically, they don't linger much once the local problem is solved...
Basic Information
An Adventuring Party (or The Party) refers to a group of Player Characters and/or NPCs, working together for some purpose. The term can refer to a couple slightly different...
Basic Information
An aerodyne is a heavier-than-air aircraft, deriving lift from dynamic motion through the air.
Subtypes
Fan Wing
Fixed Wing Aircraft
Glider
Propeller Aircraft
Jet...
Basic Information
An aerostat is a lighter-than-air aircraft or object that relies on buoyancy to keep it aloft.
Subtypes
Airship
Balloon
Barrage Balloon
Kite
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Aesoptinum is Phlebotinum with a moral component, designed so the author of the story can communicate a metaphor.
Related Tropes:
An Aesop
Fantastic Aesop
Mary...
Basic Information
After the End is a type of setting. It takes place in a world where a devastating event reduced most of civilization to rubble.
See Also:
Post Apocalyptic Decay for a timeline of...
Basic Information
The Agent Mulder (sometimes also called the Agent Cooper) is the investigator who believes in pretty much everything. This can range from having an open mind, up to bisociation,...
Basic Information
Agent Orange is the code name of the most well-known of the "Rainbow Herbicides" used by the US Military during the Vietnam War. The typical delivery method is spraying from...
Basic Information
The Agent Scully is an investigator who has Scully Syndrome. The Scully is the skeptic taken to extremes. They won't believe in the supernatural, regardless of how much proof is...
Basic Information
Ahaus is a town in Germany (30000 inhabitants), Norhrhine-Westfalia.
It is situated in the north-western part of the Münsterland near the Dutch border.
Ahaus was first mentioned...
Basic Information
Sources
An aircraft is a type of vehicle that is capable of flight via being supported by planetary atmosphere. Vehicles which use thrust instead of lift to overcome gravity...
Basic Information
The AirJelly is a flying robot based on a jellyfish.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Festo Company Website entry
2. YouTube video
Game and Story Use
In a Science Fiction setting,...
Basic Information
The AirPenguin is a flying robot based on a penguin.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Festo Company Website entry
2. YouTube video
3. YouTube video explaining mechanical...
Basic Information
The Air Ray is a flying robot based on the shape of manta rays.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Festo Company Website entry
2. YouTube video
Game and Story Use
Apart from its use for...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Arctic - the region north of Alaska.
Event/News: Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope...
Basic Information
July 13, 2009: A lawsuit has been filed in Saudi Arabia that has a most unique defendant. The accused is a genie, or possibly several jinn. The Sheikh in charge of the Sharia...
Basic Information
Albert Einstein is best known for E=MC2 (the most famous equation in science), and for his hair. His name is synonymous with "genius". He's been the model for numerous...
Basic Information
An Alchemist is someone who practices or researches alchemy.
Just as alchemy occupies a strange niche between magic and science (and is similar to both), the Alchemist is a...
Basic Information
Alchemy is a philosophy, art, and alternative science related to chemistry. It predated chemistry, and in many ways contributed to the development of that science. The name...
Basic Information
The Alcubierre Drive is a theoretical and speculative concept for a Stardrive, proposed by Physicist Miguel Alcubierre. The Technology to make such a device function is unknown,...
Basic Information
An Alderson Disk is an enormous interstellar megastructure. It is shaped like a giant CD, with an entire Star inside the middle hole. The radius of the disk would be about the...
Basic Information
The Alderson Drive is a type of Shortcut Drive used in some novels by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. It's named for scientist Dan Alderson, who helped Pournelle work out the...
Basic Information
Alexis Carrel was a French surgeon, biologist, and advocate of eugenics who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his medical work. In his book L'Homme, cet inconnu (Man, The Unknown)...
Basic Information
The jet fuel used by the US Military is a kerosene-based fuel called Jet Propellant 8. Because of the volatile price of petroleum, and the urgent need for energy independence,...
Basic Information
Algol is one name (the Demon Star is another) for a set of stars in the constellation Perseus. It's classified as an eclipsing binary, but technically it's three stars, a trinary...
Basic Information
Algol Variables, or Algol-type binaries are a specific type of eclipsing binaries. It's a pair of stars, one brighter than the other, that eclipse one another when viewed from...
Basic Information
An alien is a creature of extraterrestrial origin. They are likely to exhibit Alien Biochemistry.
List of Alien Types and Descriptions
Many of which are also Tropes.
Alien...
Basic Information
An Alien Abduction is a speculative fiction trope, as well as something that many people claim happens in real life. According to it, sometimes people are are abducted by aliens...
Basic Information
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and enzymes.
20 different amino acids, in various sequences, define almost every protein on Earth.
However, a large number of...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Extraterrestrial / alien life is likely to be rather different than that found here on earth. Even in a setting where exogenesis or panspermia proves true, and carbon-based life...
Basic Information
Alien Geometries is a Horror Trope, most common in books of the Cosmic Horror subgenre.
The trope describes certain places, buildings, artwork, or creatures that defy our...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Alien Hand Syndrome (also sometimes known as AHS, Anarchic Hand or Doctor Strangelove Syndrome) is a neurological disorder where the patient / sufferer has little or no control...
Summary
November 24, 2008: A squid has been filmed by a Remotely operated underwater vehicle owned by the Shell Oil Company near an off-shore drilling site. The squid is of the rare and unusual...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
In this Time Travel Trope, the Time Traveler decides to impress his "uncivilized" friends with the awe and majesty of music from the future. Often this involves an electric...
Basic Information
Allan Hills 84001 (commonly abbreviated ALH 84001) is a meteorite found in Allan Hills, Antarctica on December 27, 1984. It's structure includes what some scientists believe to...
Basic Information
He fought Civil War spies and Wild West train robbers; he saved the life of Abraham Lincoln and established the first Private Detective agency. His name became synonymous both...
Summary
October 28, 2009: An MSNBC article reports on a Norwegian man caught smuggling two dozen reptiles into the country by hiding them inside his clothing. He had 14 pythons, each placed in an...
Basic Information
All Is Well That Ends Well is a narrative devices where a character, despite experiencing considerable physical or emotional trauma, is able to pick up his life again and keep...
VI. Consistent with the limitations of your vessel and equipment, you will confine your landings an contacts to Class "M" planets approximating Earth-Mars conditions.
Star Trek original series...
That quintessential requirement to be a caped crusader: the secret identity.
Basic Information
Ever notice how the hero has to lead a normal life in addition all his world saving/crime...
Basic Information
What If [insert important historical event] never happened? How would the world be different?
Alternate History is a type of Speculative Fiction, set in a world where one or more...
Basic Information
This bibliography page lists sources that might be useful in running an Alternate History or Alternate Universe game. The two terms are largely interchangeable, but "Alternate...
Basic Information
This speculative fiction trope / comic book trope describes a story where the characters visit, get marooned in, or get visited by, another reality. It's kinda like a Dream...
Basic Information
Alternative biology is the study of theoretical or non-traditional life forms. It also considers the earliest theoretical forms of life on Earth. It has some overlap with...
sometimes the most dubious sources make for the best gaming.
Basic Information
This page lists theories and fields of inquiry which some might call scientific but which are not considered part of...
Basic Information
Always Female are character types are Characterization Tropes which are almost always female, although Wholesome Crossdressers or Gender Benders can take on these roles as well,...
Basic Information
Always Male are character types are Characterization Tropes which are almost always male, although many of them can be ported over to female characters, and many have distaff...
Summary
August 30, 2008: As newly released documents show, the British James Lonsdale-Bryans traveled to Italy during World War II to meet with the German diplomat Ulrich von Hassell where he...
Basic Information
Just as the first Apple Computer was cobbled together in a garage, today some amateur geneticists are trying to rewrite DNA in their own home-made labs.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
They're an elite team of fighters and every one of them is a guaranteed knockout. The Amazon Brigade follows the principle that if one Action Girl is hot, then a whole team of...
Basic Information
Amber is a Diceless RPG, written by Erick Wujcik, and based on the ten Amber novels by Roger Zelazny.
Amber is the one true world, the shining Center of the Universe, even if the...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Life as we know it requires water. Water acts as a biological solvent, dissolving various chemicals into solution, so that they may be transported more readily via the body's...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Specific Types of Ammunition
Dragon's Breath
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Ammunition use in RPGs tends to swing...
Basic Information
Amway is an American company whose selling strategies have often been compared to Pyramid schemes.
See Also
Milkman Conspiracy
Sources
Bibliography
1. RPGNet thread
2. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
This Trope refers to the way that period pieces and time travel films can often get away with excessive historical inaccuracy and almost never get called on it. Most TV and film...
Basic Information
An Adventurer Is You is the name of gaming trope where the players are various heroic, exciting or barbarous characters that kill monsters, gather treasure, save the day, and/or...
Basic Information
Anarchy is the lack of recognized government and/or a general state of lawlessness is society. Individuals in society may take or give whatever they please, using whatever means...
Basic Information
In this Science Fiction Trope it is revealed that the Gods or Mythological Creatures of the distant past were real, but were "merely" aliens. This lets you blend Sword and...
Basic Information
Ancient Rome was one of the largest Empires of the Ancient World. According to Legend, the city was founded on April 21, 753 BC by the half-divine (sons of Mars (mythology))...
Summary
May 3, 2009: Archaeologists have determined that approximately 2,300 years ago a tsunami hit the New York City region. This was determined by out-of-place elements and debris in the...
Summary
July 13, 2009: The article provides an in-depth economic analysis of piracy in Somalia, discussing costs, risks, and so forth of the attack, negotiations, and resolution and payoff....
Summary
May 31, 2007: In 1962 in Tanzania, a strange disease broke out which caused its victims to laugh and cry. It started on January 30 in a girls' middle school, and spread to several other...
Basic Information
As far as badass angelic jobs go, this one is pretty popular and everybody seems to want a shot at the title. Here's a short list of those who could be considered Angels of...
Basic Information
Animals are multicellular life forms which are also mobile (if only at certain stages of their lives). They also feed on other life forms, whether plants or other animals.
See...
Basic Information
This page is about vehicles that are not mechanically powered, but are instead drawn by a domesticated animal, such as a horse or ox.
The following list includes many of the more...
Basic Information
An anime trope is a trope which was invented in or is especially prominent in anime series.
List of Anime Tropes
Absurdly Powerful Student Council
Accidental Marriage
Ace...
Basic Information
Scientifically speaking, other dimensions would likely be just a "bigger picture" in terms of movement, measuring, space, physical interactions, and perception, like Edwin Abbot...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Ant mega-colony takes over world
News: Zombie Fire Ants
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Antarctica is the southernmost continent on Earth, overlaying the South Pole. Most of it is covered by a massive ice sheet, including numerous glaciers. Antarctica is the only...
Summary
April 16, 2009: In Antarctica, there is a location where water bursts forth from a glacier, after which it quickly oxidizes the surrounding regions and turns rust red. This water comes from...
Summary
November 24, 2003: Scientists observe the first recorded total eclipse over Antarctica.
Source
Original story
Game and Story Use
Eclipses always had occult significances, and Antarctica...
Basic Information
Anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin.
See Also
Squick
News/Event: Gunpowder Plot - Human Skin-Covered Book Auctioned
News: Some of nation's...
Basic Information
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, especially of human cultures.
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Anthropologists are in a good position to discover...
Basic Information
An Anthropomorphic Personification is the Human(-ish) embodiment of an abstract concept. Like if Good and Evil were real people.
See also:
Anthropomorphism
Genius Loci
The Hecate...
Basic Information
The Anti-Hero is a character that is technically a hero, but lacks most of the traits associated with heroes. They may even seem to be the polar opposite of heroes, except when...
Basic Information
The Antikythera mechanism is the oldest known analog/mechanical computer. This artifact is a compact form of orrery that tracked the positions of the sun, moon, and other...
Summary
March 14, 2009: The article showcases maps of ancient Antioch penned by an Italian scholar which shows several differences to more "established" maps.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Basic Information
July 1, 2009: A certain type of Argentinia ants has spread around the world, forming large "super-colonies on different continents. What's more, the ants have identical chemical...
They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes, drums… drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A shadow lurks in the...
Basic Information
The word Apocrypha comes from the Greek for "things hidden away" and is generally used to refer to certain biblical books that are not considered to be part of the sacred canon....
Basic Information
An apostle is a disciple who has written an epistle.
All right. So that isn't particularly helpful. A better distinction would be to say that a disciple is a student and an...
Basic Information
Apothecary refers to a profession, (common from the 14th Century to 19th Century) which has many similarities to the modern pharmacist or dispensing chemist. The apothecaries...
Basic Information
This entry is about a narrative trope.
Applied phlebotinum is a substance that provides an effect necessary for the plot. This could be alchemical reagents, nanotechnology,...
Basic Information
April is the fourth month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for April 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 10.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 13.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 14.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 15.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 16.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 17.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 18.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 27.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 30.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 4.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for April 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
Basic Information
The AquaJelly is an underwater robot based on a jellyfish.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Festo Company Website entry
2. YouTube video
Game and Story Use
These could be used to guard...
Basic Information
The AquaPenguin is an underwater robot based on a penguin.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Festo Company Website entry
2. YouTube video
Game and Story Use
They could be used for...
Basic Information
The Aqua Ray is an underwater robot in the shape of a manta ray.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Festo Company Website entry
2. YouTube video
Game and Story Use
Enlarge them to the...
This project stems from my fascination with my Amazon Kindle, a modern ebook reader. I often read in it when traveling, as well as in the evening in my bed shortly before going to sleep - and I...
This guide is intended to help you with writing well-designed and interesting Arcana Wiki entries that conform to a standard appearance. This isn't supposed to explain the details of wiki code...
Basic Information
Arcanist is a term for the contributors to the Arcana Wiki.
See Also
Fan Speak
Basic Information
Here is a list of Real World archaeoastronomical sites that can be used in your campaign whether it be set in the real world itself or whether you want to get ideas when the...
Basic Information
An archetypal character is a type of character which appears in stories around the world, even fairly isolated ones. Thus, such character types seem to resonate deeply with the...
Basic Information
An archipelago is a cluster of islands. They are commonly found on the open ocean, though sometimes they are located near large land masses.
List of Noteworthy Archipelagos
Real...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Types of Buildings
Arcology
Bridge
Suspension Bridge
Castle
Church
High-rise
Hospital
Library
Mausoleum
Megastructure
Police...
Basic Information
An Arc Number is a number that pops up over and over again in a given work, often in seemingly unrelated contexts. Sometimes the number really is significant; sometimes, it's just...
Basic Information
An arcology is a gigantic structure which is a habitat for large numbers of people - frequently it is a city in its own right. Sometimes, arcologies are even self-sufficient.
See...
Basic Information
The Arctic is the region of Earth surrounding the North Pole.
See Also
Event/News: Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities
News: Meltdown In The Arctic Is Speeding...
Basic Information
Arc Welding is the process of retroactively tying together episodic stories into a larger story arc.
See Also
Narrative Devices
Seasons
Sources
Bibliography
1. TV Tropes Wiki...
Basic Information
The narrative Trope known as "Arc Words" refers to an enigmatic word or phrase that appears, unexplained and without context, here and there throughout a series or story arc, and...
Basic Information
Area 51 is a remote tract of land in the southwestern portion of southern Nevada in the western United States. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, a dry...
Summary
October 27, 2008: Cognitive scientists are trying to create a computer character which is pure "Evil" to better understand the nature of Evil.
See Also
Artificial Intelligence
Evil...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Gulls' vicious attacks on whales
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Event/News: Hark! Where's the Bible Ark?
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland.
- "Todesfuge", by Paul Celan
Basic Information
Armin Meiwes is a German who gained notoriety by killing and eating a willing victim.
He places an...
Basic Information
The term armorer (also armourer) can have two meanings, both of which are professions.
A person who makes armor, especially a craftsman who does so (not someone on an assembly...
Basic Information
Technically speaking, an armorsmith is someone who makes armor from metal. But, as with weaponsmith, the term is often used more generally to mean someone who makes armor,...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Art Forms
Nose Art
Sand Animation
Works of Art
Sedlec Ossuary
Zizkov Television Tower
News: The Beautiful Nightmares of...
Basic Information
An artifact is a unique item that may have historical, cultural, or supernatural significance.
List of Artifacts
Antikythera Mechanism
Coso Artifact
Piri Reis...
Basic Information
This speculative fiction trope is also a character as device trope specific to inanimate objects. The Artifact of Doom is a Villain that is also an artifact. Despite being a...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Artificial Intelligence describes the intelligence of machines.
See Also
Robot
News: Are You Evil? Profiling That Which Is Truly Wicked
News: Research Show Robots Forming...
Basic Information
An artist is someone who creates art.
See Also
List of Artists
List of pages with the "Art" tag
News: The Beautiful Nightmares of Zdzislaw Beksinski
News: 'Baby-eating' artist...
To add art to an entry, you first need to upload the image to the page to which you want to add it. You can do this via the "files" button at the bottom of each page. Examples of wiki code that...
This page is about the crime. For other uses, see Assault (Disambiguation).
Basic Information
In US Law, an Assault is an attempt to commit Battery (crime). In others, any unlawful attempt to...
Basic Information
In Warfare:
An attack in war, see battle and strategic offensive
in particular, the first phase of an attack, see shock troops
Assault course
Assault rifle (or assault...
Basic Information
An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits our Sun. They are larger than meteoroids (so, larger than 10 meters in diameter), but smaller than planets. An asteroid large enough...
Basic Information
The Asteroid Belt
The Asteroid Belt is a large group of asteroids orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid belt includes most asteroids in the Solar System, but...
Basic Information
Since Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale they don't realize how big and empty space is. They also don't realize how big and empty an asteroid belt is. It's really not a...
Basic Information
Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This multidisciplinary field overlaps with Astronomy and Biology. It assumes...
Basic Information
The Astrochicken is a form of Von Neumann Probe proposed by astrophysicist Freeman Dyson. It's a one-kilogram cyborg, genetically engineered to explore our solar-system. Rather...
Basic Information
Astronautics is the branch of Engineering directly concerned with vehicles (predominantly spacecraft) and machines that exit the earth's atmosphere, or that work entirely outside...
Summary
August 23, 2007: Astronomers at the University of Minnesota have found a void, a region of the universe empty of interstellar matter, of a far larger size than any previously known void....
Basic Information
In the old town square of Prague stands an enormous and extremely complex astronomical clock affixed to the wall of the old city hall. Built in 1410, it is one of the prime...
Basic Information
Astronomy is the field of science concerning celestial objects, such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies, as well as phenomena originating beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
See...
Basic Information
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties (luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition)...
Basic Information
The aswang is a ghoul from the folklore of the Philippines.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Like a shapeshifter, the aswang takes the form a...
Down below, before my very eyes, lay the ruins of a submerged city, swallowed by the sea. Its roofs were sunken, its temples demolished, its arches in pieces, its columns on the ground, but its...
Basic Information
Atlantropa (also called Panropa) was a massive project proposed by Herman Sorgel in the 1920s.
The heart of the project was a massive hydroelectric dam that would have been built...
Basic Information
An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a planet of sufficient mass. It is retained by the gravity of the planet. Within it, weather phenomena will occur.
See...
Basic Information
Atmospheric Reentry is what happens when a spacecraft or satellite enters the atmosphere of a planet. It results in significant aerodynamic heating of the object and the air it...
Basic Information
The atomic bomb, also known as the A-bomb or simply The Bomb, is a device that converts a small amount of uranium into energy, thereby creating an explosion capable of reducing a...
Basic Information
Attack Of The Killer Whatever is a classic horror trope.
Pick something - any something. Any type of animal, vegetable, or mineral, or a form of technology, or mythological...
Basic Information
Agdistis was born with both male and female traits which frightened the Olympian gods. They cut off the male traits and cast them away- from which grew an almond tree. The nymph...
Basic Information
Attributes or Abilities, within the context of a role-playing game, are a form of Game Statistic that represents the innate capabilities of a character. They are ranked, often on...
Basic Information
Aufhockers are creatures from German folklore. They are small spirits that jump on the back or shoulders of lone wanderers at night, and usually instill such terror in their...
Basic Information
August is the eighth month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for August 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 10.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 11.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 12.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 13.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 14.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 15.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 16.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 17.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 18.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 2.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 23.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 27.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 29.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 3.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 30.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 4.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 5.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 6.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 8.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for August 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Locations
The Hideout
Sources
Bibliography
1. [Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Adventure Seed: Texas Red Zombie Chainsaw...
Basic Information
Australia is both a country and Earth's smallest continent. It is located in the southern hemisphere between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean
Towns and...
Summary
March 31, 2009: The Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Australia was forced to close down due to the economic downturn, signaling the end of the recent resource boom in Australia and possibly...
Basic Information
Authority Equals Asskicking is an authority trope. It stands for the idea that authority in any kind of organization - which is a kind of power - also translates into an equal...
Basic Information
Authority tropes are tropes about the different effects and displays of authority and obedience.
List of Authority Tropes
Tropes About Authority in General
Authority Equals...
Basic Information
Autoinfanticide is a specific variation on the Grandfather Paradox. This Time Travel Trope is form of Temporal Paradox, and is also a term used in Philosophy. It refers, as the...
Basic Information
Automatically Violent is a madness trope. With it, it is assumed that a character who becomes insane for whatever reason automatically also becomes violent, even if the character...
Basic Information
An ax crazy character is someone who is psychologically unstable and presents a clear danger to others. This is a very common Stock Character, who almost always works...
Basic Information
An axe (or ax) is a chopping implement - some are intended as tools, others as weapons, but most can serve as either.
Ax Types:
Battle Axe
Halberd
Hand Axe
Throwing...
See infant.
For other uses, see Honey, Darling and Sweet Babboo.
Summary
December 30, 2002: A BBC documentary about extreme art practices in China as provoked controversy, as it features a Chinese artist who apparently eats a stillborn baby. The artist claims...
Basic Information
The Badass is a character who can really mix it up, kick ass, and perform amazing stunts. They are the Rule of Cool personified.
Subtropes include:
Back To Back Badasses
Badass...
Basic Information
"B-but she's just a kid!"
Yeah, that's what the Badass Lolita wants you to think. Maybe she was trained by ninjas. Maybe she has an arsenal of high-powered weaponry in her...
Basic Information
Every other major character in the setting has some sort of supernatural power, but somehow this essentially mundane character is able to stand toe-to-toe with them, or even stay...
Basic Information
An alternate future where the bad guys won. In Movies and TV, this is often just a temporary situation, that will be fixed or solved as the plot goes on, retroactively wiping...
Basic Information
The badger game extortion is a confidence game often perpetrated on married men. The mark is deliberately coerced into a compromising position, a supposed affair for example,...
[A guy gets thrown out of a rowdy bar and lands on the street next to Kermit]
GUY: That's toughest, meanest, *filthiest* pest hole on the face of the earth!
KERMIT: Why not complain to the...
Basic Information
Bad Moon Rising is a speculative fiction trope. It represents an ill omen of an upcoming epic conflict or disaster - and the disaster is of such magnitude that the skies...
Basic Information
The bajang is an evil spirit who appears when a disaster or illness is about to occur. He usually takes the form of a giant polecat.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Mythology of Asia...
Basic Information
The modern Ballistic Vest is a form of armor that covers the vital areas of the torso. It is intended to reduce and prevent injuries from stabbing and gunshots.
Rating System
The...
"My favorite's the Professor
He always saves their butts;
He could build a nuclear reactor
Out of a couple of coconuts."
— "Gilligan's Isle Thing" — "Weird Al" Yankovic
Basic...
Basic Information
A subset of the Outlaw with a Hispanic flavor. Most often found in stories set in Mexico or near the US-Mexican border. As with the outlaw, the bandito often overlaps with the...
Summary
June 20, 2008: If current predictions about global warming and rising sea levels are correct, Bangladesh will loose most of its land to the ocean by the end of the 21st...
Basic Information
U.S. President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961, and is thus a U.S. Citizen.
A ton of conspiracy theories have popped up alleging that he was born in...
Basic Information
The Barbarian Tribe isn't just one stock character - it's a whole pack of illiterate, uncultured, evil warriors. They descend upon helpless villages and towns, stealing whatever...
Basic Information
Sometimes a Barber is more than just a person who cuts your hair.
For the version of the Barber from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, or Ancient World, see BARBER-CHIRURGEON.
For...
This page is about the Barber, as the term was known from Classical Antiquity up until the end of the Colonial Era. For more modern eras (Wild West especially), see The Barber.
Basic...
Basic Information
The Bar Brawl is a classic trope where a fight breaks out in a bar, and quickly spreads from the original angry parties to everyone else in the bar. In movies, Bar Brawls have an...
Basic Information
Barsa-Kelmes (alternative spelling Barsakelmes) is the largest island of the Aral Sea, which has a reputation of being a strange (and even cursed) place. It remains uninhabited...
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A basilisk image is an image which "crashes the human mind by triggering thoughts that the mind is physically or logically incapable of thinking"[2].
See Also
Brown Note
Motif...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Bat Species
Vampyrym Spectrum
Vampire Bat
Desmodus Draculae
See Also
Vampire
News: Shuttle-Riding Bat Dies The Most Glorious...
Basic Information
This Speculative Fiction Trope is when a character can breathe, and sometimes even talk, in outer space.
If it's a form of Magic and Powers, it may be related to the Stock...
Basic Information
The Battle Butler is a Sidekick, Henchman or Minion who serves their master out of a sense of duty. They blur the line between personal servant and bodyguard.
Related...
Basic Information
The Bauhaus was a German school of Art and Design that had a tremendous influence on architecture and industrial design in the 20th Century. It was founded in 1919 by the...
Basic Information
In Robert Asprin's Mythadventures series, Deeva is a desolate wasteland inhabited by creatures known as Deveels. They have red skin, cloven hooves and horns and look very much...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Bear dogs (Amphicyonidae) were a pre-historic species of Carnivoran mammals related to both the bear family and the dog family. Bear dogs are, appropriately, hypothesized to have...
Basic Information
The Venerable Bede was an English monk and scholar who lived in the 7th and 8th Centuries. He is best-known for his book, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The...
"I don't know," Becky said clutching her candle nervously. "We could get into a lot of trouble doing this."
"I say there's something shifty about that reverend," Tom insisted, pulling the tarp off...
Basic Information
One of Ludwig van Beethoven's early tutors, a writer and composer named Christian Neefe, was also a member of the Bavarian Illuminati and tried to instill in the young genius the...
Basic Information
Beethoven wasn't really an alien spy (as far as we know, any way). This Time Travel Trope is a story element where a famous historical figure turns out to have a secret life....
"To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock;
In a pestilential prison with a life long lock;
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock
Of a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black...
Basic Information
Beneath the Earth is both a setting and an Otherworld trope. This trope assumes that a large number of fantastic beings or societies live within tunnels and caves within the...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Bergen is the second largest city of Norway.
Locales
Bergen Museum
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Bergen Museum is a museum in Bergen, Norway.
See Also
News: Spooky Mystery At Bergen Museum
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story...
Basic Information
A character with a Berserk Button can go from mild-mannered friendly fellow to Unstoppable Rage in just seconds. Typically there's a handful of topics that just set them off.
See...
Basic Information
Bertam Wilberforce Wooster, ("Bertie" to his friends) is in some respects almost the Platonic Ideal of the Upper Class Twit. He is the narrator and hero of the "Jeeves" stories...
A Bestiary is a book or collection of animals.
Our Bestiaries
This site's bestiaries are divided into several subcategories:
Fictional Creatures
Common Animals
Mythological...
Did you say he was a six-fingered man?
Basic Information
Revenge is a dish best served cold. This character this trope describes has been harboring a nasty desire for vengeance for years. One day,...
Basic Information
Betrayal tropes are topical tropes about how characters break each others' trust.
List of Betrayal Tropes
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
Deceptive Disciple
Et Tu Brute
Face Heel...
Basic Information
What is "Beware of Python"? Is it a warning sign? Is it a tabletop gaming trope? Is it a meme? Is it just geeky human nature? Whatever the reason behind it, the fact remains that...
Basic Information
Beware The Honest Ones is a characterization trope. A character falling under this trope is an idealist, but he is often surrounded by other characters with more dubious...
Summary
September 18, 2008: Cambridge University reveals the "Corpus Clock", a new clock which incorporates a mechanical creature - a mixture of beetle and lizard - into its design. This creature,...
Basic Information
The Bewildered Time Novice is a character who's new to Time Travel and doesn't understand how it works.
Short Term
A week ago he was an Ignorant Leveler, and now despite his best...
Summary
July 1, 2009: This interview / article discusses the history and future of economic systems. Each successive system has focused the wealth into fewer and fewer hands, and resulted in a...
Basic Information
The Old Testament (the Tanakh)
The New Testament
The Apocrypha
Pseudepigrapha
People of the Bible
Adam and Eve
Abraham
Cain and...
Basic Information
The Bible Retranslation Project is a project at the Conservapedia which aims to "re-translate" the Bible - that is to say, to alter specific words and phrases which the...
Basic Information
This section is going to list a variety of sources that may be useful for the Game Master It will be broken down by genre, and each genre will get it's own page. Each genre page...
This is a Bibliography page for useful resources in the ( insert name of ) genre, (give brief description of the genre)
Sources
Books
Author's Last Name, First Name
Book Titles in Italics (year...
Basic Information
The Bielefeld Conspiracy is a satirical conspiracy theory (as well as a meme) which holds that the German city of Bielefeld does not exist. This is allegedly hushed up by "the...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
The Big Bad Evil Guy, also known as a Big Bad or BBEG for short, is an extremely potent Character with evil plans and the muscle, magic, or brains to achieve them. In a TV show,...
Basic Information
BigDog is a quadrupedal robot developed by Boston Dynamics. It is 1 m long, stands 0.7 m tall, and weighs 75 kg. It can navigate through difficult terrain at...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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The Big Rip is a potential Ultimate Fate of the Universe scenario. It's sort of the inverse of the Big Crunch. In the Big Rip model, Phantom Dark Energy continues to expand the...
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People shopping for pirated software, illegal pornographic images, bootleg music, drugs, firearms or other forbidden or controlled goods may be legally hindered from reporting...
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The Big Well in Greensburg, Kansas (US) is the second largest hand dug well in the world at a depth of 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter (only the Pozzo di S. Patrizio built...
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There are two ways to establish a female character as a badass; one is give her a sword, the other is to put her on a motorcycle. I won't go into the Freudian implications of...
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The term biker gang might refer to a mundane Motorcycle Club or to rowdy Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. The later are sometimes referred to as "One Percenters", as in "99% percent of...
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Though it is sometimes spelled without the "e", a Bilboe refers to a form of Punishment, and not the fictional character from Middle Earth. They are also sometimes known as...
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Biology is a field of science that concerns itself with the study of living organisms.
List of Biology Topics
Alternative Biology
Astrobiology
Xenobiology
Alien...
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Bizarre Alien Biology is a otherness trope that shows up most commonly in science-fiction TV and movies. It usually stems from budgetary and costuming issues - when you can't...
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Black dwarfs are a hypothetical type of star (more specifically a stellar remnant) that form when a white dwarf has cooled to the point that it no longer noticeably emits light...
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A black hole is an astronomical body whose gravitational pull is so strong that even light will be permanently drawn in if it comes within a certain distance. The escape velocity...
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The Black Rock Desert is a dry lake bed in northwestern Nevada. The annual Burning Man festival takes place here, and some civilian organizations associated with rocketry are...
Black Shuck
Black Shuck is the Norfolk name given to one of many different huge, spectral hounds which are common in the folklore of the British Isles. Also called by such names as Padfoot,...
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August 10, 2008.: A fire and several huge explosions occurred at a propane depot in Toronto, Canada.
Sources
Original story
YouTube video of the fire - skip to 1:50 for a huge...
TIRESIAS: So,
you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this.
You with your precious eyes,
you're blind to the corruption of your life,
to the house you live in, those you live with —
—...
Summary
October 30, 2008: The article details a variety of measures and tactics which have been used to deny voters in the United States the right to vote for political...
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The Blood Knight is a character that lives for war - they love to prove themselves in battle. Often out Walking the Earth, looking for a Worthy Opponent.
Related...
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The Bloody Benders were a family of mass murderers active in Labette County, Kansas in the 1870s. The Benders ran a grocery store and inn along a popular trail for people heading...
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The Bloop was an underwater acoustic phenomenon spotted in the summer of 1997 in the southern Pacific Ocean, off the southwestern coast of South America, by equipment of the...
Summary
July 15, 2008: The article provides a list of locations which are blurred out on Google Maps for political reasons.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
Many, if...
Basic Information
Body horror is a horror trope. It happens when a character is slowly turned into something different, or when another entity invades his body and turns it against him.
Body...
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The bogeyman (also referred to as the boogyman, bogyman, boogieman, boogey monster or boogeyman) is a folkloric monster, tales of which are often used as a kind of behavioral...
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He's the big, jolly guy with the ham-like fists; always ready for a drink, a fight, a wench or a joke; not necessarily in that order. When he slaps you on the back, he sends you...
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A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one...
With his .45 automatic in hand, Fred felt confident holding the funny-looking stranger at bay till the police arrived. It didn't matter how weird the fellow looked, or whether the rumors about him...
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Bootleg or bootlegging usually refers to making, transporting and/or selling illegal alcoholic liquor or copyrighted material; the term originates from concealing flasks of...
Summary
February 4, 2009: A propensity towards religious belief seems to be hardwired into the human brain.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
In a setting with human...
Basic Information
This Characterization Trope refers to a character who yearns for Ye Goode Olde Days. They may be some sort of recreationist or history buff. They may be a Reincarnation of...
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A Born Winner is a character who is innately more powerful, smarter, and all-around better than the people around him. He did not have to actively work to be as good as he is -...
Summary
March 26, 2009: The administrator of a Boston school denied that there any vampires at the school in attempt to get the students to focus on their classes instead of the spreading...
Basic Information
Botany is the discipline of Biology which concerns itself with the study of plants.
See Also
Chlorophyll
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
A Bounty Hunter is a Western character who hunts down criminals and fugitives for profit.
See Also
Hired Guns
Stock Characters
Sources
TV Tropes Wiki entry
Game and Story...
Basic Information
The brain is the control center of the nervous system. In humans, it makes sapience possible.
See Also
News: Otty Sanchez, Woman Accused Of Killing Newborn, Ate...
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Brainwashed And Crazy is a mind manipulation trope. It refers to a type of brainwashing where the victim becomes violent towards others as a result.
See Also
Madness...
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The Bräutigamseiche (German for "bridegroom's oak") is an ancient oak near Eutin in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. According to legend, the oak was planted by a Celtic lord in...
Basic Information
Locations
Amazon Stonehenge
This article is a stub. Please expand!
See Also
News: Cracking Crime In Brazil
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Summary
February 20, 2009: Strange, rectangular marks have been discovered in a map from Google Earth. These marks can be found 600 miles west of Morocco, deep in the Atlantic Ocean, and they are...
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Break the Haughty is a characterization trope. It involves a character who is extremely prideful - i.e. displays the sin of hubris - and then suffers extreme misfortune in order...
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A Bridezilla is a soon-to-be-married woman who thinks that the wedding is Her Day, and woe be unto anyone who inadvertantly endangers the perfectness of that day. This is a Stock...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Suspension Bridge
Stressed Ribbon Bridge
Tridge
News: Living Root Bridges
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
A character who is Brilliant But Lazy would be more than capable of dealing with most problems in the story - but usually, he cannot be bothered with exerting himself...
Summary
March 17, 2009: The British Library is missing more than 9,000 books from its shelves, although it insists that the majority of them is "mislaid" instead of stolen. Some of these books...
Summary
November 15, 2007: Until the early days of the Tony Blair administration, British nuclear weapons could be armed with bicycle locks. The article also mentions some of the security...
Basic Information
Broadcast signal intrusion is the act of hijacking broadcast signals of radio and television stations.
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
What could be more fun than...
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The Brotherhood of Funny Hats is a trope depicting Fraternal Orders as just goofy fun. Such groups are shown as either an excuse to get drunk, or life-long Pledge Week for...
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Edward Arthur Wilson was a cultist who created a spiritual community on a temperate forest island in British Columbia in the 1920s.
Wilson, better known as "Brother XII", sought...
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A Brown Dwarf is an object larger than a planet, but smaller than a star. Many celestial bodies exist that straddle the line, and are hard to categorize. The usual definition is...
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Bubbleworld is a stellar megastructure proposed as a space habitat by Dandridge M. Cole and Donald W. Cox. It was invented to answer the question "what is the largest space...
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This Dialogue Trope is most prevalent in TV sit coms. Some character, often a nerdy or awkward one, will say something innocent that, out of context, sounds a little weird,...
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There is a strong cultural tradition of a man being the King of his Castle; the Patriarch of the Clan; the Wise and Benevolent Authority Figure; the One Who Wears the Pants....
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The Bunny Ears Lawyer trope describes a character who is …eccentric… but really good at what they do.
Okay, the truth is they're probably insane, but they're so good at...
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The Buntline Special may never have actually existed, but it has found a place in Western Lore.
According to a 1931 biography of famed lawman Wyatt Earp by Stuart N Lake, Earp...
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The bunyip is a creature from Australian folkore that appears to have originated in Aboriginal Dreamtime mythology. Descriptions of the bunyip vary widely, though it is typically...
Summary
June 4, 2009: A homeless man saves enough money shining shoes on the street to get his own apartment only to lose it all paying for a permit to shine shoes. Interestingly enough he'd never...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Report reveals Burma's 2014 nukes target
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Burning Man is an annual festival taking place in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada which culminates in the burning of a wooden effigy. The first Burning Man took place on June 21...
Summary
July 31, 2008: A passenger on a Greyhound bus close to Portage la Prairie in Manitoba, Canada has stabbed and beheaded the passenger sitting next to him.
See Also
Bus rider recalls another...
You have followed the traces of the vengeful spirit possessing its unfortunate victim, and are now in hot pursuit. Will you catch him before it starts mutilating its victim?
Summary
August 2,...
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The Butterfly of Doom is a Time Travel Trope, named for the Butterfly Effect of Chaos Theory (which, itself, is the notion that the flapping of the wings of a butterfly on one...
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The Butt Monkey is a Loser Archetype - someone who, through no true fault of his own, always ends up the butt of jokes or other unfortunate plot developments. The opposite of the...
Summary
August 16, 2009: The author claims that throughout history, there have been religious groups which were dedicated with not seeking out the truth, but with obscuring facts and only...
"Mother always liked you best!"
— Tommy Smothers
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(Genesis 4:1-16)
According to the book of Genesis, the first two sons of Adam and Eve were Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer,...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of California locations
California Aqueduct
Death Valley, California
Mount Shasta
Naval Air Weapons Station China...
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The California Aqueduct is a system of tunnels, canals and pipelines that transports water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern- and Central California to...
Summary
July 2, 2009: Unable to pay for vital services, the government of state of California has started to issue IOUs to its debtors so that it can be able to function. The current financial...
Summary
August 4, 2009: Owners of small businesses are suing the state of California because the state will not accept the IOUs it has issued for its own debts to pay for taxes and other payments...
Everybody roll "Spot Hidden".
(sound of dice rolling, a few gasps and hoots as players react to their luck)
Those of you who succeeded see something horrifying and otherworldly that drives you...
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Calluna Vulgaris, more commonly known as Heather or Ling, is a flowering plant common to the Heath (habitat) and Moorland of Europe. It thrives in acidic soil, such as found in...
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Campaign Settings are settings published for role-playing games, whether they were invented specifically for RPGs or are based on other fiction.
Note: Limit yourself to one-page...
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Campbell Country can mean two things:
The equivalent of Lovecraft Country, but in England. Popularized by the works of Ramsey Campbell. See the TV Tropes Wiki for further...
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This Western Character drives the Chuckwagon, tends the fire, and fixes food for a camp of cowboys, miners, lumberjacks, or soldiers.
Often this is an older worker, who's no...
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Canada is a large country located on the most of the top half of North America. It is the 2nd largest country in the world. Canada is made up by 10 provinces and 3 territories....
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Canis Latinicus is a language trope. It represents "dog Latin" - made-up words that sound Latin for the purpose of making them sound more impressive.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Summary
December 11, 2007: A self-proclaimed poet and dramatist from Mexico who admitted to killing, cutting up, and cooking his girlfriend and feeding the remains to street dogs, was found dead...
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In this classic Time Travel Trope, the Time Traveler is prevented or prohibited from bringing anything back in time with him.
Occurs in two flavors:
It might be the result a...
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A Cap-and-Ball revolver, also known as a Percussion Revolver, is a pistol that uses a two-part (sometimes three-part) ammunition, a firing device known as a Caplock Mechansim,...
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She's cute, she's competent, and she likes you. Too bad she's on the other side.
The Capulet Counterpart takes the theme of the Star-Crossed Lovers and transplants it into an...
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A Carbon Planet is a planet similar to a terrestrial planet, but made of carbon and carbon-compounds instead of silicon-oxygen compounds found on earth.
It's core would likely be...
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Carcassonne (Carcassonna in the local Occitan language, Carcaso in Latin) is an ancient city in southern France which has been continuously inhabited since ~3500 BC. For more...
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It was the autumn of 1869 when a farmer in the Onondaga Valley of upstate New York made an incredible discovery. He was digging a new well and came upon an enormous limestone...
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Most common in the Southwestern Pacific region of the world, a cargo cult is any group or religious movement that believes manufactured western goods ('cargo') have been created...
Proper druid circles were hard to come buy in this New World, and in his weakened state, he lacked the strength to build one of his own. Thankfully, the correspondence was enough to function as a...
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Cartography is the practice and study of making representations of regions on a flat surface.
See Also
Map
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Being a...
"Kiss 'em, squeeze 'em;
Love 'em and leave 'em."
Basic Information
Sources
Named after the celebrated 18th Century adventurer Giacomo Casanova this character is a serial womanizer. His Little...
Summary
November 9, 2008: A contractor found $182,000 dating back to the Great Depression when tearing down a bathroom wall, but because he couldn't agree with the home owner how to distribute the...
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Domesticated cats have been around for thousands of years and have been worshiped, cast out, eaten, mummified, and shunned. The Egyptians worshiped them and mummified them in...
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The Perfecti, also known as Parfait, or Cathar Perfects, where the spiritual elite of of Catharism. The position is superficially similar to a Monk, Priest, Missionary, Healer or...
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The Cathars (also known as Albigensians, Bougres, Bulgars, or Bons Hommes et Bonnes Femmes) were a gnostic, dualistic sect of Christianity. They believed the world was created by...
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December 18, 2006: The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of Saudi Arabia have issued a decree that forbids the sale of dogs and cats in the...
CHORUS: Goodness me! Why, what was that?
DICK: Silent be, it was the cat!
CHORUS: It was, it was the cat!
CAPTAIN: They're right! It was the cat!
— The H.M.S. Pinafore by W.S. Gilbert
Basic...
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Cattle (colloquially cows) are large domesticated ungulates. They are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, most commonly classified as Bos primigenius. Cattle are raised...
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A Cattle Baron is the Rancher writ large. Instead of owning one regular-sized ranch, this Western Character will own several ranches, possibly in more than one state, or a...
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Causality is the relationship between two events, where one event is the cause and the other is the effect. I punch you, and as a result, you hurt.
Of course, Causality isn't...
ZAPHOD: Wee hoo! Hey, what a cave, man! Hey… we could really…
ARTHUR: We could really what?
ZAPHOD: We could really, you know… BE in this cave.
ARTHUR: We are in this cave.
ZAPHOD: And what...
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The Cave of Swallows is a pit cave situated in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Rods have been sighted here in large numbers.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Video of the Rods at the cave
2....
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Some heroes just aren't into romance. It could be because he feels that love would be a distraction from his duties. It could be because he's afraid his dangerous lifestyle will...
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Centralia, Pennsylvania is a former town in Pennsylvania. There are significant coal deposits below the town, which started to burn when local firefighters were careless when...
The <enter century here> consists of the following...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Science, Technology, Physics, Hadron, etc
Time Travel, Subatomic Particle, Black Hole
LHC aka Large Hadron...
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You'd think that a Time Traveler would have to go to exacting trouble researching the fashions of any era they wished to visit. According to this Trope, that's not really...
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According to the theory of Chaotic Inflation, new universes are constantly being formed, with their Big Bangs happening in our Quantum Foam. These bubble universes isolate from...
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A character's Alignment is a rough indication of his moral/ethical views. Many roleplaying games have alignment as an explicit game-mechanical property of a character. This...
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Characterization is the process of depicting and conveying information about characters, especially their personality, motivations, etc. There's several ways to go about...
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Characterization tropes are narrative tropes that flesh out characters in a story beyond their intended function for the plot. Contrast with Characters As Device.
List of...
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Characters represent a broad range of…
Wait. I don't really have to explain this one, right?
List of Character Types
Archetypal Character
Characters And Casting
Characters As...
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Characters as devices are tropes that represent character archetypes which fulfill specific roles within the plot. See also Stock Characters.
Contrast Characterization Tropes,...
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A Character Trope is a recognizable element of a story that defines or conveys information about a character.
They come in two main flavors:
Characters as Device - tropes that...
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Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a mental disorder which causes otherwise mentally healthy people to see hallucinations of things they know aren't there. It is named for the scientist...
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Called the "patron saint of cranks", Charles Hoy Fort was a satirist, a scholar and a relentless collector of weirdities and factoids that did not fit in with the scientific...
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The Chaste Hero is somewhat like the Celebate Hero in that neither one is interested in the opposite sex. They differ in that while the latter has renounced all women, the former...
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Chernobyl is a ghost town in the Ukraine. It was evacuated because of the Chernobyl disaster.
See Also
Urban Prairie
News: Chernobyl Fungus Feeds On...
Summary
May 23, 2007: Scientists have discovered fungi in the former nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, Ukraine which uses the radiation at the site as a source of food.
The article also discusses that...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Event: Chilean Blob
Event/News: Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Rocks Northern Chile
Event/News: 'Nazi hunt' launched in S...
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The Chilean Blob was a strange, 12 m long lump of flesh that surfaced on a beach in Los Muermos, Chile on June 23, 2003. It took some time until it could be identified as a...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov - this guy attempted to interbreed chimpanzees with humans.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Cities
Hong Kong
See Also
Chinese Launderer
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - security organization which China is a member...
Summary
August 12, 2007: This article describes how China is planning to implement technology to keep tabs on its citizens.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
This would...
Basic Information
Around the same time that The Wild West was seeing it's Gold Rush fever, China was experiencing economic woes, so it's only natural that many Chinese men immigrated to the US....
Basic Information
Prior to the invention and mass production of modern laundry machines, doing laundry was a lengthy, hot, dirty and tiring chore. Naturally, many people turned to professional...
Summary
September 24, 2008: The Chinese government is sponsoring the construction of a so-called EmDrive (short for "Electromagnetical Drive") which, according to its inventor, the British...
Summary
July 24, 2009: Chinese scientists have implanted skin cells of mice into mice embryos and brought them to term, resulting in mice whose genetic material is 95% identical with that of the...
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Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in plants. It absorbs light and converts it into energy for the plant. The light-absorbing components of chlorophyll are complex, many-body...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Chocolate Show
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Every year there is an annual chocolate fashion show where models dress up in clothes made by and with chocolate. Some of the articles of clothing are fabric infused with...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Bible
Cathars
End Of Days
Quiverfull
Prosperity Theology
News: Christian Soldiers
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Summary
June 19, 2009: There are accusations that Evangelist groups are abusing their endorsement of chaplains in the U.S. military to further their own agendas and to proselytize. Especially the...
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The Chronology Protection Conjecture by Stephen Hawking pretty much says Time Travel can't happen. Or at least, it can't happen for anything larger than the sub-microscopic.
In...
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Chthonian planets (sometimes spelled Cthonian) are the hypothetical planets left behind when a Gas Giant loses its gas. These planets are the rocky core left behind after a...
Summary
September 5, 2008: The CIA, the FBI, and the National Security Agency are planning to launch a new social networking site called A-Space on September 22, 2008. Members of the American...
Basic Information
Named after a Roman general, the Cincinnatus is a character who is given vast power in a crisis by a superior in the firm knowledge that he won't abuse this power (because of his...
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A cipher is a tool of cryptography - an algorithm for the encryption and decryption of information.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Analysis of Criminal Codes and Ciphers
2. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
A judge who moves from place to place within his area of jurisdiction, "riding the circuit." In the early days of the United States of America, the country had a large land area...
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A City Mouse is a character, often though not always female, who was born and raised in a city and has unexpectedly been transplanted to the countryside and now has to deal with...
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The Civillain is a former villain who has spent time in prison or otherwise went through the normal punishment for his crimes. Now he wants to be an upstanding member of society....
Summary
April 21, 2009: After the lost election in the United States, conservative bloggers are attacking each wildly, accusing each other of betrayal and insanity.
Source
Bibliography
1....
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Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The above is Clarke's Third Law, one of Clarke's Three Laws. It, along with the other laws, free up the...
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Clarke's Three Laws… Well, there's actually four such laws written by Arthur C. Clarke, plus a few corollaries put forth by others. They pertain to technology, predictions...
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Class F Stars are white and white-yellow stars. They are a little hotter, and often a little larger, than our sun. They're fairly rare, representing only 1 in 33 of the main...
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Class G stars are yellow and yellow-white stars. Our sun is a Class G star. Most Gs are main sequence dwarf stars, more properly classified as G V Stars. About 1 in 13 main...
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Classical Mythology is the melded jumble of Greek Mythology, Etruscan Mythology, and Roman Mythology. Due to Syncretism, Bisociation, and Interpretatio Graeca, the Greek and...
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Class K stars are orange stars, a little colder than our own sun. They range from huge Supergiants down to dwarf stars like the K V class. About 1 in 8 of the main sequence stars...
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Class M Stars are the most common type of stars in the galaxy, composing about 76% of the main sequence stars in our region of the galaxy. They are the next category colder than...
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Class O stars are very large, hot and bright. Their power output is over a million times that of our sun. They burn out "quickly" (on the astronomical scale). They emit mostly UV...
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Technically speaking, any second story artist who sneaks in through windows to rob people is called a Cat Burglar; but isn't cooler when the burglar is a sexy gal in a...
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Clay Theory is a concept of abiogenesis - a possible way by which life may have begun.
Though you might not guess it from a look at a lump of whet clay, like any silicate clay is...
Basic Information
Cleveland is a major city in Ohio.
Unformatted Information - please clean up!
One thing that may not have come through in your geography sources is the East Side/West Side split....
Summary
November 23, 2004: A hunter from Texas plans to build a web site where would-be hunters could pay for remotely controlling a gun via the Internet to shoot at live...
Basic Information
She's cute, and highly affectionate, and just the teensiest bit possessive. And if you so much as look at another woman, she's going to break your spine in three places. And then...
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A Clingy MacGuffin is Applied Phlebotinum which cannot be separated from its "owner". No matter what he does, it will always come back to him,
See Also
Artifact of...
"We don't have all the time in the world after all, don't you see? If we don't fix this paradox ourselves - and soon - we'll run into more of those things like that one that erased Johnson. Worse...
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A planet that lacks ground, or has been settled high in the clouds. You're so far up, and the sky is so cloudy, you rarely see the surface. Often, this is a Gas Giant that...
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The CMOT Dribbler, named after a character from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, is a stock character who always tries to sell merchandise of very dubious quality and/or...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Sources
Bibliography
1. Blazon - downloadable software
2. Coat of Arms Visual Designer- free Java applet allowing you to create your...
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Cockroaches have been on the planet for the last 350 million years according the fossil records we have.[6] There are thousands of species of cockroach on the planet, some sites...
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Coded Myth refers to the notion that classical works of mythology or religion may have secrets encoded within them. The goofy stories of lusty Gods may have meanings that go...
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The Codex Gigas, also known as the "Devil's Bible", is the largest known surviving medieval manuscript. It currently is at the National Library in Stockholm, Sweden. According to...
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Coelacanths are an order of ray-finned fish known mostly from fossils. They first evolved in the Devonian and were common and diverse from the latter part of the Devonian to the...
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Coffee is a brewed beverage which works as a stimulant, and is thus popular with people who need to work long hours or otherwise want to stave off sleep.
Drinking large amounts...
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Coin Rolling Scams are a form of Confidence Game involving a prop, that being a roll of coins. The scams vary quite a bit, but are fairly simple. You put the wrong type of coin...
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In his book Hyperspace, Michio Kaku devotes just over a page to discussion of the notion of the Collapse of Causality, a Disaster that is a likely consequence of the spread and...
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A collection agency is a business that pursues payments on debts owed by individuals or businesses. Many of them are very ruthless in collecting debts, and will not shy away from...
Summary
November 12, 2008: Recent American college and university graduates find themselves with high student debts and low job prospects as their country heads into a recession, leading to an...
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The Monopoly by Royal Decree system was applied in the Colonial Era, and it shaped (warped, even) the economy of the colonies. Most colonies were established by Charter Companies...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Colorado Locations
Ogallala Aquifer
Sources
Bibliography
1. Fairfield Project Wiki entry
2. Wikipedia entry
Game and...
Basic Information
A Combat Role is a definition of what a character does during a battle, fight scene, or military engagement. I don't mean what they do at a random specific moment, but rather the...
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Combat tropes are topical tropes about combat in general.
List of Combat Tropes
Air Jousting
All Your Colors Combined
Annoying Arrows
Armor Is Useless
Attack Pattern...
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This is a house rule I like to use in my campaigns. If a player's character takes damage in a manner which unrelated to the main plot and which is funny, it is ruled comedy...
Basic Information
Comedy tropes are genre tropes that frequently appear in comedy shows.
List of Comedy Tropes
Acceptable Targets
Once Acceptable Targets
Accidental Athlete
Acid Reflux...
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Comelenguas is "an unseen beast that feeds on the tongues of sleeping cattle"[1]. By some accounts it's about the size of a turkey, and at least somewhat bat-like. Other names...
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"The Dirty Snowballs" of our solar system, Comets are small bodies of rock and ice that orbit our Sun. They are similar to asteroids, but distinguished by their fuzzy atmosphere...
Summary
November 9, 2007: At the time the article was written, the dust cloud of comet Holmes was larger in diameter than the Sun.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story...
Basic Information
Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 was a large comet that impacted on Jupiter from July 16 to July 22 1994, where the impact caused enormous explosions.
See Also
Meteor...
Basic Information
Comox Valley is located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It contains Courtenay, Comox, Cumberland, Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Black Creek, Merville, Denman Island and...
"The Computer Is Your Friend."
Paranoia RPG
Basic Information
A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.[1]
Defining exactly when the computer was invented...
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A Conestoga Wagon is a particularly advanced form of Covered Wagon that first appeared in the early 1750s in Pennsylvania.
Form
The Conestoga Wagon is shaped somewhat like a...
Basic Information
A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, or swindle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by...
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A con man, con artist, bunko artist, or grifter is a person who uses scams and frauds (also known as confidence games) to extort or swindle money out of other individuals. Follow...
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The Connecticut Yankee is a character who is stranded in the past long before their own birth. Once they're over the initial shock of it, they settle down to improve the past...
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A Consociational State is a state which has major splits along ethnic, religious, cultural, or linguistic lines in a way that keeps one group from dominating the others, but...
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As the name implies, the term Conspiracy Theory refers to theories and explanations that certain historical or current events were not the result of innocent coincidence, lone...
Please change this page according to your needs
"I'm just a simple unfrozen caveman lawyer…"
Basic Information
This character is a Caveman, but transplanted to the Modern Day (or some other civilized era).
Related Tropes:
Fish Out Of...
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Continuum is a role-playing game published by Aetherco in the late 90s. In the game, players have the ability to time travel and teleport. In effect, you are your own Time...
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A cookbook is a book containing recipes and information about cooking. Books about food have existed since ancient times, but the earliest ones were written either to provide a...
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Co-orbital Moons are two or more moons circling the same planet at roughly the same distance from that planet.
The only example of this in our solar system is Janus and...
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A Coronal Mass Ejection is a huge blast or wave of plasma ejected from a star. The plasma is mostly made of loose electrons and protons. CMEs travel at extremely high speeds, and...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Corporations
Amway
eBay
Google
Wal-Mart
See Also
Corrupt Corporate Executive
Megacorp
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
A corpse, or cadaver, is the deceased body of an animal that was alive at one time. This can also be extended to plants, but is more often in referral to animals. Just exactly...
Summary
August 8, 2008: A Dutch amateur astronomer has discovered something which might be a new class of astronomical object.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
A...
That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
- H. P. Lovecraft, The Call Of Cthulhu (1926)
Basic Information
Cosmic horror is a genre of horror where humans...
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The Coso Artifact is a spark plug found in a lump of rock near Olancha, California on February 13, 1961. One of the people who found it claimed that a geologist told her that the...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: How Trafigura tried to cover up African pollution disaster
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story...
Summary
March 10, 2009: The article explains the possible reasons for a future conflict between India and China over Tibet:
Some Chinese officials have publicly asserted claims over the...
Summary
February 26, 2009: This short article mentions potential vampire variants in Nicaragua - including the chupacabra, comelenguas, and Desmodus draculae.
It also says an exterminator (well,...
This page lists various real world countries, both current and historical. For mythological countries or fantastic versions of ostensibly real countries, refer to Mythological Places or Fictional...
Basic Information
Covered Wagons were commonly used to settle and travel great distances from the Colonial Era to The Wild West. The term covered wagon might mean anything from a run down old farm...
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The Cowboy is the archetypal character of The Western, perhaps the quintessential American hero. In the simplest terms, a "cowboy" is someone whose primary job is tending a herd...
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The Cowboy Cop is a Police Officer or Detective who bends the rules, roughs up suspects, ignores his Boss, and/or violates the Constitution - all in the name of catching the...
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The Cowgirl is the Distaff Counterpart of the Cowboy. This Western Character is often depicted as a Plucky Girl in Western garb, who can ride and shoot as well as any man, but...
Summary
July 1, 2000: Crime is so prevalent in Brazil that some companies have resorted to making deals with criminals. For instance, one company made a deal with a drug cartel - in exchange for...
Basic Information
A Crapsack World is a setting where everything that can go wrong is going wrong. This isn't limited to the protagonists, but to pretty much everyone.
See Also
Black And Gray...
Basic Information
A Crazy Cat Lady is an elderly person (commonly, though not necessarily female) who has developed an affinity with a specific type of animal, of which large numbers will flock to...
Basic Information
The Crazy Survivalist is a stock character who's certain that one day society will collapse, and he'll be one of the survivors. He prepares for this eventuality - stockpiling...
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth…. And God said, "Let there be light;" and there was light.
—Genesis 1:1, 3 KJV
Basic Information
Genesis 1:1 - 2:3
The book of Genesis...
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One of the oldest questions mankind has asked about the universe is, "How did the world come to be?" For much of mankind's history, this question was the exclusive province of...
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The Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event - also known as the KT extinction was a disaster that occurred 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs, as well as numerous...
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Basic Information
Crime and Punishment Tropes are genre tropes which predominantly appear in Crime and Punishment shows.
List of Crime and Punishment Tropes
Acquitted Too Late
All In Hand
All...
Basic Information
Societies define crime as the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment.
Written codes of laws go back...
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A criminal is a person who commits crimes.
If an act or item is criminal, it means a law proscribes a punishment for those who perform the act or possess the item.
See...
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Basic Information
A cruise ship is a passenger ship intended for pleasure voyages, with the stay aboard the ship intended to be part of the enjoyment.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
In the alternative science of cryptozoology, the term cryptid denotes a creature:
whose existence is suggested by folklore or sightings, but has not been proven by scientific...
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Cryptozoology (from Greek κρυπτός, kruptos, "hidden" + zoology; literally, "study of hidden animals") is the study of and search for animals which fall outside of...
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Crystal Island is a planned arcology in Moscow, Russia. As of 2009, construction has been postponed indefinitely because of the Global financial crisis of...
Basic Information
Crystal Spires and Togas is a speculative fiction trope that codifies the appearance of an advanced society, usually one from the far future. It's a blend of New Age and Ancient...
Summary
July 28, 2009: New technologies and a new discovery stand a chance at finally revealing what happened during the infamous missing 18.5 minutes of the Nixon tapes. The tapes were the...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
"Ktulu! / Ktulu's so he-ea-ea-a-avy / he's driving you mad. / He's driving you mad! / He's driving you. / Hyeah! / He's so / Heavy! / Heavy! / Heavy! / Yeah!"
- Ktulu (He's So Heavy) by...
Basic Information
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared universe created by H.P. Lovecraft and used by many other writers. It forms the basis of the Call of Cthulhu RPG (as well as the Delta Green...
Then was the Scold herself,
In a wheelbarrow brought,
Stripped naked to the smock,
As in that case she ought:
Neats tongues about her neck
Were hung in open show;
And thus unto the cucking...
Summary
January 19, 2008: In the Iraqi cities of Basra and Nasiriya, security forces fought with members of a cult called "Supporters of Mahdi" or "Soldiers of Heaven" during the celebrations of...
"I think this is it," Doc said examining the inscription on the massive stone door.
"What does it say?" Penny asked, shifting the burnished brass plate she held to reflect more light on the...
Basic Information
After the incident of the Drunkeness of Noah (Genesis 9:20-13), Noah cursed his son Ham for… well, presumably for being a butthead about it. This is what Noah said:
"Cursed by...
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The so-called "Zero-Year Curse", also known as the Curse of Tecumseh or the Curse of Tippecanoe, was first widely popularized by a "Ripley's Believe it or Not" cartoon from 1931....
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Customer service is the branch of a company which provides service before, during, and after a purchase. As a result, they interact heavily with the customers, and are among the...
Basic Information
The Cute Witch is a character type who possesses magic and some of the physical accessories of the traditonal "Halloween" witch (black cat, rides a broom, and the obligatory...
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This trope is most prevalent in Cyberpunk and Twenty Minutes Into The Future settings. At it's simplest, it's the concept that cybernetic limbs, gadgets, and weapons drives you...
Basic Information
Cyberpunk is a speculative fiction trope which centers on how information technology, both good and bad, transforms society.
Related Tropes
Artificial Limbs
City Of...
Redirect: see Cyberpunk.
Basic Information
This bibliography page lists sources that might be useful in running a Cyberpunk game.
Sources
Books
Misha Glenny:
McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld - a...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand!
Cities
Kutná Hora
Prague
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Da Chief is a Police Chief, Police Commissioner, Commanding Officer or other Senior Officer who exists just to be the foil to the Cowboy Cop. As such, they are always strict and...
Summary
June 4, 2009: A man in Sherborne, Dorset, England bought a zebra, trained it, and rode it to his favorite pub. Lucky for him Zebras have a built in homing sense that will let the zebra...
Basic Information
In Astrophysics, a DAEMON is a DArk Electric Matter Object - don't ask me where they get the N from.
DAEMOns are subatomic black holes. These are one of the proposed explanations...
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The Dark Action Girl is the Action Girl's evil counterpart. She kicks butt just as well as her goody-goody opposite, but without any annoying traits like loyalty or nobility....
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Dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy which permeates the entire universe and increases the rate of expansion of the universe, thus ensuring that our universe will succumb...
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DarkMarket was an English-speaking internet cybercrime forum run undercover by the FBI in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The web site allowed buyers and sellers of stolen identities...
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Over the years our scientists have done a lot of analysis of our universe. One thing they've noticed is that there's not as much visible matter in our galaxy as there "should" be...
Basic Information
The Dark Matter Halo is a huge area and volume of space at the edges of our galaxy that seems likely to be full of Dark Matter. Of course, we can't see the Dark Matter, but we...
Basic Information
The Dark Planet is essentially Mordor in space. It's continuously night, with a nasty storm brewing. Chances are the Big Bad Evil Guy lives here, in his imposing Evil Tower Of...
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The Darvaza Gas Crater is a site in Turkmenistan rich in natural gas. The Soviet Union attempted to drill there for gas in 1971, but the ground collapsed. To prevent the gas from...
Basic Information
The Darwinist is a type of villain who believes that only the strong, cunning, and ruthless have a right to be on top, and that the weak and poor deserve their fate. What makes...
This page lists news articles and events for <enter day here>.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified...
Basic Information
Deadlands is a RPG and campaign setting published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. The setting is an alternate history of the Wild West, called The Weird West. It's set in 1876,...
Basic Information
Deadly Lunge is a horror trope that sometimes applies to ordinarily slow-moving monsters, such as zombies - whenever they notice prey close by, they will suddenly display a burst...
Summary
July 29, 2008: A strange, dead creature was allegedly washed ashore at Montauk, New York.
This story has not been confirmed by a reputable source, and might be a...
Basic Information
Death is the end of all your biological functions. It encompasses the concepts of Clinical Death, Legal Death and Brain Death. The more our medical science and technology...
Basic Information
The Death Seeker is a character who wants to die in combat. Suicide won't do. They won't take the easy way out, it's got to be a glorious bloody end. Problem is, they're lousy at...
Basic Information
Death tropes are topical tropes about the many forms that death can take in a story.
List of Death Tropes
Acquitted Too Late
A Death In The Limelight
Alas Poor Scrappy
Alas Poor...
Basic Information
Death Valley is the lowest, driest, and hottest location in North America.
Death Valley is known for its moving rocks - rocks of varying sizes, from small stones to larger...
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A death world is a planet where everything tries to kill you. It may have a toxic atmosphere, or poisonous plants. It may have venomous, ravenous, infectious, or just really big...
The <enter decade here> consist of the following...
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Decapitation is the removal of the head from the body. It may be accidental, such as in an explosion or car crash. It may be intentional, as in murder or the method of execution...
Basic Information
December is the twelth month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for December 10.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 11.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 13.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 14.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 17.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 18.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 19.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 2.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 20.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 22.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 23.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 26.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 27th.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 29.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 30.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 31.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 5.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 6.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 7.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for December 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Basic Information
The Trope:
The Deep Cover Agent appears to be a normal, happy, patriotic, stereotypical housewife and/or soccer mom. In reality, though, she (and it's always a she) is actually a...
Basic Information
The Deep State is said to be a group of powerful, anti-democratic forces within Turkey, consisting of members of the Turkish intelligence agencies, military, security, judges,...
Summary
April 4, 2009: In defiance of international protests, North Korea has launched a missile from its Musudan-ri launch site, which allegedly carries an "experimental communications...
Basic Information
Degenerate Matter is matter that has been so heavily compressed, the atoms just can't get any closer without changing to a higher quantum energy state. It's squished so tight,...
Basic Information
This Time Travel Trope deals with the notion that whatever consequences come from a Temporal Paradox will take a while to catch up with the characters who changed history. It's...
Basic Information
Delta Green is a campaign setting for Call of Cthulhu (i.e. using the Cthulhu Mythos). It focuses on an American government conspiracy dedicated to fighting supernatural and...
Basic Information
Demarchy is a system of government where important government positions are filled by random lot from an available pool of citizens.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
A Demon is an evil spirit from mythology, folklore or religion.
Appearance:
Demons could look like anything. If you examine the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, for example, you'll...
Basic Information
Demonic possession occurs when a character's body or mind is taken over by a demon or similar evil entity.
See Also
Body Snatcher
Split Personality Takeover
The Puppet...
Summary
February 4, 2008: More than 100 students in a primary school in Uganda became hysterical in what authorities described as an "attack by demons. Some of the students had undressed, and the...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Denmark locations
Greenland
See Also
Norse Mythology
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
This article is about a trope.
Depleted Phlebotinum Shells represent a modification to a weapon or ammunition to take out a specific kind of enemy that would otherwise be...
Basic Information
A desert is a type of terrain with little to no vegetation.
List of Deserts
Black Rock Desert
Death Valley, California
Rub' al Khali
Sahara
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
A classic trope of speculative fiction, the Desert Planet is a One-Biome Planet set to Desert. It often comes with some sort of Hydraulic Empire - a form of despotism based on...
Basic Information
Desmodus draculae is a giant vampire bat that lived during the Pleistocene. Fossil and subfossilized remains have been found in Venezuela and Brazil. Some remains were not...
Basic Information
Western Characters who seek to claim land by improving it through agriculture. He is determined to have a place that he owns in his own right, come hell or high water. Even if a...
Basic Information
Determined Homesteaders tend to have a lot of kids. In the real American West, they'd have several more than is typically depicted in the movies (because child actors are so...
Basic Information
The Determined Homesteaders Wife is a character trope common to both The Western and the Romance Novel. With her in the mix, either member of the couple could qualify as a...
Basic Information
The Determined Widow is a former Determined Homesteaders Wife who lost her husband, tragically. It's quite common for in The Western for her widow-i-ness to be her defining...
Basic Information
Detroit is a city in Michigan, United States. It used to be a major site for factories for the American car industry, but the decline of this industry has caused the city to...
Summary
October 1, 2009: In Detroit, dead bodies are piling up in the morgues as the high unemployment in the city means that many people can no longer afford either burial or cremation for their...
Summary
March 31, 2009: Three companies have jointly created a "Brain-Machine Interface", allowing someone to control a robot by thought alone.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and...
Basic Information
Device Magic is magic performed with some form of mystical device or relic. In this sort of system, the only magic that can be done without some sort of potion or magic item is...
Basic Information
Devil is sometimes used as just another word for Demon. In other settings, a Devil is a specific type of Demon. In yet others, it is a distinct form of evil Spirit that is...
Basic Information
The Devil's Tramping Ground is a barren circle in a forest near Bennett, North Carolina. For at least a century, nothing has grown within the 12 foot ring, and so far, nobody has...
Basic Information
Dialogue represents narrative tropes about all the things characters say to each other.
List of Dialogue Tropes
Analogy Backfire
Announcer Chatter
Answering The Not Actually The...
Summary
October 29, 2009: A team of scientists has proposed that 2.5 to 3 million years ago Earth was littered with tiny nuclear reactors, similar to the natural nuclear fission reactors at Oklo...
Basic Information
Did Not Do The Research is what happens when the writer of a story did not pay enough attention to real world facts.
List of Did Not Do The Research tropes
All Animals Are...
Basic Information
(Genesis chapter 34: v.1-31)
Jacob had twelve sons, whose descendants became the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He undoubtably had several daughters too, but only one is mentioned in...
Summary
July 21, 2003: A rare dinosaur skeleton on loan to the Newcastle Regional Museum in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia from China has been stolen.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Summary
July 23, 2009: Dozens of people in New Jersey have been arrested by the FBI and the IRS in an corruption investigation which has been going on for more than ten years. The charges include...
Summary
May 12, 2009: This news article concerns a United Nations meeting to discuss Global Warming. The latest predictions from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are that the sea...
Basic Information
A Disaster Movie is a film genre in which the protagonist have to face some kind of huge disaster - either natural or man-made - and deal with the consequences.
See Also
Alien...
Basic Information
Disposal of human corpses is the process and practice of interring, or getting rid of, a human corpse, whether for religious, sanitary, or secrecy...
Basic Information
Heroes do not exist in a vaccuum. Every Hero is but one corner of the Mystic Trinity of Plot: The Hero, the Villain and the Victim, who must be rescued by the Hero from the...
Basic Information
Disturbing The Peace is the misdemeanor infraction typically associated with loud and disruptive noises. Arguing and loud insults, challenges and fighting are most exciting...
Summary
August 17, 2009: According to Israeli scientists, it is possible to fake evidence for DNA profiling. All that is needed is some DNA from a discarded drinking cup, a cigarette butt, or even...
Basic Information
John Dolittle was not particularly happy working as a doctor in the tiny English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. He was shy, introverted, and didn't get along particularly well...
Summary
August 4, 2009: The village of Kodinji, India (population ~15,000) is home to over 230 sets of twins. This is 4 times the statistical average for a community of it's size. Currently, 5...
Summary
April 1, 2009: A 64 years-old Swiss woman has reported that she has an imaginary "third arm" that appeared after she had suffered a stroke. It appears pale, milky-white, and she can use it...
Summary
August 14, 2008: The names of nearly 24,000 spies serving with the American Office of Strategic Services during World War II have been declassified and released to the general...
"What gentler eye,
What nobler heart,
Doth warm the winter's day;
Than the true-blue orb
And the oaken core
Of beloved Old Dog Tray?"
— Walt Kelly
Basic Information
The Dog (Canis lupus...
Summary
November 17, 2007: Members of a Russian doomsday cult called the True Russian Orthodox Church have sealed themselves off in a cave near the Volga river in Nikolskoye in the Penza region of...
Basic Information
Double-Action Only denotes a Revolver that cannot be manually cocked. As with other Double Action Revolvers, pulling the trigger cocks the gun and advances the cylinder, but in...
Basic Information
A Revolver is said to be Double-Action if it's trigger assembly includes a mechanism where pulling the trigger cocks the hammer. This results in a faster rate of fire than a...
Basic Information
A Double Planet is actually two planets, a planetary form of Binary System.
Actually, it's hard to say where exactly the cut-off between a Double Planet and a Planet-Moon system...
Basic Information
Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan was an airplane mechanic and aviator who was among the first generation of transatlantic flyers.
He was born in Galveston, Texas and became...
This page is about the big scaly winged beast. For the character role of the main villain's right hand man (or beat stick), see The Dragon.
Basic Information
A dragon is a legendary creature with...
Basic Information
Dragonflies are a type of insect.
See Also
News: Legless frogs mystery solved
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Thanks to their ability to hover,...
Basic Information
She's sexy, she's seductive, and you'd be amazed at how many sharp bladed weapons she can hide in that slinky silk dress. She's the Yellow Peril in one sexy package. You're not...
Redirect: Dragon
Basic Information
Dragon's Breath is a type of shotgun ammunition that produces a long burst of flame, similar to a flamethrower. Sparks and fire shoot out to a range of about 5 meters.
The rounds...
Basic Information
Drama tropes are genre tropes that primarily appear in dramas.
List of Drama Tropes
Achey Scars
Achilles Heel
All Up To You
Always Murder
Arc Words
As Long As There Is One...
Basic Information
On February 10, 1910, Horace de Vere Cole and several friends pose as a delegation from Abyssinia and convince the Royal Navy to show them their flagship, the HMS Dreadnought....
Basic Information
Dreams are the images, thoughts and feelings experienced while asleep.
See Also
Nightmare
News: 'Dream centre' of the brain found
News: Nightmares for many are very, very...
Summary
September 10, 2004: Scientists have found the part of the brain that is responsible for dreams.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
If dreams are the gateway to...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
By drink Ford Prefect meant alcohol. The Encyclopaedia Galactica describes alcohol as a colourless, volatile liquid formed by the fermentation of sugars, and also notes its intoxication effect of...
Basic Information
Driverless Cars are cars that can move without a manual operator, likely steered by an artificial intelligence.
Sources
Bibliography
1. The Implications of Robot Cars and...
"It's good to be king!"
— Mel Brooks, History of the World Part I
Basic Information
The droit de seigneur, also called "first night" or "primæ noctis", is the alleged right of a lord to take...
Basic Information
There is a magical place located in Mayfair in London, just off Piccadilly in Dover Street; a place where the idle rich sons of Britain's idiot aristocracy can lounge, loaf and...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Drugs
Opium
See Also
Drug Cartel
News: Dubai tourists warned over tough drug stance
News: Police 'can't cope' as...
Basic Information
Drug cartels are criminal organizations developed with the primary purpose of promoting and controlling drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely-managed agreements...
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It's possible for a location or nation to recognize / use more than one currency at a time.
There may be a Grain-based Local Currency and a National Currency that bears the...
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Dubai refers to both one of the member states of the United Arab Emirates and the main city of the same emirate. It is a rapidly growing financial and business center, with one...
Summary
February 8, 2008: People visiting Dubai have been arrested for drug smuggling even when they only carried certain types of medicine commonly available in Western countries or, in one case,...
Basic Information
The Dubai Ziggurat is a proposed arcology to be built in Dubai.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Dubai Ziggurat Carbon Neutral Pyramid Arcology
Game and Story Use
Ziggurats were...
Basic Information
The Ducking Stool is a chair into which a minor criminal could be strapped, and then dunked into the water as punishment. In some communities the ducking stool would be a...
Basic Information
The Dude Ranch Cowboy is similar to the working cowboy, but whose job is to give "dudes" (tourists) a taste of The Theme Park Version of ranch life. Generally more careful of his...
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The DUKW (popularly pronounced "duck") is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed by General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops...
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The Dulce base is believed to be a sprawling underground complex located beneath Archuleta Mesa on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation near Dulce, New Mexico. For decades, this...
Basic Information
She's not the sharpest tool in the shed. She's not brightest bulb in the marquee. She moves her lips when she reads the cereal box. She's a Dumb Blonde.
She's not always a ditz....
"The terror induced by forests and darkness," said a mocking voice from somewhere over her head, "was called by the Ancients, Panic fear, or the fear of the great god Pan. It is interesting to...
Basic Information
The duoped is a ridiculous little two-wheeled human-powered vehicle that is a little like a skateboard, or roller skates, or bicycle. Except much less stable than any of those....
Summary
September 23, 2009: A dust storm has enveloped Sydney, Australia, causing the city to be bathed into an eerie red light at dawn which was likened by many people to a scene at the End of...
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"Dwarf planet" is a new category of astronomical object defined by the International Astronomical Union in 2006. A dwarf planet has sufficient mass to be rounded by its own...
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On February 2, 1959, nine ski hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains in Russia in a bizarre incident. Apparently, the hikers tore open their tent from within and wandered...
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A Dyson Bubble is a form of Dyson Sphere. It's similar to a Dyson Swarm, except composed of statites instead of satellites. Each statite maintains a stationary position relative...
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A Dyson Net would basically be a giant net of cables and wires encircling a star. Solar collectors are hung from the net. This may be a way to get higher efficiency out of a...
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A Dyson Ring is the simplest form of Dyson Swarm. It's a row of energy-collecting satellites (and possibly a few space habitats) in a single orbit. They follow like a chain or...
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The Dyson Shell is the form of Dyson Sphere that is most commonly depicted in science fiction. This is a real shame, because the Shell is the least feasible and most unstable...
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Dyson Sphere is a term that encompasses several ideas created by scientist Freeman Dyson. A Dyson Sphere is a Stellar Megastructure, or a series of smaller structures that...
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Sources
A Dyson Swarm is one type of Dyson Sphere, a category of Stellar Megastructure intended to collect energy from a Star. It's a collection of orbiting solar power...
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Earth is the third planet in the solar system and the birthplace of humanity. It orbits the sun, and is orbited by the moon.
Regions and Continents of...
Basic Information
A trope where the heroes destroy the MacGuffin to prevent others from using it.
Sources
Bibliography
1. TV Tropes Wiki entry
Game and Story Use
This trope is nothing but...
Basic Information
The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot ("EATR") is a planned robot sponsored by the Pentagon which can acquire its own fuel by "eating" organic material in its vicinity - up...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Sources
Bibliography
1. eBay Home Page
2. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Periodically search the # Everything Else > Weird...
Basic Information
Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
- Wikipedia
Here's some pages on Arcana Wiki that have...
Summary
June 1, 2008: The article discusses the possibility of the Technological Singularity, and compares it with previous "singularities" - transition periods of great change. It argues that...
Basic Information
The Economic system describes the way economic interactions within a nation or region take place.
Types of Economic Systems
Ideological Economic Systems
Anarchist...
Basic Information
Ecumenopolis is a "city made of the whole world". The term was coined in 1967 to discuss the notion that urban areas may spread like ribbons around the globe, following the major...
Summary
March 25, 2009: The Egyptian government has tried to dispel rumors that an SMS is spreading around Egypt "from unknown foreign quarters" which kills those who read it. According to the...
Summary
November 4, 2008: Scientists have discovered simple, eight-armed life forms which lived in the Ediacaran Period 635 to 541 million years ago. They went extinct shortly before the Cambrian...
Basic Information
Einstein-Rosen Bridge is a technical term for the wormhole at the center of a black hole. This wormhole connects our universe to a mirror universe. This mirror universe, and the...
Basic Information
An ekranoplan is a vehicle resembling an aircraft but with shorter "wings. It supports itself above the ground using the ground effect. It was developed in the Soviet Union...
Basic Information
An Elaborate Underground Base represents a setting and a speculative fiction trope. A villain or organization commonly uses this to evade detection, for increased security, or...
Basic Information
Elders are characters whose main feature are their advanced years.
List of Elder Archetypes
Badass Grandpa
Cool Old Guy
Cool Old Lady
Curse Of The Ancients
Dirty Old Man
Dirty...
Esteban pointed excitedly across the lake. "See? The old Indian was telling the truth!"
Carlos looked at the small city he and Esteban had travelled so far to find. A crowd of natives were...
Basic Information
Eldritch Abominations are a a form of inhuman character, threat, or plot device, depending on just how inhuman they are. As a trope, they most commonly occur in the Cosmic Horror...
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An Elemental is a creature formed entirely of one of the classical elements in mysticism, alchemy, mythology and modern fantasy fiction. An elemental is believed to be a being of...
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In European folklore, these small creatures are quite industrious. They will come into homes at night to help those they find deserving. They will do the work for the owners with...
Basic Information
Despite the misleadingly cool name, Ellerman Bombs are not some sort of sci-fi weaponry, they're actually just a form of solar flare. They are small (in solar scale) solar...
Basic Information
In the novel The Getaway by Jim Thompson, the main characters are criminals trying to escape the law and get across the border into Mexico. The ultimate goal of their journey is...
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Summary
February 1, 2008: The co-pilot on a flight from Toronto, Canada to London, United Kingdom had a mental breakdown over the Atlantic Ocean, swearing and asking for God. He was restrained by...
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The End of Days refers to The End Of The World As We Know It, but with a decidedly religious context. In addition to the End Times foretold in the Abrahamic Religions of Judaism,...
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The Endura was a form of ritual suicide associated with the Cathars. In their world view, the physical flesh was an evil imperfection of the spiritual realm one could attain...
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The Enigmatic Minion is a type of villain who apparently serves the Big Bad of the story, yet who apparently has his own agenda which may or may not be at odds with either the...
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Erlangen is a medium-sized city with about 100,000 inhabitants in Franconia, the northern part of Bavaria. Its economy is mostly dependent on the Siemens Corporation (which has...
Basic Information
Escape Velocity is the speed needed to get beyond the gravitational pull of an object. It is most commonly heard in relation to spacecraft leaving a planet, but the term also...
Basic Information
Espionage tropes are genre tropes of espionage fiction and movies.
List of Espionage Tropes
Deep Cover Agent
Double Agent
Fake Defector
False Flag Operation
Government Agency Of...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Kingdom of Prester John
News: [[[Ethiopia's passion for bureaucracy]]
Event/News: Hark! Where's the Bible...
Summary
August 10, 2009: A reporter preparing to leave Addis Ababa reflects on the quirks of the bureaucracy of Ethiopia - especially its obsession which rubber stamps, which are not only...
Summary
September 19, 2009: The European Union is currently funding a five-year program called Project INDECT with the goal of developing software tools which can "automatically detect threats or...
Basic Information
Eurabia is a shorthand for the belief that Europe will soon be subsumed by the Arab World, because of alleged appeasement towards Muslims as well as high birth rates of Muslim...
Basic Information
The Evil Laugh usually starts with "mua", "mwa", or sometimes "nya", followed by a bunch of "hahahaha".
It can be roughly translated as:
I'm an evil supervillain, card carrying...
Basic Information
The Evil Matriarch is a character who generally is the oldest female member of an extended family. She will meddle in the affairs of her descendants, and often outright dominate...
Basic Information
Evil tropes are morality tropes that examine the many facets of Evil.
List of Evil Tropes
Artifact Of Death
Avenging The Villain
Bad Powers Bad People
Bald Of Evil
Beard Of...
""I was far more evil then you ever were."
- Stormbringer
Basic Information
A subtype of the Artifact of Doom, the evil weapon is a self-aware magical weapon, with an evil personality.
The type of...
Basic Information
Evolution is the process of species changing over time.
Theories of Evolution
Darwinian Evolution - now evolved itself into Modern Evolutionary...
Basic Information
An Exilarchy is a government which is established for or rules over a religious or ethnic diaspora rather than ruling from the origin of this group.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Exotic Matter is a hypothetical form of matter. Most commonly and properly it refers to matter that has Negative Mass. More information can be found on the Negative Mass...
Summary
October 14, 2008: Scientists from the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Australia, China and Japan are preparing for an expedition which will explore the Gamburtsev Mountains, a...
Basic Information
In the shadow of the Space Needle in Seattle is a brightly colored, strangely-shaped building. It's made of sheet metal bent in twisting organic forms, including elements...
Basic Information
This Speculative Fiction Trope is about how Sci-Fi films and movies pretty much always do explosions wrong, especially explosions in outer space.
What You See
In a movie, an...
Basic Information
Explosive Decompression is a somewhat misleading term. Hollywood, in particular, has been mislead by it, and continues to mislead the viewing public with this speculative fiction...
Basic Information
The Faceman is the character in a group who has the best social skills or the most charisma. In fact, that's the character's main gimmick, practically to the exclusion of all...
Basic Information
In the Volsunga Saga, Fafnir is the name of a dwarf, son of a dwarvish king, strong of arm and fearless in spirit. He and his brother, Regin, killed their father to gain a...
Basic Information
Fairies are a type of spirit which, depending on which mythological source you ask, can be nature spirits, spirits of the dead, former angels who allied neither with Heaven nor...
In Adam's fall
We sinned all.
—New England Primer, 1784
Basic Information
Sources
The Creation account in Genesis 1-2 describes the world as a perfect place, a garden where Adam and Eve, the...
Basic Information
A False Flag Operation is a military attack (or other covert action) that is intended to fool the enemy, the observers, and/or the public into thinking it was perpetrated by a...
Basic Information
A family is a social unit bound together by bonds of blood relation, marriage, or adoption.
See Also
Family Tropes
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story...
Summary
August 11, 2008: The family of a teenager shot by the police in Montreal, Canada protests the riots which erupted from demonstrations by locals against the killing.
Source
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Family tropes are topical tropes related to the family of the characters in a story.
List of Family Tropes
Anime In Laws
Black Sheep
The Clan
Big Screwed Up...
Basic Information
A character with a Famous Ancestor is someone who is a descendant of someone who did something really spectacular. The implications for the character vary - maybe he only gets...
Basic Information
Fan-Speak is terminology which, while not officially accepted by dictionaries or scientific works, is nevertheless well understood by the fandom of a specific genre.
List of...
Basic Information
Fantastica is the setting of most of the children's novel The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
List of Locations
List of Characters
Childlike Empress
Gmork
List of...
Basic Information
Fantasy is a genre and type of speculative fiction, usually involving settings where magic or other supernatural powers exist, without attempts to explain them...
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Summary
January 20, 2005: Local people on the Thai island of Phuket as well as the Phi Phi and Khao Lak resorts claim that the local beaches are being haunted by the ghosts of Western foreigners...
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Basic Information
The Fastest Gun In The West is a title only one Gunslinger has the right to claim at a time. It refers to the Character who has the ultimate Quick Draw. Nobody can draw and fire...
Basic Information
Fate And Prophecy Tropes are topical tropes about the foretold destiny of characters.
List of Fate and Prophecy Tropes
Because Destiny Says So
Blind Seer
Crystal Ball
The Chosen...
Basic Information
It's not easy being a Faux Action Girl. She has the look; she has the reputation; she has the credentials; but somehow when the time comes to kick butt, she's the one who gets...
Map provided by Google Maps
Fayetteville, Arkansas is a small town with an "old soul" feel to it, especially the downtown area commonly refered to as The Square and Dickson Street where most of...
Summary
February 8, 2008: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, has expanded the powers of an organization called InfraGard consisting of...
Basic Information
A Feat or Edge is a type of Special Ability that is available in many RPGs.
A Feat or Edge is differentiated from a Merit or Advantage in that, except for exceptional...
Basic Information
February is the second month of the Julian and Gregorian Calendars.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for February 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 10.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 11.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 13.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 15.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 18.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 2.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 20.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 21.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 23.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 24.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 25.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 26.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 27.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for .
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed under...
This page lists news articles and events for February 8.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for February 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Summary
November 26, 2008: Federal agents recover an 18 kt gold bookmark reportedly given to Adolf Hitler by his mistress Eva Braun. The item was one of several stolen in an auction house...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Locations
Nan Madol
Sources
Bibliography
1. Federated States of Micronesia Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
The Federation of Damanhur is a spiritual community/commune located in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, about 50 km (30 miles) north of the city of Turin. It was...
Basic Information
Felo-de-se is a Latin term meaning "evildoer upon himself" or ''felon of himself", a crime roughly similar to suicide. Prior to 1870, however, it was a separate crime in England,...
Basic Information
Ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) are small, domesticated mammals belonging to the family Mustelidae (weasel). They are related to otters, skunks, minks and badgers and are most...
Basic Information
Ferret Legging is a British endurance competition, now officially banned. The contestants tie the ankles of their trousers and place a ferret down them. Then they fasten their...
Basic Information
Fiction is anything that is not real.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Fictional Characters are somewhat like Mythological Characters, except that instead of coming from a body of legend or folklore, they can be traced to a specific work of fiction...
Basic Information
Fictional creatures are beings which have been deliberately invented for story-telling or similar purposes, as opposed to Mythological Creatures which gradually sprang up in...
Basic Information
Fictional locations were invented for stories of fiction, movies, television and so forth and do not exist in the real world.
For real world locations that just have heavy...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Living Root Bridges - bridges made out of the roots of ficus trees
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game...
Basic Information
The fifth dimension can mean one of two things, depending on whether or not you count Time as a dimension and number it.
If you do count time, then the fifth dimension is...
Summary
April 17, 2009: In Queens and Brooklyn, New York, feral parakeets have nested in the local utility poles, wreaking havoc with the power lines. Attempts to scare them away with a fake owl...
Summary
October 30, 2008: The United States Department of Defense is working on a variety of laser-based weapon platforms:
Zeus: A directed-energy weapon intended to explode unexploded ordnance...
Basic Information
Film genres are genres commonly found in movies.
List of Film Genres
Aint No Rule
B Movie
Chick Flicks
Disaster Movie
Exploitation Film
Fan Film
Film Noir
Giallo
George Lucas...
Basic Information
A fire balloon was a hydrogen balloon with incendiary or bombs attached. Fire balloons were developed by Japan to attack the western United States during World War II by having...
Basic Information
A Fish Out Of Water situation is a the result of characters being placed in an unfamiliar time period. Most commonly, this is caused by Time Travel or being a Human Popsicle or...
Basic Information
The flagship is the lead ship in a fleet. This designation is given to it because it is either the largest, fastest, newest, most powerful, or most well known ship in the...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Genetic Parasites - known to infect flies.
News: Zombie Fire Ants - flies from South America which first turn ants into...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Food Items
Chocolate
Hot Dog
Pizza
Spice
See Also
Agriculture
Camp Cook
Drink
Food Chain
Food Tropes
Octodog Hot Dog...
Basic Information
Force Magic is a form of magic where practitioners tap into and control or weave together one or more magical forces.
Magic which waxes and wanes according to how close the...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Noteworthy Forests
Real World Forests
Nürnberger Reichswald
Mythological Forests
Fictional Forests
See Also
Dungeon...
Basic Information
January 25, 2008: In Kington, Herefordshire, sheep have been gathering in mysterious circles, reminiscent of crop circles. A local farm manager claimed that the likely reason for...
Basic Information
This Western Character is a participant in the California Gold Rush of 1848-1855. See Also: Miner and Prospector.
History
When gold was discovered near Sutters Mill, California...
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;
For want of the horse, the rider was lost;
For want of the rider, the battle was lost;
For want of the battle, the...
Basic Information
[This is just a placeholder page; I hope to elaborate on it later — quark]
According to popular legend, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León discovered the present-day state of...
By quarkstomper
Keywords
The Gump
Religion Of Evil
Biker Babe
The Adventure Seed
She was sighted at the Jim Jones compound in Guyana the weekend before his cult committed mass suicide. She was...
Basic Information
The Fourth Dimension can refer to either the Time Dimension or an additional Spatial Dimension. The majority of this page is about the spatial dimension.
Time Dimension
In...
Basic Information
This page is about creatures or intelligent beings native to the Fourth Dimension, particularly the spatial interpretation. Read that page too, as the basics it gives you on how...
Basic Information
Foxes are small canids, which are sometimes considered very catlike. Foxes are well known for being crafty, and being able to survive in almost any climate and terrain. Foxes are...
Basic Information
France is a major country in Europe.
Towns and Cities
Carcassonne
See Also
Alexis Carrel
Cham de Bondons menhirs
Carnac
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and...
Summary
May 12, 2009: Scientists have discovered that predators are more likely to eat the most common subgroup of their prey.
At first blush, it seems so trivial. That summary totally hides the...
"If you're wondering how he eats and breathes,
And other science facts;
(la-la-la!)
Then repeat to yourself 'It's just a show,
I should really just relax.'"
— Theme song from Mystery Science...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Legless frogs mystery solved
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
There was a young lady named Bright
Whose speed was much faster than light;
She set out one day,
In a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
— Arthur Henry Reginald Buller,...
Basic Information
FTL Communication refers to some sort of method for distant spacecraft or planets to stay in touch without the multi-year delays between responses that would occur if using...
Basic Information
An FTL Radio (also sometimes known as an Ansible or Subspace Ansible) is a communication device popular in science fiction that makes it possible to communicate across vast...
Basic Information
FTL Travel is the ability to move from point A to point B faster than light, or even in no time at all. It's what most people think of when they talk about FTL or "Warp".
Since...
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Basic Information
The Fueller is a profession common to the Middle Ages (and probably going back further). It's a job of one who sells fuel, often a traveling salesman type. Wood and Charcoal were...
Basic Information
Functional Magic is a trope that refers to magic that goes beyond mere plot device to serve as a tool, science, technology, art, or philosophy. Functional Magic is magic that...
Basic Information
The Funktiontide is a prototype robotic pillow close to the size of humans. It can move and change shape depending on how you hold it. In a demonstration video a man is seen...
Basic Information
Let's say your life depended on you knowing, ten minutes from now, the name of the first fiancée of Napoleon Bonaparte.
If you live in Europe in the 1800s, you might be able to...
Basic Information
This Time Travel Trope describes the situation where a time traveling character meets a future their future self, and finds that version of them to be distasteful in some way....
…there was no law yet against prodding some of the new veshches which they used to put into the old moloko, so you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Gang Uses Snake In Street Attack
News: Police 'can't cope' as Vietnamese flood drugs trade
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
New York City in the 19th Century (and early 20th Century) featured several Street Gangs that seem almost surreal from the modern perspective. No doubt some of the claims have...
Summary
August 9, 2009: A gang in Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom has used a snake to attack a 14 year old boy. The snake - a non-venomous python - was forced to bite the boy...
I stood upon the edge of the cliff and looked down into a sea of refuse. For 2000 years, the inhabitants of Marburyport had thrown their garbage over this cliff into the sea. But now the sea had...
Basic Information
In Genesis chapter 2: v. 4-17, the Bible describes how God created Adam and Eve and made a special place for them to live in called the Garden of Eden. This was the original...
Basic Information
The Garden of Eden is an eccentric concrete sculpture garden created by the equally eccentric Samuel Perry Dinsmoor in Lucas, Kansas (USA). In 1905, Dinsmoor built the house that...
Ernest Gary Gygax is one of the co-creators of Dungeons and Dragons.
Basic Information
Gary Gygax, who died on March 4, 2008, was a very active member of the roleplaying community. He was one of...
Basic Information
A gas giant is a very large planet that is made mostly of non-solid matter.
In our Solar System there are four such gas giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and...
Basic Information
Gender and Sexuality Tropes are characterization tropes about gender and sexual identity.
Affirmative Action Girl
All Paedophiles Are Child Molestors
Ambiguous Gender
Anything...
Basic Information
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. The title comes from the Greek word for "beginnings" or "origins" and was how the book was called in the Septuagint, the great Greek...
Summary
October 26, 2007: Scientists discover the entire genetic code of one species - a type of bacteria residing inside the DNA of another (a type of fly).
See Also
Body Horror
Grand Theft...
Basic Information
Genetics is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms.
This is a stub.
See Also
News: Amateurs are trying genetic engineering at home
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Genius Loci can refer to three different concepts:
In Roman Mythology, a Genius Loci is a protective spirit of a place, and it often manifested as a snake, or was represented by...
Basic Information
Stories are typically categorized into genres. These are vague categories with no fixed boundaries. Genres are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into multiple...
Basic Information
A character who is Genre Savvy is (on some level) aware of the most common genre tropes of the sort of story he's in. For example, if a character who's seen zombie movies before...
Basic Information
Genre tropes are tropes that are associated with specific genres
List of Genre Tropes
Action Adventure Tropes
Chase Scene
Just In Time
Comedy Tropes
Parody Tropes
Side...
Basic Information
He's handsome, suave, charming; he's impeccably dressed and excruciatingly well-bred. He looks just like Cary Grant, or perhaps David Niven. He has all the gentlemanly virtues…...
"What in the world, Wimsey, are you doing in this Morgue?" demanded Captain Fentiman, flinging aside the "Evening Banner" with the air of a man released from an irksome duty.
"Oh, I wouldn't call...
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The Georgia Guidestones are a monument in northeastern Georgia, United States. It consists of five stone slabs which have been raised in a star pattern. It was built in 1980 to...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Cities
Aachen
Ahaus
Erlangen
Other locations
Bräutigamseiche
Goseck circle
Nürnberger Reichswald
Tagebau Garzweiler
Myths and...
Summary
September 18, 2009: An ABC News article tells of how, during World War II, British Intelligence smuggled maps and escape tools to soldiers in POW camps hidden inside Monopoly games. The...
The darkness is made all the more disturbing by the feeling that someone… or something… is just out of sight, watching you. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear them whispering to...
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A ghost town is a town that has been abandoned by its inhabitants for some reason. Following is a list of known ghost towns:
Centralia, Pennsylvania
Chernobyl
Dogtown,...
Reginald cursed himself as he sped across the Savoy's lobby. He had let himself be so distracted by the ridiculous patter singer on stage that he didn't notice the Count leave his box until it was...
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This classic Trope refers to things that are not quite human and how they do a not quite perfect job of hiding that fact. Some form of magic, disguise, or illusion hides their...
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The Glass Cannon is a combat role of someone who can really dish it out, but can't take it. As the name suggests, devestating offensive power, but vulnerable and sometimes...
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The glim-dropper is a con that requires several accomplices, one of whom must be a one-eyed man. One grifter goes into a store and pretends he has lost his glass eye. Everyone...
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The Global Consciousness Project is an ongoing scientific project to examine whether events that provoke strong global emotional response among humans will create a deviation...
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Globus Cassus is proposal by Swiss architect and artist Christian Waldvogel presenting a conceptual transformation of Planet Earth into a much bigger, hollow, artificial world...
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A goblin shark is a deep sea shark with an unusual appearance. It has a lengthy "snout" protruding far from the head itself, and it has a jaw which it can protrude as well, not...
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Gods Need Prayer Badly is a Religion Trope. According to it, the power of gods is proportional to the amount of prayer and worship they receive.
This concept is actually pretty...
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Godwin's Law of Time Travel is a Time Travel Trope that establishes any change to history results in a Nazi victory. It's Hitlers Time Travel Exemption Act crossed with Butterfly...
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There are some places in the Bible where the text makes a throwaway reference to something the original readers were probably very familiar with; and then people spend the next...
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The Gog Magog Downs, aka Gog Magog Hills, aka The Gogs, are a series of hills near Cambridge in England. The highest points are about 75m (250 ft) above sea level. Today, part of...
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Gold bricking has two meanings in reference to confidence games.
It can refer to a specific old con: selling a bar of lead (that's been gold plated or just painted gold) at the...
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From the 1650s to the 1720s, the seas were a particularly dangerous place. Pirates and Privateers roamed the waters of the Carribean and Indian Ocean, as well as the waters of...
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"Goldilocks planet" is an informal term for planets in the "Goldilocks zone" or stellar habitable zone of their star. Not too hot, not too cold, just right for sustaining an...
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A staple of Cosmic Horror, this Horror Trope involves the all-too-common situation where some revelation, intuition, or encounter makes a character go totally insane.
We're not...
Summary
August 13, 2009: Every year, thousands of people try to disappear and start over new lives elsewhere. The article discusses the motivations of such people and various possible strategies...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Big Brother Is Watching
Data Mining
Data Monster
Future Google
Google Street View
YouTube - now owned by Google
News:...
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The Gorgoneion is a protective device hailing from Ancient Greece. It's an image of Medusa, just her head and snake-y hair, with no attached body.
Pendants, masks, jewelry, and...
Summary
September 22, 2009: A British historian and an American fashion designer have cooperated in Madagascar to produce spider silk from the webs of the golden orb spider, which is renowned for...
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A government is a body within an organization or nation which has the authority to enforce laws, regulations, or rules.
List of Government...
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A government conspiracy represents a genre of shows, a political trope, and a type of plot. It centers on a government trying to keep "the Truth" hidden, whatever that might...
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Grain-based Local Currency refers both to a form of monetary unit, and to one of the earliest economic systems to supplant pure barter. In such a system, money is minted/printed...
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In this time travel trope, a character goes back in time and (usually accidentally) replaces their own grandfather (or similar relative). Often this involves having sex with...
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She's the Hippie Chick. She wears tie-dyed shirts and sandals; she's opposed to war, and environmental pollution, and she has some petitions she'd like you to sign. She's into...
Three lawyers were attending the funeral for one of their friends. As they came up to the open casket to pay their last respects, one of them said: "You know, in ancient times they used to put...
Summary
August 14, 2008: Paleontologists have discovered graves in the Sahara desert at a site called Gobero which date back to a period when the Sahara was still green and fertile, five to ten...
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A time travel trope, Grays Sports Almanac is an item that is perfectly innocuous in its own time period but will change history in a dramatic (and invariably negative) way if...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Greek Mythology
Interpretatio Graeca
Marathon
Event/News: Greek fisherman nets 2,200-year-old bronze...
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Greed is the desire to accumulate as much wealth or as many material comforts as possible. It is one of the Seven Deadly Sins of Catholicism.
See Also
Briefcase Full Of...
Summary
March 23, 2009: A Greek fisherman has found a 2,200 year old bronze statue of a horseman in his net. The statue was recovered in the Aegean Sea between the Greek islands of Kos and...
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Greek Mythology is the body of Myth and Legend of Ancient Greece.
Major themes of Greek Myth:
Generational Conflict: Uranus is castrated by his son, Cronus. Cronus is killed by...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Fiction/News: 2060 - Humvee-sized, bulletproof meat-eating spiders attack
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game...
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Greensburg is a small town located in Kiowa County, Kansas. In May of 2007, the town was almost completely destoyed by an F5 tornado. Estimates indicated that 95% of the town or...
In the days of World War II, when combat planes were coming off the assembly line almost as fast as automobiles and there was a greater mathematical chance of malfunctions than there would...
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Grimsby is a large Town in the North-East of England. It used to be a large fishing town but with the collapse of the fishing trade it has switched to food processing and...
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This speculative fiction trope depicts an icy hell in the far north. It may be home to vikings, vampires, The Dark Lord or other dangerous folks. The trope typically focuses on...
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The GroundBot is a small, spherical robot which mounts cameras and other sensors and has limited off-road capabilities.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Rotundus Company Website
2....
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A Ground Effect Vehicle (or Wing-In-Ground-Effect Vehicle) is sort of an aircraft. It's a category of aerodyne vehicle that flies very close to the ground, held aloft by an...
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In this Time Travel Trope, a character relives the same period of time (usually exactly one day) again and again. Just as grief has seven stages, the Ground Hog Day Loop has...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Gulls Vicious Attacks On Whales
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Summary
June 24, 2009: Gulls near Valdes Peninsula, Argentina have learned to attack surfacing whales, especially mothers and calves, for their blubber. These attacks have increased in frequency...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Technically, the term Gun refers to an artillery piece, but more often it's used to mean a man-portable firearm, so firearms are what...
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A Gun Moll is a female accomplice to criminals, or girlfriend of a criminal, especially during the 1920s and 1930s. The term actually originated a few decades before, in the...
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February 27, 2004: A book covered in human skin thought to have belonged to one of the co-conspirators in Guy Fawke's Gunpowder Plot of 1605 has been auctioned off. It is...
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Abnormal Ammo
Accidental Aiming Skills
AKA 47
A Team Firing
Almost Lethal Weapons
Armed Altruism
Automatic Crossbows
Ballistic Discount
Bang Bang BANG
BFG
Bizarre And Improbable...
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In the stellar classification system, a star that is rated G V is a dwarf star (see also Main Sequence) that is white or yellow-white in color. These bright stars convert...
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The term Gyrojet refers to a class of firearms invented and manufactured in the 1960s. These guns were noteworthy because they fired gyroscopically stabilized rockets, instead of...
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A HabStar is a star defined as being likely to produce habitable worlds for life similar to what has evolved on earth. This distinction is being made by our current SETI program,...
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A Half Human Hybrid is a being that is half human, half… something else. This is a frequent occurrence in mythology and the fantasy genres. In science fiction, it is generally...
Summary
March 6, 2003: According to Haliburton, a device containing radioactive material was stolen from them in December 2002 from their operations in Nigeria. According to one watchdog group,...
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Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31st mainly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth nations such as Canada, Ireland, or Australia. Japan has...
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To Hand Wave something is to gloss over or not sweat the details. In terms of story, it's an explanation or story element that's murky, vague, or inconsistently applied. It's the...
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Handwavium is a type of light-weight Phlebotinum used purely to hand wave a plot element or some sort of magic and powers. It definitely doesn't exist, and probably can't exist,...
Summary
September 23, 2009: On September 12, a 51 year old Census worker was found hanging from a tree in a remote part of the Daniel Boone National Forest near a cemetery in rural southeast...
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A Hanging Judge is a ruthless judge who rules his courtroom as his own personal fiefdom. He will hand out brutal sentences for the most minor infractions. He may be a Corrupt...
Summary
June 26, 2009: The Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Abune Paulos, apparently backed off from an announcement made on Jun 24 that he would reveal the Ark of the Covenant...
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Hashim ibn Hakim was a religious dissident living in 8th century Persia. He mixed elements of Zoroastrianism and Islam, and styled himself the Veiled Prophet because he always...
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Hazardous Water is a horror trope. It means that a character in a dangerous situation in a horror plot who falls into a body of water will have great difficulties getting out...
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Headless Valley is a specific region (Lat: 61.25 Long: -124.5) of the South Nahanni River valley (Canada) said to encompass a lost world complete with tropical forests,...
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Hecate is a Greek goddess, whose worship survived long past the decline of Ancient Greece. She's more than a little mysterious, with scholars disagreeing on her purview,...
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The Height 611 UFO incident is an alleged UFO crash near the town of Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai, Russia on January 29, 1986. "Height 611" refers to the hill on which it...
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Heimdall is one of the Aesir gods of Norse Mythology. He's a somewhat enigmatic figure, not one of the most well-understood members of the Norse pantheon. What's he the god of?...
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A Helium White Dwarf is a form of White Dwarf Star that used to be normal star - possibly even a Solar Analog - but lost it's mass. The most likely cause of such mass loss is...
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Henry Okah is the creator of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). Under his guidance, MEND wreaked havoc in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, diverting...
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The position of Herald is a rather complicated profession. It's part messenger, part town crier, part scholar, and part artist. Yet nothing in that statement suggests the...
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George Prosper Remi, better known by his pen-name Hergé, was a Belgian cartoonist who created one of the most internationally famous comic strip characters of the 20th Century,...
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Heroes are the protagonists of stories who seek to defeat the villains, rescue others, etc.
List of Hero Archetypes
Accidental Hero
The Ace
Action Girl
Action Mom
Faux Action...
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Heroic Fantasy is a subgenre of Fantasy. It tends to be about personal adventuring, treasure quests, and the like. (This distinguishes it from High Fantasy which is more about...
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This is a Bibliography page for useful resources in the Heroic Fantasy genre, including Swords & Sorcery and classic Gygaxian Dungeon Fantasy.
Sources
Books
Alexander,...
Summary
April 6, 2009: Scientists have been able to create a battery which uses viruses in its electrodes. The creators of these batteries think that this process could be scaled to an industrial...
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A high-rise is a tall building or structure.
See Also
Arcology
Megastructure
Skyscraper
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
High-rise Floor Plans (External Links)
Dorna...
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A hill is a peak of land above sea level, like a mountain, but lower and not as steep. These geological formations can be formed by erosion or deposition of sediment. These areas...
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Hired Guns are characters (and Narrative Tropes) whose main motivation for getting involved in the story is the financial compensation, and they usually do not feel any great...
First, let me start by just saying "Eew…"
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Zoophilia is sex between humans and animals.
I really don't want to go into this at length and detail, and luckily (thanks to...
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This page lists true historic events and other history-related subjects.
(It is not for mythological or controversial/hypothetical history, though alternative readings may appear...
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Languages are not stable, and English is no exception. If you go back in time even just a few hundred years, you'll find slang and phrasing quite puzzling, and be amazed at how...
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This Time Travel Trope refers to the concept, popular in fiction and sci-fi media, that something horrible and epic (aka WWII and/or The Holocaust) must happen between the years...
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Hlavni Nadraži is the principle train station in Prague. It is a hybrid building, with the older and original Art Nouveau construction sitting on top of the elevated railway...
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The Hodag is a legendary creature of the Wisconsin North Woods. Originally the subject of bunkhouse tall tales of the lumber camps, the hodag was first sighted near the town of...
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This Category covers various types of holidays. These could be religious festivals, national observances, or generally holy days. They could be widely observed, or local customs,...
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Hollywood Science is very bad science.
Hollywood Science is a trope, and is most common to bad Science Fiction.
Hollywood Science is when the writers of a Speculative Fiction...
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The old Jewish quarter of Prague, where Franz Kafka once lived, is full of beautiful synagogues and Judaica which now serve almost exclusively as tourist sites, so complete was...
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Homer may be an actual historic figure, a blind poet-bard of great skill who lived sometime between the 1200 BC and 800 BC. Scholars who accept his historicity are divided on...
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Homicide is the act of killing a human being. It includes the crimes of Murder and Manslaughter, as well as non-criminal killings such as those covered by the self-defense plea,...
Summary
March 31, 2009: Three companies have jointly developed a "Brain Machine Interface" using electroencephalography controlling a robot with thoughts alone.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
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Hong Kong is a city in China
Locations
Kowloon
Kowloon Walled City
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
A Horrible Judge Of Character is someone who is easily duped and willing to trust even the most evil of villains. Usually, only extreme displays of villainy or betrayal will...
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Horror tropes are genre tropes that frequently appear in horror stories.
List of Horror Tropes
Abandoned Hospital
A House Divided
Alien Geometries
And I Must Scream
Apocalyptic...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
The Western - a genre that generally involves lots of horses - or some substitute for them
News: In Florida, mysterious...
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A hospital is a place which cares for the sick, injured, and infirm.
See Also
Abandoned Hospital
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Hospital Maps (External...
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A Hot Comet is a comet that has radioactive materials in or near it's core.
The Deep Impact (space mission) and Stardust (spacecraft) showed that the insides of such comets...
Summary
August 16, 2007 - Scientists estimate that it is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times more likely that life started inside a Hot Comet than on the surface of the Earth, thereby...
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Hot Dark Matter is one possible type of Dark Matter. It refers to non-baryonic subatomic particles that move at speeds very close to that of light. It's not "hot" in the...
Summary
April 21, 2008: The article looks at abandoned efforts to build five-star hotels on the Sinai Peninsula.
See Also
Architecture
Source
Original article
Game and Story Use
This makes for a...
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Hot Jupiters are a specific type of Gas Giant. These planets are the size of our Jupiter, or larger, and much closer to their local stars than Mercury is to our sun. The extreme...
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Hot Neptunes are Ocean Planets that are now located so close to the star they orbit that the ocean should be constantly boiling - but the immense pressure of such a large planet...
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A houseboat is a watercraft which has been designed or modified so that it can be used for permanent human habitation.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Houseboat Floor...
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According to the story, an architect named Alex Jordan Jr. went to see his idol, the famed Frank Lloyd Wright, at the master's architectural school, Taliesin, in Green Lake,...
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Even when they are using the same rules systems, each GM interprets those rules his own way; and very often, he tweaks those rules or devises additional rules to reflect his own...
Summary
November 1, 2009: An article on the Mental_Floss website, reprinted from Mental_Floss magazine, tells about a writer and activist named Stetson Kennedy who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan...
If you are allowed to edit pages in this Site (and, by default, you are), simply click on edit button at the bottom of the page. This will open an editor.
To create a link to a new page, use...
Summary
September 16, 2009: The British oil trader Trafigura has been accused of dumping large amounts of toxic waste off the coast near Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire, in 2006. The...
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This Narrative Trope refers to when a story starts with a point at (or near) the end of the narrative, and then goes back to fill in how the current situation came about.
See...
Summary
July 14, 2009: A strange, gooey substance up to 12 miles long is floating in the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic off the coast of Alaska along the North Slope Borough, between Point Barrow and...
Summary
April 2, 2009: A giant sea worm has been captured at an aquarium in Newquay, United Kingdom. The creature is over four foot in length, and is covered with bristles which can cause...
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Argh! Too many big words in this Wiki! Thag hates big words! Thag hates complex grammatical constructions! Thag only use Hulk Speak! Hulk Speak is when character talk simple....
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Humans are the sole known sapient species to populate Earth. All members of the human species together are known as humanity.
See Also
Anthropodermic Bibliopegy
Artificial...
Summary
April 17, 2009: Louisiana senator Danny Martiny has filed a bill which would make it illegal to create human-animal hybrids, punishing violators with high fines and/or extended prison...
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A human-powered vehicle is a machine built to facilitate human-powered transport.
Examples:
Canoeing and kayaking
Caster Board
Chariot skating
Cross-country...
Summary
October 17, 2006: A British "evolutionary theorist" speculates that the human species, thanks to increasing reliance on technology and more selective choosing of partners will over the...
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Human Terrain Teams are anthropologists who accompany combat brigades Military of the United States to understand the "cultural landscape" of a region where the United States...
Summary
A professor of anthropology assists the US military forces in Iraq by helping them figure out the social networks between the natives.
Source
Original article
Game and Story Use
This is a...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Medieval Battle Records Go Online
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
A character who makes his (or, rarely, her) legitimate living by hunting down animals for their meat and fur. Most often found in stories about America's frontier days, fading...
See tropical cyclone.
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Hurricane Katrina was a hurricane that devastated New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29, 2005.
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Used straight, surviving through Katrina...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand!
Locations
Icelandic Phallological Museum
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Summary
March 17, 2009: After the United States Department of Homeland Security gave permission to build a new border fence between the United States and Mexico which would have resulted in the...
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Terrestrial life uses water as a solvent, keeping the various chemicals of life dissolved, providing a medium for aqueous reactions, and transporting them within and between...
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Water is an amazing chemical. Here on earth, it has proven to be a key ingredient in life, serving as a biological solvent, helping insulate and maintain temperatures, and being...
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A Hyperdoughnut is a higher dimensional space that is shaped like a doughnut. Since the geometric name of the shape of a doughnut is Torus, a hyperdoughnut is also known as a...
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A Hyperdrive is a form of Star Drive that propels a spacecraft into subspace or hyperspace. In most cases, the hyperdrive provides the spaceship with propulsion while in...
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This index, borrowed from the TV Tropes Wiki, lists tropes depicting matter or energy being "created" (in seeming violation of the laws of conservation), and/or space being...
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Hyperspace may provide handy corner-cutting and relativity-dodging space travel but it's not always a place that you want to go to. It could just be the fact that it's just...
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A Hypersphere is a fourth-dimensional sphere.
A normal sphere is circular, it can be visualized as a projection of a circle into three dimensions. If you take a single "layer"...
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Here on Earth, Life As We Know It is built around Carbon as the basic building block, with Water as the solvent. Our cells are made of carbon, and water is used to break down...
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I Am Not Making This Up is a type of fan-speak when truth is stranger than fiction - the kind of stuff that sounds completely unbelievable, but apparently is real.
List of I Am...
The village elders were forced to face the facts. Each winter was harder and longer than the one before it. The herds had all migrated south, and were unlikely to come back. The glacier had...
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An Ice Giant is a large planet composed mostly of water, ammonia, and methane. The outer 15% to 20% of the planet may also be made of Helium and Hydrogen. The chemical...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Cities and Towns
Húsavík
List of Locations
Surtsey - new volcanic island off the coast
See Also
Norse...
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The Icelandic Phallological Museum is a museum in Húsavík, Iceland. It displays penises from a vast range of species native to Iceland, with the exception of...
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Ice Planet is a subtrope of Single Biome Planet. The defining terrain feature is snow and ice. There may or may not be some exposed rock. If you're really lucky you'll get ice...
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I Coulda Been A Contender is what happens to a character when, just when he is about to embark on a very promising career, he is struck down by some sort of misfortune that makes...
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Nearly everyone who ever existed or ever will exist is just another ignorant leveler. Their perceptions barely scratch the surface of reality. When some Time Ripple sweeps over...
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Her name was McGill
And she called herself "Lil",
But everyone knew her as "Nancy".
- The Beatles, Rocky Racoon
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Rather than having one single simple name, this character has...
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Iliaster is an alchemical term for the primeval substance which is the source of all other substances. It contained both matter and spirit. The term was invented by Paracelsus,...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Ugly Battle Has Librarians In Oak Brook Turning To Teamsters
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and...
Basic Information
Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian and Soviet biologist. In the 1920s, he attempted to create human-ape hybrids, first by artificially inseminating chimpanzee females with human...
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Immortality refers to the state of being Immortal, and thus Immunity to Death and/or Aging. It comes in several varieties:
Biological Immortality
Contractual Immortality (See...
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Imported Alien Phlebotinum is Phlebotinum that was abandoned or supplied by some alien race, or other temporary visitor to our neck of spacetime. Often it's totally normal...
Summary
February 24, 2008: Ancient books have been uncovered with a script believed to be that of the Tujia people of China - who were until now believed not to have their own written...
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Independence is the state of self-government of a country.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
The process of becoming independent tends to be a fairly...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Hindu Mythology
Iron Pillar - an Out Of Place Artifact of India
Jantar Mantar - an Archaeoastronomical...
Summary
October 22, 2008: India has launched the Chandrayaan-I mission to the Moon, which includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor. This probe is intended to study the lunar...
Summary
April 5, 2009: In a large funeral home belonging to one of the largest chain of funeral homes in the world, corpses were not kept in cold storage until the actual funeral, but left at room...
Basic Information
An infant is a human child at the earliest stage of its development.
See Also
Infant Immortality
News: Otty Sanchez, Woman Accused Of Killing Newborn, Ate...
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August 3, 2009: The article compiles information from three other articles about criminal horse-killings near Miami, Florida. A total of 17 horses have been killed over the past...
Basic Information
Something is in-genre when it's particularly appropriate to the genre, the setting, or the style of the story being told. Chances are (if it's truly in-genre) you've seen that...
Basic Information
Inherent In The System is a politics trope. It designates a world, setting, or system that has fundamental problems which are not the fault of a single, specific person.
See...
It looks like one of those respectable english clubs out of an old movie where elderly earls discuss the Crimean War and eccentric aristocrats make extravagant wagers over games of whist. That's...
Summary
January 23, 2003: There is a subculture of gay men called "bug chasers" who actively seek out getting infected by the HIV virus and thus get AIDS. Most of them see infecting themselves as...
Basic Information
So, you're running a sci-fi game with spacecraft and interstellar travel, and you're uncertain how sound works in space.
It doesn't.
Things You Can't Hear.
Or rather, there's no...
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The opposite of the Time Travel Trope callled For Want Of A Nail, In Spite Of A Nail refers to situations where events that should logically have broad-sweeping impact are...
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Practice makes perfect, but who has time to practice? Time Travelers do. Being a time traveler is great. If you're healthy and in half-way decent physical shape, then you can...
Summary
August 11, 2009: According to a "whistleblower" - a former executive with a major American health insurance corporation - are behind many of the current disruptions of town hall meetings,...
Basic Information
This form of Time Travel only enables you to be an observer. You're invisible or intangible (or both), and are merely watching what's happened in the past, or will happen in the...
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Intelligent Design is the assertion that certain aspects of the universe and/or living beings are unlikely to have evolved randomly, and thus are best explained by the existence...
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This was a group founded by Father Divine in 1919. They lived together- first in a house on Long Island and then in a series of hotels that they ran throughout the movement. The...
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The traditional romance fraud has now moved into internet dating sites. The con man actively cultivates a romantic relationship which often involves promises of marriage....
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The Cthulhu Mythos, while wholly fictional, grew much like a real mythology - various writers and storytellers used its various entities in different guises and in different...
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See Interpretatio Cthulhiana for more details. See Interpretatio Cthulhiana - Deities for the list of deities in the Cthulhu Mythos.
This page lists the various species of the...
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See Interpretatio Cthulhiana for more details. See Interpretatio Cthulhiana - Creatures for the list of lesser species in the Cthulhu Mythos.
This page lists the various deities...
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Interpretatio Graeca:
Writers in Ancient Greece, when traveling in or discussing other lands, had a habit of identifying the local gods with their own gods back home. For...
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Space is not entirely empty. The interstellar medium is the extremely thin gas that fills interstellar space. In the Milky Way as a whole, the average density is around a million...
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This page is a list of Stellar Phenomena, Solar Phenomena, and Celestial Bodies. Some links are general categories of interstellar phenomena, other links are to specific stars or...
Summary
April 27, 2008: Many cities in Eastern Germany have lost as much as one-fifth of their population, and are likely to lose more in the future. These cities are now searching for ways of...
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The Intrepid Merchant is a character who will travel the world in search for profit. He doesn't go looking for hidden treasures, but all sorts of trade goods which he can buy,...
Summary
December 17, 2008: A Canadian inventor has created an "anatomically correct" robot named "Aiko" in the shape of a Japanese girl. The robot can speak 13,000 phrases in English and Japanese,...
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The Inverse-Square Law is a concept in Physics that can be applied to gravity, radiation, acoustics, electrostatics, etc, so there's several different fields of physics which...
Invite your friends to join this Wiki!
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September 11, 2009: Wal-Mart has engaged in business practices designed to exploit its employees from its very start. These included:
When the United States Congress introduced...
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An IOU is usually an informal document acknowledging debt.
See Also
News: Californians are sinking themselves
News: California Won't Accept Its Own...
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Iram Of The Pillars was a city in the Rub' al Khali desert in what is now Saudi Arabia. According to legend, it was destroyed by God for the sins of its inhabitants.
See...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Cities
Other Locations
Brú na Bóinne
Newgrange
Myths and Legends
Tara, Ireland
See Also
Limerick...
Walking up the narrow brick path to the two-story, stucco and stonework Irondale Inn, you are immediately taken with the simple 1830s construction of the building. The large windows, the green...
Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;
God said "Let Newton be" and all was light.
- Alexander Pope
Basic Information
Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer,...
Summary
May 21, 2009: Various science fiction authors and leading experts in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence are asked whether a Robot War scenario is possible, and outline some...
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September 10, 2009: The articles examines scientific studies how behavioral patterns can be contagious propagate through a social network,...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
End Of Days
Hashim ibn Hakim
Qur’an
Event/News: Cats And Dogs Banned By Saudi Religious...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Noteworthy Islands
Real World Islands
Barsa Kelmes Island
Phuket - allegedly haunted by foreign ghosts
Mythological...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Event/News: Dirty Jersey - Feds Bust Dozens in Corruption Scandal
Event/News: Hark! Where's the Bible Ark?
News: Scholar...
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According to an article in the Israeli news site Ynet news, a Hamas police spokesman in the Gaza Strip has accused Israeli Intelligence of trying to "destroy" the younger...
The City of Cities. Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium, Miklagarth, Tsargrad, whatever you want to call it, it's the centre of the world.
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The City (as I will call it from now...
Summary
August 2, 2009: A document has surfaced which allegedly is the birth certificate of current United States president Barack Obama. This document looks like it was created by Kenyan...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Towns and Cities of Italy
Federation Of Damanhur
Sources
Bibliography
1. Olive Garden TV Tropes Wiki entry (stereotypes about...
Summary
December 11, 2006: The Italian police plans to set up a special police squad investigating dangerous religious sects, especially Satanists. The team is supposed to include psychoanalysts,...
Summary
July 11, 2009: Despite the rapidly increasing budget deficit of California - now at $26.3 billion - and the increasing difficulty of keeping vital services running and state employees...
Summary
June 26, 2009: CNN reports that the death of Michael Jackson on June 25 crashed significant portions of the internet. The first several news and gossip sites to post about his death all...
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January is the first month of the Julian and Gregorian Calendars.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for January 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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This article is a stub - please expand!
List of Cities
Tokyo
List of Locations
Yonaguni Monument
See Also
Kitsune
News: Ant mega-colony takes over world
News: Japan Child...
Summary
April 5, 2009: Japanese researchers have built a humanoid robots who gradually learns by observing mimicking human behavior, similar to infants.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Summary
December 19, 2007: The Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura has stated that he is convinced that UFOs exist.
Source
Original article
Game and Story Use
The PCs might be...
Summary
September 22, 2008: Japanese scientists who are part of the Japan Space Elevator Association are confident that it will be feasible and relatively cheap to build a space elevator, and are...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
AirJelly
AquaJelly
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
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July 23, 2009: In addition to the recent large-scale arrests related to money laundering and illegal organ trading, New Jersey has had numerous other corruption scandals, with...
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James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. (born October 1, 1924) served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace...
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He's been called both a martyr and a madman, a freedom fighter and a fanatic. More than any single person, he can be said to have set the United States irrecoverably on the path...
Who can join?
Anyone can join this site. Simply click on the "create account" button on the upper right side of this page and create an account. Then type the word "arcana" into the following form.
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In Norse Mythology, Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard Serpent was the middle of Loki's three children. He took the form of a gigantic serpent. Odin hurled Jörmungandr into...
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Jupiter and Saturn represent a class of Gas Giant sometimes called a "traditional Gas Giant" or a "Jovian Planet". Such a planet is composed mostly of Hydrogen and Helium. At the...
Jake had stepped out of the saloon to take a leak and catch a breath of fresh air when he noticed the smell of smoke. He looked down the street and saw a red glow in the sky down by lumberyard. He...
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Immortals hoping to remain hidden from humanity are forced to move about frequently, and are likely to adopt various nicknames and aliases as the drift from culture to culture....
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July is the seventh month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for July 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for July 4.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for July 7.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for July 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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June is the sixth month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for June 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 10.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 11.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 12.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 15.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 18.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 19.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 2.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 20.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 21.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 23.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 24.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 25.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 26.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 30.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 4.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 5.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for June 6.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
Basic Information
A Jungle Planet is a Single Biome Planet covered in jungle.
These are usually depicted as being teeming with life - especially Big Creepy Crawlies (see also Prehistoric...
This is a page about the planet. For the Roman God, see Jupiter (Mythology).
Basic Information
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun in our Solar System. It's the largest planet in our system,...
"‘Reverse primary thrust, Marvin,’ that's what they say to me, ‘open airlock number three, Marvin. Marvin, can you pick up that piece of paper?’ Can I pick up that piece of paper! Here I...
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Just-in-Time Socialism is a proposed form of economic system based on Socialist economics. It seeks to do away with the traditional inefficiency of Socialism - namely, that it is...
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Kadykchan is a near-ghost town in the Susumansky District of Magadan Oblast, Russia. While it had more than 10,000 inhabitants in 1986 [2], by now there are less than 300 people...
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Kapu was a set of taboos practiced by natives of Hawaii. Taboos included not touching or even coming close to chieftains, eating specific foods, eating food together with members...
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The transition from one type to another on the Kardashev Scale is likely to be very challenging and harrowing. expected to be a tumultuous time, with social upheavals at least as...
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The Kardashev Scale is a theoretical scale for measuring the progress of civilizations, especially extraterrestrial civilizations, as it puts the energy consumption of a...
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A karmic transformation is a shape shifting trope. It transforms a character into something he hates, and is often an ironic punishment.
See Also
Anvilicious
Baleful...
Basic Information
Something that is fake that everyone pretends is real. Mass intentional self-deception. See also Willing Suspension of Disbelief
The term comes from Professional Wrestling, where...
Basic Information
Former Republic of the Soviet Union.
Towns and Cities
Locations
Barsa-Kelmes island
See Also
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - security organization which Kazakhstan is a...
Summary
November 9, 2009: KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, is being sued. The lawsuit alleges that by incinerating carcinogenic toxic waste in open-air "burn pits" in Iraq, KBR may have...
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These creatures are similar to the pooka, but significantly more malevolent. These creatures tend to appear as either sleek black or white ponies. They appear to be gentle lost...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Event/News: Hanged Census worker had 'fed' on chest
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
This page is a stub. Please expand upon it.
The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa.
Locations within Kenya include:
Mount Kenya
Olorgesailie
See Also
News: Is this...
Basic Information
The KGB was the security agency, secret police, and intelligence agency of the Soviet Union
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
This organization tends...
Basic Information
Commonly in TV shows a character will have a much younger sidekick. Not nearly as common in gaming (unless you've got young kids as players) since the point of Kid Sidekick in TV...
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A king is a head of state of a nation, usually of a kingdom or a realm. It is the second highest title of nobility after emperor. The queen is either the female counterpart of...
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In the year 1122, a stranger from the East arrived in Rome to see Pope Calixtus II. He called himself "John, Patriarch of the Indians" and claimed to be an archbishop of the...
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The King's Imprimatur refers to a monarch's Royal Seal or guarantee. The term may refer to a Royal Decree, or official approval, or just the symbol of such.
On Money:
The King's...
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Kingston Upon Hull, or "Hull" for short, is a city in the East of the United Kingdom. It is considered by many to be one of the least desirable cities to live in, having been...
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Kitezh refers to Bolshoy Kitezh, a legendary town that once stood in what is, today, the Voskresensky District of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia. Legend states that Georgy...
(Pl. Kitsune; Key-tsoo-neh)
Basic Information
The Kitsune is a mythological being of Eastern creation. This creature is a single, or multi-tailed (up to nine) Fox. Stories call them rain spirits,...
Kit Taupe Prower is a character designed by Teirusu Reynard (Tails_155,) to be the son of Miles "Tails" Prower, and Kristie Kesuiko… Though born to the two, not from this dimension, but a...
Basic Information
A knife is a hand-held short blade which can be used as both a tool and a weapon.
Types of Knives
WASP Injector Knife
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story...
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Shortly after the First Crusade, a French knight named Hugues de Payens proposed the formation of a new monastic order devoted to the protection of pilgrims. The Christians had...
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This Article is a stub; please add to it.
[Basicly, I felt we needed a page for the pre-Korean War Korea; and I happened upon a piece on that subject which I wanted to link to...
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A Krasnikov Tube is a proposed method of faster-than-light travel that is essentially an extremely limited one-way time machine. The tube is a distortion of spacetime that can be...
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Kutná Hora is a city in the Czech Republic.
List of Locations
Sedlec Ossuary
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
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A K V Star is a star that's a little colder than our Sun, but still relatively close in size to our own. See Stellar Classification for more details. As it turns out, these...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - security organization which Kyrgyzstan is a member of.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
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When Joseph Valachi testified before the US Senate in 1962, he revealed that American mafiosi refer to their organization by the term cosa nostra, which means "our thing". The...
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The Lady of War is a more refined type of Action Girl. She has an aristocratic bearing and her weapons of choice emphasize grace and beauty of motion. She possesses a sense of...
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Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Scenes from Lagos, Africa's mega-city - Slate series of articles
2. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Lagrange Points (also known as L Points, Lagrangian Points, or Libration Points) are specific points in space where an object can orbit safely in relation to two other objects....
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Noteworthy Lakes
Real World Lakes
Crater Lake
Grand Lake (Colorado)
Gurudongmar Lake
Khecheopalri Lake
Lake Tsongmo
Lake...
"It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town…"
—Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion
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Described as "the little town that time forgot, that the decades cannot...
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There are many different versions of this story. All of them agree that La Llorona was a beautiful woman who married the man she desired. Here is where they begin to vary though....
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Lamarckism is a discredited alternative version of evolutionary theory proposed by Jean-Baptist Lamarck. Lamarck utilized the concept of "soft inheritance", the notion that...
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Landlord Scam can refer to several possible con games that involve making money off of a renter or landlord.
The scamster rents an apartment with an out of state check, lives in...
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This page is about vehicles that travel on the land.
By engine type:
Animal-Drawn Vehicle
Engine-Powered Vehicle
Automobile
Human-Powered Vehicle
By locomotion type:
Railed...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Accent (sociolinguistics)
History of English
Language Tropes
Sources
Bibliography
1. Language Construction Kit
2....
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Language tropes are tropes that have to do with languages, especially translations.
List of Language Tropes
Aliens Speaking English
Antiquated Linguistics
Armchair Psychology
As...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Frickin Laser Beams
Laser Blade
Laser Hallway
Laser Microphone
Laser Sight
Reflecting Laser
News: Fighting With...
Basic Information
A laser microphone is a surveillance device that uses a laser to measure the vibrations of distant objects (such as a window) and translate those vibrations into sound - allowing...
Summary
August 14, 2003: Scientists have demonstrated how to use a laser to convert one radioactive isotope into another with a much shorter half-life.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Summary
February 18, 2008: According to report from 1998, the Pentagon investigated using lasers as a form of torture. Possible effects include:
Using lasers to make the target hear voices or...
Summary
March 22, 2009: Efforts of military contractors working for an initiative of the Pentagon have succeeded in developing a laser system capable of reaching 100 kW of power. This is a...
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Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the state of Kansas, with a population of 89,852 per the latest United States Census (Wichita is the largest city in the state, with a...
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The Laws of Magic are the rules, power sources, expectations, philosophies, etc, that develop out of Functional Magic, or which are codified in a Magical Tradition. They define...
Summary
November 13, 2009: NASA announced the preliminary results of its LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission. On October 9, the upper stage of the LCROSS impacted then...
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The League of Extraordinary Whatevers is when your adventuring party is assembled from historical characters who probably had no interaction in the real world, but have some...
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Leatherworker is a very general term, that might refer to a number of different professions. Here's a list of variants common to the Middle Ages:
tanner or currier - one who...
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. "
—"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962)
Basic Information
A Legend is a folktale or myth grounded in history.
Legends typically grow up...
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The Legion of Christ is a religious order founded in Mexico (now represented in 21 countries) with about 800 priests, and possibly as many as 70,000 members in it's lay companion...
Summary
June 25, 2009: Around the world, many frogs with missing or deformed limbs have been found, which was initially believed to have been caused by chemical pollution, which was perceived as a...
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The LeMat revolver is one of the more unusual guns available in the Old West and American Civil War eras. It was a fairly large handgun, featuring two barrels, one beneath the...
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Less-Lethal Weapons are what we now call the former "Non-Lethal" weapons now that the public is no longer fooled into thinking such things are actually incapable of killing...
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A library is a collection of books and other sources of information.
See Also
Spooky Silent Library
The Library Of Babel
Library of Lost Books
News: British Library mislays...
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Neil Gaiman's comic book Sandman describes a library in the realm of Morpheus containing every book ever dreamed of… but never written: The Library of Lost Books. Sometimes the...
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A lich is usually an undead corpse that was a powerful magician when it was alive. It cast spells to reanimate the corpse. It is immortal.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
Life On Mars has been an exciting topic of debate for several centuries now.
The polar ice caps of Mars were first observed in the 17th Century.
In the 1890s and 1900s, it was a...
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Lilith was originally a demonic Sumerian night spirit, who preyed on women and young children. She often appeared as a beautiful woman, sexually preying on men as they slept. She...
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Limerick Soviet (Irish: Sóivéid Luimnigh) is a self-proclaimed republic on the south-east of Ireland, which existed from April 15 to April 27, 1919.
Beginning
In January, 1919...
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This list is intended to include all possible professions. If you think of something that isn't listed here, please add it. Being a huge list, it's of somewhat limited utility to...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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This page lists the mundane (i.e. neither fictional nor mythological) animals detailed in the wiki.
Ant
Badger
Bat
Vampire...
Read through the following list of centuries to gain more information about specific periods.
As with the rest of the wiki, entries don't have to be about big, noteworthy historic events. Instead,...
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This page is a huge list of occupations appropriate not only to The Colonies and the Colonial Era in general, but also to the The Reformation, the Golden Age of Piracy, and the...
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Natural Disaster Types
Drought
Earthquake
Famine
Flood
Meteor impact
Pandemic
Storm
Tropical cyclone
Tsunami
Volcanic Eruption
Man-Made Disaster Types
Air...
Basic Information
The following lists are of occupations appropriate to the Medieval era, particularly in Europe.
It's worth noting that during this era, having a job was not strictly necessary....
Basic Information
This page is a big old list of mythologies by region, culture, era, religion, etc. Every link here should correspond to a page at Wikipedia, in case you need info on a body of...
Basic Information
The Roaring Twenties are certainly among the most exciting years of the 20th Century. For one brief decade you have economic prosperity bookended by World War I on one end and...
Basic Information
This is a list of Secret Police agencies.
Current Secret Police Organizations:
Belarus
Presidential Guard
State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus
Brazil
Agência...
As described in the Arcana Wiki Style Guide, you can give pages individual tags. These have two uses:
They help finding the page with the aid of the tag cloud in the side bar.
They can be used as...
Basic Information
This is a list of occupations likely to be available in hunter-gatherer and nomadic cultures. Note that many such societies lack professional specialization. Everyone shares in a...
Basic Information
These are jobs available to the townsfolk and homesteaders in the Old West and The Western.
Profession
Associated Tropes
Banker
Bank Teller, Crooked...
Basic Information
LittleDog is a quadrupedal robot developed by Boston Dynamics. It is fairly small and slow, but can transverse very uneven terrain. Its development was funded by...
Basic Information
A living fossil is a creature which, while not extinct, does not have any living related species, and is otherwise only found in the fossil record.
See...
Summary
August 5, 2009: In Cherrapunji, India (possibly one of the wettest places on Earth) the locals have created bridges out of living roots of ficus trees. The bridges take about ten to...
Summary
February 27, 2009: Lockheed has unveiled a new exoskeleton called the Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC). It can be strapped to a soldier and is capable of carrying loads up to 200 lbs...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Locations
London Underground
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
The London Underground is the metro system serving London.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Underground History - Disused Stations on London's Underground
2. Wikipedia entry
Game and...
Basic Information
The Lone Cowboy is a characterization trope that describes fellow who is running his own ranch, often by himself on a shoestring budget, perhaps aided by an old Indian friend or...
Basic Information
Loser Archetypes are types of characters who tend to get all the bad luck.
List of Loser Archetypes
Butt Monkey
The Chew Toy
Cosmic Plaything
Costanza
Fall Guy
Mall...
By quarkstomper
Keywords
Federation Of Damanhur
Roanoke Colony
Moscow Underground
The Adventure Seed
Lost Hippies of the Catacombs
Several years ago, a charismatic New Age guru gathered a group...
Basic Information
Los Zetas is a criminal mercenary army for Mexico's Gulf Cartel. The group is comprised of ex-soldiers, including many members of the Mexican Army’s elite Grupo Aeromóvil de...
Basic Information
Lovecraft Country is a Horror Trope that refers to a fictionalized version of New England, especially in the Cosmic Horror subgenre. It's named for H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote...
Basic Information
Love Interests are characters whose purpose in a story is that other characters fall in love with them.
List of Love Interests
Betty And Veronica
Bokukko
Broken Bird
Cake...
OBERON: Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou...
Basic Information
Love Tropes are genre tropes that primarily occur in romance plots and shows.
List of Love Tropes
Accidental Marriage
Adrenaline Makeover
Airplane Of Love
All Amazons Want...
Basic Information
In Classical Mythology, the Aether is the substance at the highest reaches of the heavens, a possible fifth element beyond the four of air, earth, fire, and water.
In 1704, Sir...
Basic Information
Lund is one of Sweden's oldest cities. In the recent day it is referred to as a university city.
The city has a population of about 70 to 80 thousand, and has over 40 thousand...
Summary
June 24, 2009: Russia-based luxury yachts are offering cruises along the Somalian coast. The yachts are deliberately cruising close to the coast in hopes of getting attacked by pirates. At...
Summary
January 15, 2008: Lyons-Dubai City is a planned neighborhood of Dubai which will attempt to replicate parts of Lyons.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
This...
Basic Information
A MacGuffin is a narrative device which represent something that exists solely to drive the plot, without having any further relevance to it (i.e., it won't have any further...
Basic Information
A trope where just as the heroes emerge from the dungeon with the MacGuffin, the villains who were also after it appear and take it away from them.
Sources
Bibliography
1. TV...
Basic Information
MACHOs stands for Massive Compact Halo Object. This proposed type of Dark Matter is basically just a catch-all for large bodies of normal matter that don't emit visible...
Summary
August 29, 2008: A 42-year old woman in Macomb County, Michigan, United States has died from drinking too much water. She suffered from psychogenic polydipsia, which is a mental disorder...
Basic Information
Madness Tropes are characterization tropes associated with mental disorders.
List of Madness Tropes
Characters
Automatically Violent
Bunny Ears Lawyer
The...
Basic Information
This Character as Device Trope refers to scientists who are mad, and engaging in science that is equally as mad. They are eccentric, bumbling, or possibly genuinely insane, and...
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The Mafia is a Sicilian crime society, established in the late 19th Century. It later spread to other areas, including the United States and Australia. It is organized into...
This page is about paranormal magic. For stage magic, see Magic (Illusion).
Basic Information
In gaming, Magic serves three purposes:
Differentiation Between Characters: That is to say, every...
Basic Information
Magic A is Magic A is a Speculative Fiction Trope regarding magic or supernatural powers, applied consistently and with respect to what had happened previously in the story. It...
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We all know computers exist, and most of us interact with them on a daily basis. None-the-less, for some folks computers are still bizarre, almost magical, and more than a little...
Basic Information
Magical Native American is a Trope common to fiction. This both a Character as Device Trope and a Characterization Trope in that it can sometimes bethe character's primary role...
Basic Information
A Magical Tradition is a body of spell-casting techniques, and philosophical or religious beliefs pertaining to one particular view or method of magic or occultism. Here's a list...
Basic Information
Magic And Powers represent speculative fiction tropes which define and limit the use of magical powers in fiction.
List of Magic and Powers Tropes
Subcategories
Stock...
"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
- Larry Niven
Basic Information
Sometimes, fantasy settings go through their own Industrial Revolution. The result is...
Basic Information
A Magnetar is a form of neutron star that sometimes forms after the supernova collapse of a star about 40 times as massive as our sun. It's believed that about 1 in 10 supernovas...
Summary
September 10, 2008: A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit the town of Pica in northern Chile.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
This and the other three earthquakes on...
Summary
September 10, 2008: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit northern Japan, especially affecting the east coast of Hokkaido. It triggered a small tsunami.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Basic Information
The Main Character of a story is the character that the story is about. Often the tale is from their Point of View, and the character is played by the biggest star on the...
Summary
February 11, 2009: A white supremacist who was reportedly very upset over the election of Barack Obama to the office of president, tried to build a dirty bomb. The plot was stopped when he...
Basic Information
Majestic 12 is an alleged secret American government agency that was founded in 1947 in the aftermath of the Roswell UFO incident to investigate UFO activity - and cover it...
Basic Information
A Mall Ninja is a type of character who works at a second-rate job - such as mall security - and takes it far, far too seriously, usually by using the trappings of a more...
Summary
October 21, 2008: Documentary images are circulating of a spider in Australia devouring a bird.
See Also
Nightmare Fuel
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story...
Summary
June 6, 2009: Aliens attempt to save the planet by killing the President of the United States. Or at least that's what the crazy guy claimed before Secret Service arrested him. Apparently...
Summary
July 31 2008: After shooting three teenagers who had gone swimming near Niagara, Wisconsin, a man named Scott J. Johnson was arrested as the suspect.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Summary
December 29, 2007: A man from Wenatchee, Washington, United States claims that his car wreck was caused by a pterodactyl.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story...
Basic Information
This page is about words that end with the letters "mancy".
Technical / linguistic / historic definition:
Any word ending with "mancy" indicates a form of divination. From this...
Basic Information
The Manhattan Project was the American project to develop the first nuclear weapon during World War II. It resulted in the A-Bomb.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game...
Summary
November 2, 2008: A man has been glued to a toilet seat with super-glue by an unknown prankster after using a public toilet. He hat to be taken to a hospital together with the...
Summary
November 21, 2007: Arguing from quantum physics, scientists argue that astronomical measurements of the universe actually determine its state, thus possibly causing its life span to...
Summary
October 30, 2008: A Japanese man has started a petition which would allow people to marry cartoon characters.
See Also
Star Crossed Lovers
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game...
Basic Information
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. Manslaughter is usually broken down into two distinct...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Air Ray
Aqua Ray
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
The MWI, or many-worlds interpretation is one way of resolving the issues of paradox in quantum mechanics.
Quantum theory includes a concept called Superposition, which is the...
Basic Information
A map is a physical representation of an area - whether a building, a city, a country, a planet, or even star systems and galaxies.
See Also
Cartography
Terrain
News/Article:...
Basic Information
A long-distance running sports event. It was inspired by the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger who ran 42 km (about 26 miles) from the Battle of Marathon to Athens,...
Basic Information
March is the third month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for March 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 10.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
Summary
March 11, 2009: A baby girl was born in India with two faces and is now being worshipped as the goddess Ganesh. See the full Arcana Wiki page about the first News posting on March 17, 2009...
This page lists news articles and events for March 12.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 13.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 14.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 19.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 22.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 3.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 30.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 31.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for .
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed under...
This page lists news articles and events for March 6.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 7.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for March 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
Basic Information
Marine One refers to a helicopter bearing the U.S. President. It's not a single specific helicopter, there's actually a fleet of over twenty that can be used. If carrying someone...
Basic Information
The fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis tells the story of Cain and Abel, the first murder. When God confronts Cain about his crime, he places a curse on Cain that henceforth...
Basic Information
Mars, the Red Planet is the fourth closest planet to the Sun in our solar system, lying between Earth and Jupiter. It is 34 million miles from Earth. The orbits of the two...
Basic Information
In Sept. 1726, a woman named Mary Toft, of Godalming, England, began to give birth to rabbits. All were born dead and were actually rabbit parts rather than whole rabbits. The...
Basic Information
Masdar City is a planned city in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. It is intended to be extremely environmentally efficient and keep energy consumption and waste production...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Summary
August 14, 2009: Canadian mathematicians studying infection rates of diseases have developed a mathematical model for describing the spread of a zombie outbreak. Their ultimate conclusion...
Basic Information
A Matrioshka Brain is a megastructure-sized supercomputer. In shape and form, it's a multilayered Dyson Sphere, with each of the millions of components being but a portion of the...
Summary
April 9, 2009: This article details the activities of Matthias Rath, a proponent and rich salesman of vitamin treatments for cancer and AIDS. He allegedly is very influential with the...
Basic Information
May is the fifth month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for May 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 11.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 12.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 13.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 16.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 19.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 21.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 23.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 24.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 25.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 26.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 27.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 28.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 29.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 3.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 31.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 4.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 7.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 8.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for May 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
Basic Information
Mayincatec is The Theme Park Version or Hollywood History version of Central and South American Indians. Basically, the Mayan, Incan and Aztec cultures are blended together, and...
Summary
November 21, 2007: The mayor of the town of Centerton, Arkansas, United States resigns, and claims that he had been abducted by Satanists.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game...
Think Die Hard III.
Basic Information
In any Cop Show where the protagonist is a Cowboy Cop especially prone to causing mayhem in the process of catching the bad guys, episodes will often end with...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Media tropes are tropes that are based on specific types of media, such as television, video games, radio, and so forth.
List of Media Tropes
Formats
Media
Anime
Anime...
Basic Information
The primary function of these "medicine elders" (who are not always male) is to secure the help of the spirit world, including the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka in the language of...
Summary
July 20, 2009: A database has gone online with the names and battle records of more than 250,000 medieval soldiers from the Hundred Years' War - including those who fought with Henry V at...
Basic Information
Even in the Wild West, it's a fact that not everyone can be Cowboys and Indians. Amidst all the sombrero-sporting Banditos and 10-gallon Bounty Hunters is a little guy in a...
Summary
October 23, 2008. Scientists in New Orleans have managed to create a cat that glows green in the dark. Called "Mr Green Genes", the cat was created as an experiment which should help...
Basic Information
Megacryometeors are very large chunks of ice which, despite having some similarities with hailstones, form under unusual atmospheric conditions which are not yet well...
Basic Information
A Megastructure is an extremely large built structure. Some define it as a building more than 1,000 km long or tall, though this is not a universal definition.
Only a...
Basic Information
Meistersingers were German lyrical poets of the 14th, 15th and 16th century who carried on the traditions of the earlier minnesingers. They were organized in guilds in various...
Basic Information
The Melon Drop is a Confidence Game in which the scammer will intentionally bump into the mark and drop a package containing (already broken) glass. He will blame the damage on...
Summary
August 10, 2008: Scientists warn that the Arctic could be free of ice by 2012.
See Also
Global Warming
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
In a near-future...
Basic Information
A meme is a theoretical unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols, or practices. In other words, a meme is an idea, or a concept, or way of behaving. The theory of memetics...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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A Mental Disorder is a psychological or behavioral pattern which causes distress or disability beyond that expected of normal development or culture.
List of Mental...
Basic Information
This Time Travel Trope refers to any form of Time Travel where your body stays put, and only your mind or consciousness travels.
Most commonly, it's that you experience elements...
Basic Information
Mentors are characters whose role in the story is to impart their knowledge, wisdom, and/or ultimate fighting moves to their students.
List of Mentor Archetypes
Big Brother...
Basic Information
The closest planet to the Sun, Mercury is also the smallest (now that Pluto has been demoted to dwarf planet). Mercury is much denser than other objects (such as moons) of its...
Basic Information
A Merit or Advantage is a type of Special Ability or Character Background that are available in many RPGs.
A Merit or Advantage is differentiated from a Feat or Edge in that,...
Basic Information
Mermaids are half-woman and half-fish creatures that live under the ocean.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Fantasy
Mermaids can be use to explore...
Basic Information
The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar was used by several Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. The Long Count calendar identifies any given day by counting the number of...
You and what army?
Basic Information
Sometimes you need a little help, but would rather not have to explain your actions. Maybe you have no friends, maybe you're up to no good, maybe the situation...
Basic Information
Meta concepts are how fiction and stories look at the world.
List of Meta Concept Categories
Absurdity Ascendant
Common Fan Fallacies
Doomy Dooms Of Doom
Metafiction Demanded...
Summary
April 7, 2009: A resident of New Orleans assaulted another man, bit his arm, and swallowed the flesh he bit into.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
Maybe the...
Basic Information
This page features lists of places where our conventional notions of physics (as established by Galileo and Newton) just don't apply.
Metaphysical Place Tropes
Black Bug...
Basic Information
Meteoroids are small interplanetary bodies that hit a planet. The vast majority of those impacts are completely harmless, but there have been a fair number of meteor impacts on...
Basic Information
Meteorology is the scientific study of weather phenomena within the atmosphere of a planet.
List of Meteorological Phenomena
Megacryometeor
Storm
Tropical...
Basic Information
Mexico is a country in North America that lies south of the United States. It is the fifth largest country in the Americas, and has a population of approximately 109 million...
Summary
April 5, 2009: Mexican followers of Santa Muerte protested the destruction of more than 30 shrines in the city of Nuevo Laredo (close to the border to Texas) by the authorities. This was...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Sources
Bibliography
1. Myths over Miami
2. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
MIBs or Men In Black are anonymous and intimidating men in black suits. In person, they fit the tropes Dressed To Kill, Sinister Shades, Smug Snake, and Spy Speak. They often...
Basic Information
The Middle Ages are generally considered to be the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance.
Sources
Bibliography
1. A Medieval Atlas -...
Basic Information
Midian was a small oil boomtown located in Butler County, KS West of nearby El Dorado, Kansas. Abandoned circa 1920, until the mid-1990s all that remained visible of the original...
Basic Information
A military represents the authorized armed forces of a nation that can react to real or perceived outside threats, such as wars.
For a list of Bases, Bunkers, and Facilities, see...
Basic Information
The NATO Alphabet is used to pronounce letters over the radio. The current version...
Basic Information
Military and Warfare Tropes are genre tropes that are associated with armed forces or times of armed conflict.
List of Military and Warfare Tropes
Settings:
The American Civil...
This page lists various military holdings (e.g., military bases, bunkers, facitilies, etc). See also Military.
Real World Military Holdings
Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (California,...
Basic Information
They're ubiquitous; they're innocuous. You see them every day and barely take any notice of them. Who would ever suspect that they control more power than the United Nations, the...
Basic Information
February 10, 2006: Article discusses the link between parasitism and self-destructive behavior. There are parasites that provoke specific suicidal behavior in animals, so as to...
Basic Information
Mind Manipulation refers to a subcategory of Magic and Powers tropes. They deal with ways of controlling or altering minds.
List of Mind Manipulation...
Basic Information
A character is attacked by a villain in the most painful non-physical way possible. Their mind and soul are assaulted with painful, horrifying visions and memories, and broken...
Summary
November 11, 2009: The latest evidence suggests that the Younger Dryas mini ice age took less than 3 years to be in full force in Europe, possibly just a few months to go from no signs to...
Basic Information
Min-Maxing is the practice of designing a character so that it has the greatest effectiveness (typically, effectiveness in combat) achievable under the circumstances. Techniques...
Basic Information
Miombo is a particular genus of tree, native to Africa. The plant grows in nutrient-poor soil in dry climates, forming a terrain type known as Miombo Woodland. It is often found...
Basic Information
A Mira Variable is a type of pulsating star, a form of Red Giant Star that is preparing to turn into a White Dwarf Star - given another couple of million years.
They change...
This page is about matter that can only interacts with gravity. For the "Mirror Matter" appearing in the work of Robert L. Forward, see Antimatter.
Basic Information
Mirror Matter (also known as...
Basic Information
A Mirror Matter Star is a huge body of Mirror Matter that's essentially just like a star except it's intangible and emits no light or heat that we can detect. It would appear as...
You talkin' to me?
You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?
Then who the hell else are you talking… you talking to me?
Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?
Oh...
Summary
December 5, 2007: A man who has gone missing and was presumed dead in March 2002 after his canoe washed up in Seaton Carew, United Kingdom has reappeared in a London police station,...
Summary
January 1, 2007: According to the article, there are as many as 100,000 active missing persons cases in the United States. This sheer volume makes it different for law enforcement agencies...
Summary
March 12, 2007: A man in Romania suffers from a skin disease that creates bizarre growths on his hands and feet.
See Also
News: Tree man 'who grew roots' may be...
Summary
April 18, 2009: A woman was shot in the head by her husband, but she survived despite the fact that the bullet had passed through her brain. When a deputy arrived at her house, she was...
Basic Information
This trope refers to a scene in a period film or TV show (especially Time Travel stories) that hits the viewer with as many period signifiers as possible. The scene exists to...
Basic Information
The modern evolutionary synthesis is a common name for the current theory of evolution, which is based in part on the work of Charles Darwin, so it is sometimes known as...
Basic Information
This is a scale used at the TV Tropes Wiki that rates the crunchiness of the science in speculative fiction. It's named for the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.
Here's a brief...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Money anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts.
Categories of Money:
Commodity Money - an actual resource used as money, such...
Basic Information
Count Victor Lustig sold the "money-printing machine" which he claimed could copy $100 bills, but was actually just a clockwork prop for a Confidence Game. He would demonstrate...
Basic Information
Money tropes are topical tropes related to money, wealth, and currency.
List of Money Tropes
Adam Smith Hates Your Guts
And Ninety Nine Cents
Bankruptcy Barrel
Betting Mini...
This page is about the camera support. For the mythological creature, see Monopod (creature)
Basic Information
A monopod or unipod is a staff or pole used to steady a camera, scope, or similar...
This page is about the mythical creature. For information on a support used for a camera, see monopod.
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A monopod, as the name implies, is a one-footed humanoid. It's described...
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A Monopoly by Royal Decree is a form of Legal Monopoly sanctioned or instituted by a King or other Royalty.
Say there's several people manufacturing playing cards. As King, I...
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Clowns are supposed to be funny. However, there is often something somewhat disturbing about them - and the Monster Clown trope distorts this into the grotesque by making the...
Summary
July 18, 2008: The article shows images of octopi with far more tentacles than usual. Although the exact reason for this is unknown, some speculate that this might be the result of...
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Monte Ne is an area in the Ozark hills of the White River valley east of Rogers on the edge of Beaver Lake in the U.S. State of Arkansas. The area was once a health resort and...
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Located in the exact geographical center of Alabama. Montevallo is a small town dating back to before the Civil War. It is a small rural town that still has a Main Street. The...
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Named after the legendary game show host, Monty Hall, the Monty Haul campaign is one where a generous GM awards his players with huge amounts of treasure. This can become a...
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The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program was an organization instituted by the Allies in World War II. It was established by American president Franklin D. Roosevelt on...
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Also known as "goons", "scrubs", "drones", "flunkies", "pawns", "crunchies", "popcorn", and "cannon fodder", mooks are the chump change of the forces of evil, the disposable bad...
Summary
July 24, 2008: Edgar Mitchell, a former NASA astronaut and member of the Apollo 14 mission, claims during a radio interview that extraterrestrials exist and have visited Earth in the past,...
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Moose Jaw is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Locations
Tunnels of Moose Jaw
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
The Moral Event Horizon is a trope which signifies an event or deed which makes clear that a villain is utterly evil and unredeemable, and where it becomes impossibly to...
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Morality tropes are tropes that examine the spectrum from Good to Evil and everything in between.
Morality Tropes Categories
An Aesop
Stock Aesops
Character Alignment
Evil...
Saint of streets, and brilliant one, that strays by night;
Foe of radiance, but friend and mate of gloom;
In howl of dogs rejoicing, and in crimson gore,
Wading 'mid corpses through tombs of...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Moscow is the capital of Russia.
Locations
Crystal Island
Moscow Metro
Moscow Underground
See Also
News: Abandoned laboratory of...
Summary
October 17, 2009: The Mayor of Moscow (a city infamous for its severe winter weather) has announced a Weather Control plan to prevent all but the lightest of snows this winter. The Russian...
Basic Information
The Moscow Underground is the collective name for all sorts of subterranean places and locations below Moscow.
Sources
Bibliography
1. More Moscow Dungeons
2. Moscow Dungeons
3....
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The motif of harmful sensation is a recurring idea in literature: physical or mental damage that a person suffers merely by experiencing what should normally be a benign...
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Motifs are narrative tropes representing recurring themes, symbols, and so on that occur frequently over the course of a story and have a deeper meaning than may be immediately...
This page is about mechanical and electronic motion detectors. For motion detection performed by people, animals, or other organisms, see Motion Perception.
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Motion Detection...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Noteworthy Mountains
Real World Mountains
Amne Machin
Baekdu Mountain
Bear Butte
Black Hills
Black Tusk
Blanca Peak
Delos...
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A man that makes his living in the northern regions of the U.S. and Canada, most often as Hunter Trapper. One of the most recognizable characters in Westerns, the Mountain Man is...
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The Earth orbits around the Sun once every 365.26 days. From Earth, this gives an apparent movement of the Sun eastward with respect to the stars at a rate of about 1°/day, or a...
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Mummia is a form of bitumen (a resource similar to pitch or resin) that was available long ago in Persia. It's a dark viscous liquid that was used as a form of medicine or folk...
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Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent (or malice aforethought), and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful...
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A museum is a locale where a variety of historic artifacts are on display for viewing by the general public.
Noteworthy Museums
Bergen Museum
Experience Music Project and...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Noteworthy Works of Music
Mysterium (Scriabin)
See Also
Music Tropes
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
This Time Travel Trope is a specific form of Grandfather Paradox. This version disperses with all the baggage of causality and paradox, and just happily declares that being your...
"There will not be a single spectator. All will be participants. The work requires special people, special artists and a completely new culture. The cast of performers includes an orchestra, a...
Summary
December 29, 2007: A strange, 27 m long container was washed up on a beach on the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story...
Summary
October 5, 2005: Newly released satellite images confirm an event in 1995 where a vast region of the Indian Ocean - approximately as large as Connecticut - glows mysteriously at night. The...
Summary
April 2, 2009: Mysterious big black cats have been sighted around New York's Tallman Mountain State Park. Wildlife experts say that they are not sure what they are.
Source
Bibliography
1....
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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The Mythago is more than a mythical creature … it is a creature of myth.
The human mind is a powerful thing … it imagines things, shapes them, weaves them into the world...
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Mythological Characters are non-human personalities from mythology and folklore, such as Gods or Heroes.
For fantasy races, see Mythological Creatures. To clarify, Giants would...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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Mythological Creatures are non-human beings which appear in mythology and folklore.
For specific non-humans with a personality, see Mythological Characters.
Creatures which are...
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Mythological places are legendary places from a relatively cohesive set of myths. Places derived solely from fiction without any mythological value should be categorized under...
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Mythology can refer to the study of myth, or to a body of myths.
A myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and mankind came to be, often closely linked to religion....
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Nagas are dragon-like demons, and were dangerous and destructive spirits. Some are half-human, half-snake, while others are monstrous water creatures who guard the depths of...
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Can your character take a fall from an airplane in flight? Or how about from a cliff? Did you know that if you hit a body of water from a great height that your clothes are...
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A name is a label for a person, animal, plant, specific product or concept.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Fantasy Name Generator at RinkWorks
2. Name Generators at Seventh Sanctum -...
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Each culture has its own naming conventions on which kinds of name sound "tough" or "intimidating"… and which sound "soft" and "weak". Names are often thought to tell something...
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Nan Madol is a ruined city off the coast of one of the islands in what is now the Federated States of Micronesia. Construction on the city began sometime between the 8th Century...
Summary
December 10, 2007: Engineers have discovered bacteria which produce naturally semi-conducting nanotubes. It is thought that this discovery could benefit the electronics industry...
Basic Information
Narrative devices move the story or the plot forward.
List of Narrative Devices
A Boy And His X
Accidental Bid
Action Prologue
Adults Are Useless
There Are No Adults
A God Am...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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Narrative tropes are tropes that form the basic building blocks of stories.
List of Narrative Tropes
Applied Phlebotinum
Forensic Phlebotinum
Insecurity System
Magical...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
The National Security Agency is an American intelligence agency.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Over 400 forms used by the National...
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Originally comissioned as the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) in 1943, the Naval Air Weapons Station, the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS China Lake) is the primary...
Summary
January 21, 2009: Article documents that about 1 in 5 births is identical twins in the small town of Candido Godoi, Brazil. Joseph Mengele, under an assumed name, made visits to the town...
Summary
November 27, 2007: Operation Last Chance, an effort by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to capture Nazi war criminals before they die, was launched in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil (it...
Summary
March 21, 2003: An interstellar molecular cloud has been discovered which is pulsating strangely every 250,000 years.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
A really...
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It is allowable within the laws of physics for there to be matter with negative mass, which would have interesting properties. It is worth distinguishing between inertial mass...
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The Negative Space Wedgie is the equivalent of the Monster of the Week for space-based science fiction settings. This trope includes actual monsters, but also astronomical...
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When the ancient race that predates man left one heck of a mess behind them, that's Neglectful Precursors. In general, the more neglectful the Precursors are, the less likely...
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She was a powerful advocate for woman's rights and social reform and a pioneer in the field of investigative reporting and stunt journalism. She is practically the Platonic Ideal...
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In 1984, a team of paleontologists discovered a pattern to the extinctions in the geologic record. There was a major extinction event every 26 million years. This cycle goes back...
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Nephilim are a race of beings from ancient Hebrew legend, briefly mentioned in the Bible. They are first mentioned in the book of Genesis:
When men began to increase in number on...
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Neptune is the eighth planet in our Solar System. It is the furthest official planet from the Sun.
It is similar to Uranus, being a little bit smaller but a little bit denser and...
Summary
July 19, 2009: A large black spot has appeared near the south pole of the planet Jupiter, which may indicate that a comet or other large body has impacted there.
Source
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
In 1985, the 100th Anniversary of the formulation of Coca-Cola, the company decided to change it's secret formula to a sweeter version called New Coke. Initially the new product...
Summary
August 12, 2009: Researchers working for UK's Wide Area Search for Planets (WASP) project in collaboration with the Geneva Observatory have announced discovering a planet that orbits its...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Xanadu
Event/News: Dirty Jersey - Feds Bust Dozens in Corruption Scandal
News: Jersey - The Most Politically Corrupt...
"There's a NEW Mexico?!??"
- Homer Simpson
Basic Information
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States. The climate of New Mexico is arid. Common terrain features in NM are...
Summary
June 19, 2009: New Mexico celebrated it's Ground Breaking Ceremony for the first commercial space port, near the small city of Truth or Consequences (also called "T or C, NM"), which will...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Hurricane Katrina
News: Metairie man says stranger took bite out of his arm
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Summary
Source
Bibliography
1. full source reference
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
A newspaper is a written publication containing news and other information.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Get Clippings
2. The Newspaper Clipping Generator
3. Wikipedia entry
Game...
Basic Information
Newspaper Dating is the second-most common way for a Time Traveler to find out the date and year they've arrived at. You walk up to a newspaper stand and look at the dateline,...
Basic Information
News Tropes are genre tropes about news, news reports, journalism and so on.
List of News Tropes
Coincidental Broadcast
Crawl
Current Events Blog
Gate Construction
Kent Brockman...
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The New Testament contains those books added to the Hebrew Scriptures by the early Christian Church, consisting of accounts of the life of Christ and of the early church and of...
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New Year's Day is the date when people celebrate the passing of the Old Year and the beginning of the New one. In most countries using the Gregorian Calender, this day falls on...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Communities in New York
New York City
List of New York Locations
Niagara Falls
See Also
News: Ancient tsunami 'hit New...
Basic Information
New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean consisting of two major land masses - the North Island and the South Island - as well as numerous smaller...
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The Niagara Falls are gigantic waterfalls straddling the border between New York State, USA and Ontario, Canada.
See Also
Niagara Falls Tunnels
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Below the Niagara Falls, there is an old, abandoned hydroelectric power plant. Huge shafts poured water into giant wheelpits, where turbines were located which powered much of...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Nicaragua's Vampire Problem
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Summary
February 27, 2009: In Nicaragua, many towns are plagued by vampire bats. Normally, vampire bats attack primarily livestock, but when cattle herds are sold off or moved elsewhere, the bats...
Basic Information
Nigeria is a country in West Africa. It is widely known for its Internet-based confidence games.
List of Nigeria Locations
Lagos
See Also
Henry Okah
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
A nightmare is a dream causing unpleasant emotions in a sleeping person, such as fear, horror or pain.
See Also
Nightmare Fuel
Sources
Bibliography
1. Nightmare Archive -...
Basic Information
Nightmare fuel is a horror trope. It denotes topics, imagery, and so forth which is able to give people nightmares. Out of necessity, what does and does not constitute nightmare...
Summary
December 9, 2003: About 9 percent of all citizens of the United States - about 14 million people - suffer from strong recurring nightmares.
See Also
Dream
Source
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Nils Olav is a penguin who lives in Edinburgh Zoo in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the mascot and Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian King's Guard. On August 15, 2008 he attained...
Summary
June 17, 2009: In anticipation of sanctions and possible further escalation of the conflict on the Korean peninsula, North Korea has started to drain its foreign accounts in Macao and...
Summary
July 24, 2009: According to a former member of the elite military forces of North Korea who fled the country in 1999, the government of North Korea forces parents to give up their children...
Basic Information
In general, photosynthesis happens mostly via a mechanism of a green chemical known as Chlorophyll. However, that's not necessarily the only option for a photosynthesis chemical....
Basic Information
This page lists organizations that are not religious in nature.
Types of Organizations
Biker Gang
Motorcycle Club
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs
Collection agency
Customer...
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Life as we know it requires water. Water acts as a biological solvent, dissolving various chemicals into solution, so that they may be transported more readily via the body's...
Basic Information
A Noocracy, or "aristocracy of the wise", as defined by Plato, is a social and political system that is "based on the priority of human mind".
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Summary
June 18 2005: Science now has an answer to notions of temporal paradox - they just can't happen. Breakthroughs in Quantum Theory now strongly indicate that time travelers are prevented...
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Norse mythology is the best-preserved subset of Germanic Paganism. It covers the myths and folklore of Scandinavia, including the regions of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and...
Basic Information
This Article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of North Carolina Locations
Devil's Tramping Ground
Roanoke Colony
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
South Korea
News: N Korea 'tests weapons on children'
Event/News: North Korea tears up ceasefire agreement
Event/News:...
Summary
June 2, 2009: The article discusses the decaying state of the North Korean military - especially its elite special forces units, which consist of approximately 15% of the military. While...
Summary
May 27, 2009: North Korea has unilaterally declared the ceasefire agreement signed between it and South Korea in 1953 to be over.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Cities
Bergen
See Also
Fjord
Grim Up North
Nils Olav
Norse Mythology
The Moskstraumen
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
Basic Information
Pilots have long liked to personalize their aircraft. During World War I, German and Italian pilots would add mouths underneath the propeller spinner of their planes or insignia...
Basic Information
November is the eleventh month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for November 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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This page lists news articles and events for .
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for November 8th.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for November 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Basic Information
The Novikov self-consistency principle, also known as the Novikov self-consistency conjecture, is a principle developed by Dr. Igor Novikov in the mid-1980s to solve the problem...
Basic Information
The Nürnberger Reichswald is a large forest north of Nuremberg. It was used as a source of sandstone throughout the century, and it was also known as the "Bee Garden of the Holy...
By quarkstomper
Keywords
Neglectful Precursors
Shangri-La
Greenland
The Adventure Seed
In a Victorian-Era Campaign: Explorers trying to cross Greenland find an inexplicable temperate region,...
Basic Information
An Obstructive Bureaucrat is an archetypal character representing a member of a large and powerful organization whose main task in the story is to keep someone (usually the...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Archipelago - stuff sticking out of the ocean.
Chilean Blob - strange stuff emerging from the ocean.
Plastic Continent -...
Basic Information
An Ocean Planet is a planet whose entire surface is covered by very deep water, a single ocean hundreds of kilometers deep. This is very different from just being a wet and...
Basic Information
October is the tenth month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for October 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
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Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
This page lists news articles and events for October 9.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed...
Basic Information
In 1972, just a few days before the United States presidential election, the President's National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, held a press conference announcing "We...
Basic Information
The Octodog Hot Dog Shaper is a device which will shape a hot dog into the form of an octopus.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Short description of the product
Game and Story Use
If...
Basic Information
The octopus is a type of mollusc having eight legs, and one beak, and which lives in the ocean. There are around 300 recognized octopus species. They are classed as cephalopods...
Summary
August 1, 2008: A military researcher committed suicide as law enforcement were about to arrest him as a suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
2....
Basic Information
Off The Grid is a philosophy whose adherents attempt to live without getting involved with the government or other authorities.
Sources
Bibliography
1. OFF THE GRID: Life On The...
Basic Information
The Ogallala Aquifer is an enormous aquifer below the Great Plains of the United States. It provides water for large parts of the states of South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming,...
Basic Information
Ogres are gigantic, brutish, often man-eating humanoid beings of great physical strength in European legend. The term "ogre" is originally French, but the legends are more widely...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Ohio Towns and Cities
Cleveland, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
See Also
News: Richard Whitehurst creates rape tunnel...
Basic Information
September 3, 2008: Archaeologists have discovered the oldest human skeleton in the Americas in an underwater cave close to Cancún, Mexico in the Yucatán Peninsula. The skeleton...
This page is about the speculative fiction trope. For airplane dogfighting, see aerial combat.
Basic Information
Old School Dogfighting is what happens when sci-fi writers foolishly think that...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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Olfaction or olfactis are fancy ways of saying "Sense of Smell". Olfaction is a form of chemoreception that detects odors in the air (or water, for aquatic lifeforms). Mammals...
Basic Information
Olorgesailie is an prehistoric archaeological site in Kenya. This dried lake bed has so many ancient Acheulean stone hand axes in it, that it has been described as the stone age...
Basic Information
Omnipresent Tropes are universal tropes which are so common that most people don't even notice them.
List of Omnipresent Tropes
Acceptable Targets
An Aesop
Big Bad
The...
Basic Information
There are some stories in the Bible that are not widely known. They don't often come up in Sunday School; sometimes because they are too violent, sometimes because they have sex...
By quarkstomper
Keywords
Two Roman Coffins Unearthed In Newcastle
Project ELF
Darwinist
The Adventure Seed
In the 1970s, the US Military constructed Project ELF, an experimental communications...
Basic Information
The onocentaur is a medieval beast with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a donkey. In allegorical terms, the onocentaur represents male lust or a hypocrite who...
Basic Information
Ontological Inertia is tendency of that which exists to continue existing.
In stories involving magic and the supernatural, it refers to whether or not a spell or condition...
Basic Information
This Time Travel Trope refers to scenarios where items or information are passed from the future to the past, which then become the same items or information that are...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: 'Stoned wallabies make crop circles'
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
An Oprichnik is a member of the secret police and death squads in service of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Fun facts about the Oprichniks
Oprichniks dressed in black monastic habits,...
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Orcus On His Throne is a characterization trope of a Big Bad Evil Guy or other Evil Overlord where we're told he's big and awful, and can take over the world, but for the course...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it.
A society based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in 1878 and inspired by poems about Hashim ibn Hakim.
Sources
Article about the...
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An organization is a social group which pursues a common goal.
List of Organization types
Corporation
Non-Religious Organizations
Organized Crime
Religious Organizations
Secret...
"We are making you an offer you cannot refuse…"
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Organized Crime represents large groups of criminals who cooperate during criminal activities for profit and other...
Summary
February 10, 2006: Scientists are looking for ways of applying 3D Printing technology to creating human organs.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
In a Twenty...
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Orthogenesis is a discredited scientific theory of evolution that predates Charles Darwin. This theory proposed that evolution happened without consideration towards...
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Otherkin are a subculture of people who believe themselves to be reincarnations of mythological creatures.
Sources
Bibliography
1. OtherKinDating.Com - what it sounds like.
2....
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Otherness Tropes are tropes that establish personality and identity for nonhuman entities.
List of Otherness Tropes
AI Is A Crapshoot
Alien Blood
Alien Scrappy
Aliens And...
This is a Bibliography page for useful resources which do not fit neatly into any of the other categories.
Sources
Books
Chevalier, Jean and Gheerbrant, Alain
The Penguin Dictionary of...
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Other tropes are tropes that do not fit into any of the other categories.
List of Other Tropes
Books On Trope
British Telly Tropes
Chekhovs Pun
Derivative Works
Fan Work
Fan...
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Otherworld tropes represent tropes and settings not of our Earth
List of Otherworld Tropes
All Planets Are Earth Like
All The Myriad Ways
A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far...
Summary
July 27, 2009: A woman in San Antonio, Texas killed her 3 1/2 week old infant son and ate parts of him (including his brain) before stabbing herself. She later claimed that Satan made...
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Sadly, Dwarves do not get a trope called Our Dwarves Are Different, because none of them ever are.
The only difference that every occurs between Dwarves in different games or...
This page does not exist. Instead, Our Dwarves Are All The Same.
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Our Monsters Are Different is a trope that occurs when the creator of a setting uses a familiar monster, but changes its powers and the way it normally works from its traditional...
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What does Time Travel look like? Fiction has given us several theories:
Videocassette Time Travel - Pioneered in The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. You can actually see the...
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This is a list of tropes from the TV Tropes Wiki that have to do with how various fantasy races, mythological creatures, character types, or supernatural phenomena are most...
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This speculative fiction trope describes the increasingly common practice of using Vampires in your story (or game), and twisting or nuancing them just a bit so aren't straight...
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This Speculative Fiction Trope details the archetypes and classes of Zombie. The TV Tropes Wiki divides them into Types V, C, F, and P, for Voodoo, Construct, Flesh-Eating, and...
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The Western Characters version of the criminal. Typically there's a price on his head, and sometimes even a Bounty Hunter on his tail. Whether he started as one or not, he's...
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An Outlaw Motorcycle Club is a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who has formed a gang or 'club' but who has not registered with the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) or the...
Summary
April 6, 2009: The article discusses the squalid conditions in many Third World psychiatric hospitals, where many patients are treated little better than animals. A large number of photos...
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Out Of Place Artifact, or OOPA, or OOPart, is an Artifact found in a context that defies conventional notions or expectations in regards to human history. [1] The topic is...
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This Time Travel Trope refers to the strange situation where a character experiences a great deal of time relative to everyone else yet does not act any different. He might not...
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The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is a fictional creature which was invented as an internet hoax in 1998. As the name says, it is allegedly a tree-dwelling octopus which lives...
Summary
October 22, 2008: The United States Department of Defense is looking for contractors which can create a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a...
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In ancient times, writing materials were expensive, and so it became common to recycle old pieces of parchment by washing the old writing off them. The resulting piece was called...
Summary
July 30, 2008: Two elderly sisters (who are twins), following a strange strain of Christianity, have fed enormous hordes of rats in their home in a suburb of Los Angeles, California -...
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Doroteo Arango Arámbula (June 5, 1878 – July 20, 1923), better known as Francisco or "Pancho" Villa, was the first Mexican Revolutionary general. According to one version of...
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Pan Prior is the proposed scientific name for the common ancestor of humans (Homo Sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes). No fossil remains have been found for this missing...
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Paranormal tropes are genre tropes and speculative fiction tropes. They represent things that are uncanny and supernatural, but not outright magical.
List of Paranormal...
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Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship between two life forms in which one - the parasite - benefits, and the other - the host - suffers.
See Also
News: Genetic Parasites
News:...
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A parent is a father or mother; one who sires or gives birth to and/or nurtures and raises an offspring.
See Also
Family Tropes
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game...
Summary
January 16, 2008: Joshua Blahyi, an evangelical pastor tells of the atrocities he and other members of his military unit committed during the civil war in Liberia. These involved ritually...
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The Patasola is a form of vampire that exists in the folklore of South America, often presented as being a guardian of the forest. She appears to lonely men in the wilderness...
Summary
September 2, 2009: US economist Paul Romer has suggested a radical plan to transform poor nations into prosperous ones: Such nations would give control of one of its cities to a rich...
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A morality trope that pervades popular fantasy rpg's, this is the idea that it is acceptable (or even heroic) to commit what would otherwise be clearly evil acts when the target...
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Like convenitional explosives, nuclear bombs could be put in use other than killing one's enemies during the wartime.
Most of the major nuclear countries were pondering such use...
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In Greek mythology, Pegasus (Greek: Πήγασος, Pégasos, 'strong') is a winged horse
It was created by Poseidon in his role as horse-god and the Gorgon Medusa.
Birth
There...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
AirPenguin
AquaPenguin
Everything's Better With Penguins
Nils Olav
Polar Bears And Penguins
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Summary
June 10, 2007: At one point, the Military of the United States considered a proposal to research a chemical weapon which was intended to turn its targets homosexual and also acted as an...
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This page is for historical or legendary figures who might be useful in a campaign. It should be limited to people who actually existed (such as George Washington) or to people of...
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People In Rubber Suits are aliens with a similar body layout to humans, and with only cosmetic changes from human appearance.
See Also
Costume Tropes
Otherness Tropes
Sources
TV...
Summary
June 24, 2003: The article tells of a study that proves that people who are more prone to fantasy and daydreams are much more likely to remember their dreams when they wake...
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Every villain has his minions; so why can't one of them be cute? The Perky Female Minion is cheerful and upbeat, a fun girl to be around. Sure, her boss is an evil megalomaniac,...
Summary
January 19, 2008: A junior member of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom lost a laptop with personal information about 600,000 people, including serving personnel and many others who have...
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The Great Peshtigo Fire has the double distinction of being the deadliest fire in American history, destroying over 1,875 square miles (4,850 sq. km) of forest and taking between...
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Peter Francisco was one of the so-called "Giants of the American Revolution," (Francisco, George Washington, and Ethan Allen were all over six feet tall in a time when the...
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Petrozavodsk Incident or Pertozavodsk Wonder (Russian: Петрозаводское Диво) is an anomalous event witnessed by thousands of people living across Karelia and...
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pH is a scale that describes the acidity or basicity of a chemical. The scale goes from 1 to 14, with water being a 7. An acid has a low pH rating. A base (chemistry) has a high...
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The Phantom Time Hypothesis refers to several (competing) theories that say that several centuries of history do not exist. Much of history is recorded by those who lived long...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Psychic Surgery - this originated in the Philippines
Rod (Cryptozoology) - they have been sighted here
Spanish-American War...
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The Philosopher Cowboy is a Western Character trope. This is The Smart Guy who decides he prefers honest work amid the outdoors rather than the City Life.
Plutarch was a big read...
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Philosophy is the study of universal human concepts and problems by reasoned argument.
List of Philosophies
Off The Grid
Transhumanism
Source
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
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Phlogiston is a fifth element beyond the four elements of Ancient Greece. According to Phlogiston theory, it's supposedly contained within all combustible bodies. It has no...
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The phlogiston theory (from the Ancient Greek φλογιστόν phlŏgistón "burning up," from φλόξ phlóx "fire"), first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is an...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
A phobia is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or persons.
Sources
Wikipedia...
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The Phoenix Lights* are a series of light phenomena - sometimes in the shape of a carpenter's square UFO - which appeared in the skies over the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada...
The Professor paced up to Tony studying him closely through his thick spectacles. Then he grabbed Tony by the jaw and began probing his forehead with his long, tapering fingers. "Mediterranean...
"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
- Ernest Rutherford, the Physicist who discovered the nucleus of the atom.
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Physics is the science of matter and it's...
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Pig-in-a-poke originated in the late Middle Ages. This confidence game entails a sale of a (suckling) "pig" in a "poke" (bag). The bag ostensibly contains a live healthy little...
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Pilatusstadt is a mythological place. Its existence is reported in a legend in the village of Hausen near Forchheim, Germany. According to the legend Pontius Pilate, the Prefect...
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A Pinkerton is a Western Character, specifically a Detective working for the infamous Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The Pinkertons were known for their ruthlessness and...
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Piracy is defined as an act of war committed by a non-state actor. Most commonly, we think of armed robbery on the high seas, but it can also refer to coastal raids, river...
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This article is a stub. Please expand!
See Also
Piracy
News: An Economic Analysis Of The Somali Pirate Business Model
News: Luxury Yachts Offer Pirate Hunting Cruises
News:...
Summary
November 21, 2008: Somalia-based piracy has become so frequent that it is starting to affect shipping through the Red Sea significantly - and with it, the revenues Egypt collects from the...
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A Pirate is someone who engages in Piracy.
Within a story, they tend to serve one of two purposes: either the heroes are dashing piratical swashbucklers, or else the pirates are...
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The Piri Reis map is a world map created by the 16th century Ottoman admiral and cartography Piri Reis, who created his map based on existing older maps. It shows South America...
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A Pissprophet, Piss Prophet, or Water-Scriger is a type of profession from the Middle Ages, a sort of Doctor who diagnosed patients based entirely on their urine.
Color and...
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A list of locales useful for gaming.
Countries
Fictional Locations
Ghost town
Military Holdings
Museums
Mythological Places
Prisons
Schools and Universities
Terrain
Towns and...
Basic Information
A planet is a body orbiting a star or stellar remnant which is large enough to attain a round shape under its own gravity but which has failed to become large enough to ignite...
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This is a Bibliography page for useful resources in the in the genre of Planetary Romance. This is a nominally science fiction genre, in that it takes place on another world; but...
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The Planet Farm is an entire planet given over to Agriculture. Comes in a couple varieties, the Down On The Farm multiple-small-owner version, or the hugely corporate factory...
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Planet of Hats is a Speculative Fiction Trope where the population of an entire planet is summarized by a single culture, a single philosophy, a single personality trait, or a...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Plant Types
Tree
List of Plants
Acacia
Calluna (common heather)
Ficus
List of Plant Parts
Root
See...
"It was just filled with things like furniture, fridges, plastic containers, cigarette lighters, plastic bottles, light globes, televisions and fishing nets."
- Ian Kiernan
Basic Information
The...
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If the story has more than one MacGuffin, they're Plot Coupons. You just have to collect enough of them, and you can trade them all in for a denouement.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Plots organize the action of a story.
Plot Categories
Flashbacks And Chronology
The Heros Journey - the monomyth
Mystery Arc
Romance Arc - organizes the romantic drama
Romance...
Summary
November 11, 2007: Four out of ten crimes reported in the United Kingdom are quickly written off by the police because they don't have the manpower to deal with...
Summary
September 11, 2005: The Police in parts of London is being overwhelmed by Vietnamese gangs flooding the streets with drugs, especially cannabis. These gangs are also connected with...
Basic Information
A police station is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of police staff. It usually contains locker rooms, offices, and temporary holding...
Summary
March 13, 2009: Three American teenagers were initiated as assassins for the Mexican Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's two major drug cartels. They were recruited into a group called "Los...
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Poltics Tropes are topical tropes on politics and world events.
List of Politics Tropes
Politics About Media
Backed By The Pentagon
Banned In China
Comics Code
DRM
Government...
Basic Information
Polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, is a specific type of plastic, produced by adding Chlorine to plastic. Until the mid 1970s, they were used in all sorts of liquid plastic...
WILSON: [reading from an encyclopedia] "P O O K A - Pooka - from old Celtic mythology - a fairy spirit in animal form - always very large. The pooka appears here and there - now and then - to this...
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John Anglicus was an English traveler and scholar who became a teacher in Rome and eventually a cardinal in the ninth century. When Pope Leo IV died in 853 AD, John Anglicus was...
GM: Come on guys, try and get back into character. This is supposed to be the creepy, angsty climax to the campaign. It's what we've been building to for the past 8 months. If you keep lipping off...
Summary
August 15, 2008: Mexican archeologists have discovered stone temples in a cave complex, which ancient Mayans believed were a portal to the Mayan underworld Xibalba.
Source
Original...
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A posse is group of men deputized by The Sheriff or a US Marshal to assist in the pursuit of justice, such as capturing fugitives.
The word comes from the phrase "posse...
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This page describes the affects on our planet, it's environment, and human technology and endeavor in an After The End scenario. Assume mankind is wiped out by some contagious...
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making… As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will...
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Power rarely comes without strings attached. Here's a list of Tropes that explore or pertain to this concept.
A God Am I
Aesoptinum
Age Without Youth
Ambition Is Evil
Artifact...
Summary
September 10, 2008: An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck below the Molucca Sea close to Indonesia. Tsunami alerts were issued for the surrounding areas.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Basic Information
Prague is one of the homes of the Art Nouveau movement, as exemplified in the work of Alfonse Mucha. This art movement stressed a strong-lined, graphic style with magical realist...
Summary
October 28, 2008: Opals have been detected on Mars near Valles Marineris. This implies that there has been liquid water on the Martian surface for extended periods, increasing the...
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Precursors are a speculative fiction trope that functions as a narrative device and sometimes even appears as a character. The Precursors refers to one or more intelligent...
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Insects predate the dinosaurs, and insect fossils have been dated back to 400 million years ago, preserved in amber. Even these ancient versions have body structures very similar...
Summary
November 8, 2009: Hugo Chavez, leader of Venezuela (the fifth-largest oil exporter in the world) says his country should prepare for war. Who would they be fighting against? The United...
Basic Information
In 1969, future US President Jimmy Carter saw a UFO while standing just outside the Leary Lion's Club in Leary, Georgia. He did not file a report about it until four years later,...
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A prison is a place where individuals are physically confined and deprived of some of their personal freedoms. Reasons for prisoner status may be punishment for crimes or...
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The Prisoner of Zenda Exit is a narrative trope which occurs when the villain of a story, after being soundly defeated by the protagonists, is able to escape them somehow - by...
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A private military company (PMC) is a company that offers expertise or services of a military nature, often including mercenaries
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game...
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A profession is a type of job that someone can enter.
(Technically, the term "Profession" refers to a job that has a specific license and corresponding educational requirement,...
Professional Wrestling is comparable to that of soap operas for manly men.
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Everything is rigged, but no one believes it is, all the cast members of a professional wrestling group...
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Early Soviet lunar exploration satellites' series had their development designations beginning with E. Thus, E-1 was direct hit on the lunar surface (Luna_1 and Luna_2); E-2 was...
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Project ELF was a US Navy program intended to provide communication with nuclear submarines at sea. Since conventional radio waves have difficulty penetrating water, submarines...
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Project Orion was a Cold War-era study into the idea of using the thrust generated by an atomic bomb to propel a spacecraft. By using energetic nuclear power, Orion offered both...
Summary
June 11, 2009: At the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, there are courses for Intelligent Design offered by William Dembski which require the following work from the...
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Since the wording of a prophecy can traditionally be cryptic, poetic, arcane and at times downright misleading, it may be impossible to determine just what it is talking about...
Basic Information
A Prophetic Fallacy is when a prophecy, usually one in a visual form, is misinterpreted due to it either lacking some crucial piece of information or being mixed with blatantly...
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A Prospector is a character who searches for mineral resources, traditionally gold.
The profession of prospector is actually quite an old one, for as soon as humans understood...
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Prosperity theology is a religious belief among parts of Christianity that God provides material wealth and prosperity for those he favors. This has been criticized among other...
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The term Pseudepigrapha, ("false writing") refers to works attributed to someone other than the true author, and so strictly speaking, a number of books of the Bible can be...
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Psionics is the scientific study of Psychic Powers and related phenomena. It only exists in settings where the existence of these is accepted by the scientific community. For the...
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Psychic Powers are amazing powers of the mind. Possibilities run the gamut from the subtle enough to be doubted to the superheroically blatant. Psychic powers are surrounded by a...
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Psychic surgery is a procedure typically involving the apparent creation of an incision using only the bare hands, the apparent removal of pathological matter, and the seemingly...
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Psychology is the scientific study of mental processes and behavior.
See Also
All Psychology Is Freudian
Armchair Psychology
Mental Disorder
Phobia
Psychological...
Murphy was loitering on a streetcorner on Broadway when one of the passers-by stopped to look at him: a middle-aged man with a halo of curly brown hair surrounding a balding head, a prosperous...
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Public Domain Artifact is the name for the trope of using some prominent Legendary Artifact as the MacGuffin or Applied Phlebotinum of a story. Many Public Domain Artifacts are...
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Public-key cryptography, also known as asymmetric cryptography, is a form of cryptography in which the key used to encrypt a message differs from the key used to decrypt it. In...
"My ancestors were Puritans from England. They arrived here in 1648 in the hope of finding greater restrictions than were permissible under English law at that time."
- Garrison Keillor
Basic...
This is a Bibliography page for sources in the Pulp Era. The Pulp Era covers a period roughly from the 1920s through World War II, when magazines printed on cheap "pulp" paper provided thrills and...
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A punched card is a stiff piece of paper on which information is encoded via the presence or absence of holes at predefined locations. This technology was made obsolete by modern...
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Punishment is something unpleasant done to curtail lawlessness or disobedience. See also Crimes, Criminal, and Crime and Punishment Tropes.
Modern punishments
Community...
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A puppet state represents a nation whose government is effectively controlled by a foreign power.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Odds are that...
Basic Information
A pursuivant is a sort of junior Herald or junior officer of arms. They have similar responsibilities and duties as a Herald, but are lower in rank.
In the modern day,...
"Lord save us!" cried the duck. "How does it make up its mind?"
— The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
Basic Information
Now extinct, the African Pushmi-Pullyu is certainly one of the...
Summary
September 6, 2009: The article alleges that the 1999 Russian apartment bombings of September 4 and September 13 in Buynaksk and on September 9 and September 13 in Moscow, and September 16...
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Pykrete is a material made from 14% sawdust and 86% ice. It melts at significantly slower speeds than ordinary ice. During World War II, the British instigated Project Habakkuk to...
"First, let me assure you that this is not one of those shady pyramid schemes you've been hearing about. No sir. Our model is the trapezoid!"
- The Simpsons, "I Married Marge"
Basic Information
A...
Basic Information
A Pyromancer is a Wizard or Diviner who specializes in Pyromancy. The term is often used to refer to a Mage whose powers might more accurately be defined as fire-based...
Basic Information
As the name suggests, Pyromancy is magic involving fire. Gaming has a long history of using the word Pyromancy to mean completely the wrong type of magic involving fire (see...
Summary
September 10, 2008: An earthquake with magnitude 6.1 centered on the province of Hormozgan of Iran killed seven people and injured 40. Its effects were felt as far away as Dubai, where it...
Basic Information
Quantum Foam is a concept in Quantum Mechanics, related to Virtual Particles in Quantum Field Theory. In a nutshell, the Quantum Foam idea states that at very small scales,...
Basic Information
Quantum Immortality is a concept stemming from the Quantum Suicide Thought Experiment.
The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics says that every event creates multiple...
Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory does not understand it.
—Niels Bohr, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
Basic Information
Quantum Mechanics is the field of Physics dealing with...
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Quantum Suicide is a thought experiment that probably should never be realized. It would seek to test whether or not there was validity to the Many Worlds Interpretation.
To...
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Quiverfull is a evangelical Christian movement whose members eagerly seek to have as many children as possible and eschew any kind of birth control.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Summary
June 15, 2009: Two baby raccoons were saved from a life of sweet, sweet Pepsi this week, as the Skunk Whisperer came to their aid.
Source
Bibliography
1. KTLA June 16, 2009...
Basic Information
The rag and bone man is a profession from the middle ages. Essentially, it's the Medieval equivalent of the Garbage Man. This person would travel down the streets with a...
The brave knight rescued the magician's daughter, and returned her home as he promised. As they approached the wizard's tower, however, he became quite cautious about the strange humanoids that...
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Rag picker can refer to several different unsavory professions.
In the middle ages it refers to a rag and bone man, or someone who works with them to sort through the trash they...
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A Rags to Riches story is where the protagonist starts out at the bottom of the social strata, but is able to reach to the top through a combination of hard work, luck, or other...
Summary
December 30, 2005: This article describes an existing plan how the US Military would invade Canada.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
This would make for an...
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This Western Character is the owner/president/majority stockholder of a large and successful railroad. In the latter half of the 19th Century, owning a major railroad was a great...
Basic Information
Railroad Brakeman is a profession that involves applying the brakes of a train.
Prior to 1880:
Back in the day, this job actually involved walking along the tops of the cars and...
Basic Information
The Railroad Conductor is the profession of the manager of a train and its crew. The conductor is responsible for all areas other than the engine, which is the responsibility of...
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This page is an index of jobs involving locomotives, especially during the early years of the Railroad.
On the train:
Railroad Brakeman
Railroad Conductor
Railroad...
Basic Information
The Railroad Engineer is the "driver" of a train. He's responsible for the maintenance of the engine, controls its speed, and requires an intimate knowledge of the route and its...
"I thought the inquiry was supposed to be independent!"
"So is a locomotive, but you'll find they tend to go where you laid down the tracks."
— (quoted from memory, and probably innaccurately,...
Basic Information
Railroad Laborer refers to the many, many people responsible for building and maintaining the rails of the railroad. The most famous of these is John Henry of man vs. machine...
Basic Information
The Stoker is also known as the Railroad Fireman. The person with this job is responsible for keeping the engine fire going properly and regulating the boiler. It's the guy on...
Summary
May 11, 2007: The city of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates plans to build a convention and exhibition center which resembles to the Death Star from Star Wars
The Melbourne...
Basic Information
RAMBOs stands for Robust Associations of Massive Baryonic Objects. They are a possible form of Dark Matter, essentially a star cluster composed of MACHOs. Groups comprised of...
Basic Information
The Rancher is a Western Character who owns a large spread of land, typically raising cattle.
The Rancher employs the Cowboy, Camp Cook and other ranch workers. He (or sometimes...
**By **
Keywords
The Adventure Seed
If you can't come up with an adventure, you can use this page for inspiration. Below you will find three random links to other pages on the Arcana Wiki. Use them to come up with the basic idea for...
Basic Information
This page can be used as a random generator if you want to come up with an animal hybrid. Leave the tab at "1 Animal Part" if you want to create a human with animal features or...
This page serves as a quick and convenient way of generating a character concept by making use of the Random Page module, the tag system of the Wiki, and the Trope section. This page is still...
The suspect / perpetrator is:
The crime they are attempting to commit is:
The scene of the crime is:
See Also: Crimes and Punishment, and Crime and Punishment Tropes
Game and Story Use
This...
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This page serves as a quick and convenient way to create a random nation, similar to the way the Random Characters generator creates a character. Each nation consists of certain random elements...
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This page generates random Planetary Systems and Star Systems, to aid with the creation of destinations in your Sci-Fi RPG.
Step 1: Star System
First you'll need to determine how...
Summary
December 10, 2007: The speed of human evolution has increased, rather than decreased in the most recent millenniums. Most of the recent changes in human genes were adaptions to an...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: RAK Convention and Exhibition Centre by OMA - a planned building that looks like the Death...
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Rats are medium-sized rodents which are generally regarded as vermin. They are often associated with plagues.
They are also used in laboratories as test animals, and occasionally...
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A Rat King is a phenomena said to occur when multiple rats are intertwined with their tails with blood, dirt, and excrement. Most reports of rat kings have come from...
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Also known as the Raven Rock Military Complex, RRMC*, ANMCC, AJCC, Backup Pentagon, Underground Pentago, or just Site R. This Underground Base and fallout shelter is a US...
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A reality quake is when the entire reality of a world or even dimension becomes temporarily unstable. It will then subsequently shift into a new configuration, which might differ...
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Being a princess is so boring! You sit around a palace all day and they make you wear ridiculous dresses and attend tiresome court functions and they never let you do anything...
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A Red Dwarf is a small star of Class M or late K - specifically a K V Star or M V Star. They are relatively cool in temperature, with a surface temp of no more than 3500 K,...
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By quarkstomper
Keywords
MacGuffin
Vampire
Rat King
The Adventure Seed
Red Reign of the Rat King
The players come across a mysterious artifact: a sculpture of a nest of rats with their tails...
Chained in the burning lake? That sure was worse
What if the breath that kindled those grim fires
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage
And plunge us into flames; or from above
Should...
Summary
July 1, 2009: Various possibilities and risks of geoengineering are discussed in the article. One possibility would be to use giant zeppelins to pump sulfur dioxide into the higher layers...
Summary
November 19, 2008: A group of scientists is convinced that it is possible to resurrect mammoths and other animals which have been extinct for up to 60,000 years through analysis of...
The elderly priest led Martin to an ornate cabinet in the back of the chapel. Inside the cabinet were two human skulls, a large one and a small one, decorated with gold leaf. "This is our church's...
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A religion is a set of beliefs and practices often revolving around morality or supernatural elements.
This article is mostly about religious beliefs and practices. See the...
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Religion of Evil is a trope which involves a religion that is openly, unashamedly evil.
See Also
Religion Tropes
Evil Tropes
Villain
Sources
Bibliography
1. TV Tropes Wiki...
Basic Information
Religion tropes are tropes about religion, spirituality, divinity, and the afterlife.
List of Religion Tropes
Religion
A God Am I
All Jews Are Ashkenazi
Ambiguous...
This page lists religious movements or organizations.
Attis
Brother XII
Cargo Cult
Cathars
International Peace Mission Movement
Knights Templar
Quiverfull
See Also:
News: Scientology the Truth...
Basic Information
Most religions have a body of lore that grow up around it; stories, statements of doctrine, liturgy, prayers, teachings; the amassed wisdom of the faith. In pre-literate...
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"That fop with the English Accent." This fairly rare Western Character is an upper-crust second (or later) son of an English lord with no prospect of inheriting the title (or...
Summary
August 2, 2009: According to defectors, Burma is expanding a nuclear program with the aid of North Korea and Russia, and aims to have nuclear weapons by 2014. According to the report,...
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Reptilian Humanoids are a common motif in mythology, folklore, science fiction, fantasy, conspiracy theories, and the pseudosciences of cryptozoology and ufology.
David Icke...
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Reputation is how a person, group of people, or organization is perceived by other people or society at large.
See Also
Fastest Gun In The West
Legend
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Required Secondary Powers refers to minor powers that we must assume come with the main powers of superheroes or other characters with magic and powers. It refers to the...
Summary
October 15, 2008:
An article in Nature magazine describes a device physicists have created that can suck up microwave light, much as a black hole does, and convert it into heat. The device...
Summary
May 19, 2009: Scientists in Switzerland have used an evolutionary approach to create robots with distinct personalities and societies. They let the robots freely roam in an area with...
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Resilience Economics is a type of possible economic system which resembles traditional capitalism, but in which economic actors are prevented from becoming "too big to fail" -...
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This Western Character Trope is a Wild West-specific version of the Retired Badass. He's a gunslinger, outlaw, or US Marshal who turned over a new leaf, and hung up their guns...
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The Retired Outlaw is a criminal who has gone straight, or at least is trying to. There's always pressure and temptation to fall back on your former ways, and plenty of people...
Summary
September 13, 2009: Off the coast of Malaysia and east of Singapore, there is a vast fleet of "ghost" container ships who have been anchored there without cargo because there is not...
By jhubert
Keywords
Revenge Tropes
Dubai tourists warned over tough drug stance
Cargo Cult
The Adventure Seed
A rich and influential patron and friend of the PCs has a dark secret: When he was...
Basic Information
Revenge tropes are topical tropes centered on the many forms of revenge.
List of Revenge Tropes
Avenging The Villain
Best Served Cold
Cycle Of Revenge
Disproportionate...
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A Revolver is a type of gun with a revolving cylinder that has multiple chambers to hold the bullets. The very first revolver was a form of Arquebus designed in 1597.
Because of...
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Revolvers are powerful, noisy, and look cool, so all the baddest badasses use them. Hollywood loves them, too.
Things to do with your Revolver:
Blasting It Out Of Their...
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RHEx is a small hexapod robot developed by Boston Dynamics. It is capable of moving through difficult terrain, up slopes (and even stairs and (in rugged variants) even through...
Summary
October 4, 2009: An artist based in Columbus, Ohio has come under fierce criticism by the police and feminist group by installing an artwork named "The Rape Tunnel". The artist has...
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In 1854, mathematician Bernhard Riemann gave a revolutionary speech that established the tenants of Riemannian geometry and took the luster off Euclidean Geometry. In that...
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A riot is a type of civil disorder where large but unorganized groups of people lash out with violence, vandalism, or crime.
See Also
Event/News: Family of Montreal teen shot by...
Basic Information
RiSE is a small hexapod robot developed by Boston Dynamics. It is capable of climbing up walls, albeit slowly.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Boston Dynamics page
Game and Story...
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March 6, 2008: The article discusses how dread usually wins out against rational statistical analysis in human decision-making processes, leading people to be far more cautions...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Noteworthy Rivers
Real World Rivers
Brahmaputra River
Ganges
Indus River
Kaveri River
Manas River
Triveni Sangam
Turag...
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In ecology, r/K selection theory suggests that life forms have two paths to success, and that each animal species will be on one of those paths. Natural Selection and various...
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The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County in present-day North Carolina was an enterprise financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 16th century to...
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The Roaring Twenties (i.e.: the 1920s) are certainly among the most exciting years of the 20th Century. For one brief decade you have economic prosperity, bookended by World War...
"No phones! No lights! No motorcars!
Not a single luxury!
Like Robinson Caruso,
As primitive as can be!
— "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island"
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Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe,...
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He looked like the very model of a Gestapo interegator: the cigarette holder; the hard, uncompromising manner; the rapid-fire way he'd bark questions to the prisoner; and most of...
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Robonomics is a type of possible economic system which assumes that robotic and digital systems will be able to do most of the "productive work" of society. Thus, society...
The Encyclopedia Galactica defines a robot as a mechanical apparatus designed to do the work of a man. The Marketing Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot as 'Your...
Basic Information
Robots can serve a variety of story purposes, and accordingly have a variety of related tropes.
Also includes tropes related to Artificial Intelligences and Cyborgs.
Artificial...
Basic Information
A Robot War is a setting where robots created by humanity rebel and attempt to kill or enslave all humans. The theme first appeared in the play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)...
Summary
March 14, 2009: Scientists formerly working on the Strategic Defense Initiative are now working on a laser system designed to shoot down large numbers of mosquitoes. Test systems are able...
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Rods are alleged cryptids which have only appeared on video cameras. Sightings of rods have occurred in the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Philippines and...
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The Rodeo Rider is a working cowboy on the off-season, but whenever there's a rodeo, he's off to show off his riding and roping skills. The term "Rodeo" is a Spanish word, for...
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This very site you are currently browsing is first and foremost a site about role-playing games, a jumping-off point for GMs and Players seeking to liven up their scenarios and...
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Terms used in Role Playing Games. This is a list of terminology related to Game Mechanics and Game Systems. For a much longer list that includes not just this but also tropes and...
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Romance fraud, when con men seduce people only to target their money, is an type of confidence game with very old roots. This form of con received high attention in Sweden around...
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Roman Mythology refers to the Legends, Folklore, and body of Mythology of Ancient Rome.
All-Inclusive Pantheon
The Ancient Romans had a huge pantheon of gods.
When Livius...
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A Roman Ring is a chain of wormholes that can function as a Time Machine. Each individual wormhole allows for movement faster than light (relative to space outside the wormhole),...
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A Romero Zombie is the slow-shuffling brain-eating monster popularized by Night of the Living Dead and it's ilk. The hallmarks of the Romero Zombie are the Zombie Gait and the...
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Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Living Root Bridges
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
According to UFO lore and conspiracy theories, an UFO crashes near Roswell, New Mexico on July 7, 1947. This event is allegedly covered up by Majestic...
Basic Information
Some black holes rotate. These black holes were probably caused by the collapse of spinning stars and dust clouds or collections of stars that were orbiting each other.
Such a...
By simple rotation, we can interchange any of the three spatial dimensions. Now, if time is the fourth dimension, then it is possible to make "rotations" that convert space into time and...
Basic Information
A rotorcraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine that uses lift generated by wings, called rotor blades, that revolve around a mast. Rotorcraft may also include static lifting...
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The Navy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is referred to solely as the Royal Navy, never the Royal British Navy or the British Navy.
A very old...
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Royalty and Nobility Tropes are topical tropes about monarchs, nobles, and their families.
List of Royalty and Nobility Tropes
Aristocrats Are Evil
Awesome Moment Of...
Basic Information
Once upon a time there lived a boy named Roy who loved comic books. When he grew up, he got a job working in the writer's bullpen for the World's Greatest Comic Company and...
Basic Information
This is a glossary of abbrevitaions used in RPG's — (there's one already! Look it up!)
AD&D: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
BBEG: Big Bad Evil Guy; the main opponent in a...
Basic Information
Rubber Band History is a Time Travel Trope where history, like a wound up rubber band, is flexible and may show some stretch marks, but is all set to bounce back to it's original...
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Rule Magic, to borrow a term (and it's definition) from the TV Tropes Wiki, refers to magic where some underlaying magical rule system is applied, as in manipulation by True Name...
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The Rule of Cool states that the Willing Suspension of Disbelief for any given element is directly proportional to how cool it is.
List of Tropes Made Possible by the Rule of...
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A rumor is an unverified claim about a person, object, organization, or issue, and which is spreading from person to person instead of "official"...
Basic Information
August 3, 2008: There are rumors among bloggers that NASA has discovered life on Mars.
Sources
Original article
Game and Story Use
In conspiracy games, the government would, of...
Basic Information
The Running of the Bulls is a sport celebrated in Spain (especially Pamplona) where people try to outrun a herd of bulls released in a narrow street. Accidents are common, and...
Basic Information
Russia (full English title: Russian Federation) is the world's largest country in terms of geographical area. It contains vast frozen tundra, deserts and cities with architecture...
Summary
November 25, 2008: A Russian political analyst predicts that the massive debt of the United States is leading to a collapse of the dollar and the US economy as a whole. He further...
Basic Information
The Russian Business Network is a Russia-based cybercrime criminal organization engaging in a wide range of internet-based crimes.
Sources
RPNExploit - blog about the activities...
Summary
March 17, 2009: Russian engineers have built mobile nuclear power plants - both in tracked and wheeled versions. This program was discontinued after the Chernobyl...
Summary
November 29, 2006: A Russian researcher of the Arctic named Valery Dyemin claims that the mythical land of Hyperborea really existed in the Artic region. He bases this on his research of...
Basic Information
Rustling is the theft of livestock. It comes in a few common forms:
Cattle Rustling - theft of cows and steers
Horse Rustling - theft of horses and ponies
Cattle Raiding -...
Basic Information
The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world and the second largest desert after Antarctica.
See Also
Event/News: Graves Found From Sahara’s Green Period
Event/News: WWII...
Basic Information
Salting or to salt the mine are terms for a confidence game in which gems or gold ore are planted in a mine or on the landscape, duping the greedy mark into purchasing shares in...
Basic Information
Sand Animation is a type of performance art in which the artist creates a series of images with sand of various colors which are shifted around by his hands and...
This page exists for testing purposes.
Summary
July 17, 2009 — A plague of squid have appeared off the coast of San Diego, California. Dozens have washed up on the beaches and divers swimming off the coast have been attacked by large...
Basic Information
San Marino was the world's smallest republic from 301 to 1968, when the country of Nauru gained its independence. San Marino is currently the 5th smallest country in the world,...
Basic Information
On April 1, 1977, the British newspaper The Guardian published a special supplement honoring the tenth anniversary of the independence of San Serriffe, a small island republic in...
"One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach… all the damn vampires." —Grandpa, The Lost Boys
Basic Information
Santa Carla, California is the fictional setting of the 1987...
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening...
Basic Information
Santa Muerte (literal translation: "Saint Death") is a religious figure venerated by some in Mexico. Also known regionally as la Santisima Muerte ("Most Holy Death") and other...
Basic Information
The sasquatch (also referred to as "bigfoot" by many amateur cryptozoologists) is an ape-like cryptid thought to inhabit remote forests in the Pacific Northwest region of Canada...
Summary
January 3, 2008: Archaeologists are using Google Maps and other satellite images (including infrared images) to discover new ruins of ancient civilizations.
Source
Original article
Game and...
Basic Information
Saturn is the 6th planet from the Sun. It's the second largest planet (after Jupiter) in our solar system. Saturn is a Gas Giant. Saturn has a series of planetary rings, and 61...
Basic Information
Saudi Arabia is a country in the Middle East. It is the religious center of Islam.
Cities
Mecca
Medina
Ryad
Other Locations
Rub' al Khali Desert
Iram of the Pillars
See...
Basic Information
SpaceShipOne is a spaceplane. It was used for the first privately-funded manned spaceflight on June 21, 2004, and is the first privately-funded reusable manned spacecraft. It won...
Basic Information
The Scaled Composites Model 318 White Knight is a jet-powered carrier aircraft. It was used to launch the SpaceShipOne experimental spacecraft. The two look very similar, and...
Summary
March 17, 2009: An online digital library at Princton University has published a large number of Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts online. This includes a treatise on ancient,...
Summary
March 16, 2009: An Israeli scholar has claimed that the Essenes, a Jewish group of mystics living in the canyons near the Dead Sea in the 1st century AD who allegedly penned the Dead Sea...
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A School is an institution designed for the instruction of students, guided by teachers. Most countries have government-run school systems, often compulsory; although private...
This page is about the subdivision of magic, as in D&D, not about a literal school. For the location or educational system, see Wizarding School.
Basic Information
In the second and third...
Summary
February 25, 2009: As the population of Detroit has dropped by half in the last fifty years, many schools have been abandoned. The article includes a number of images showing the...
Basic Information
Schrodinger's Gun is a trope that refers to the GM fudging and altering details of the setting that are off camera. It's related to Ret Con, and includes such dastardly tricks as...
"One cannot, except in immature pulp charlatan-fiction, present an account of impossible, improbable, or inconceivable phenomena as a commonplace narrative of objective acts and conventional...
Basic Information
Science Fiction is a broad and vaguely defined category, which can be a setting, a genre, or both. In fact, it's sometimes so hard to create clear borders between sci-fi and...
Basic Information
Defining and dividing Science Fiction from Fantasy (and vice-versa) is very tricky and subjective, hence the need for the encompassing category of Speculative Fiction. Here's a...
Basic Information
A scientist is a person who engages in scientific research.
Related Tropes
Doing In The Scientist
Doing In The Wizard
Emperor Scientist
For Science
Hot Scientist
Mad...
Summary
September 10, 2008: Scientists have activated the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. The Large Hadron Collider accelerates protons to near the speed of light and then...
Summary
July 18, 2005: Scientists are trying to develop artificial meat by growing muscle cells in the lab.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
Artificial meat might...
June 21, 2009: Several former high-ranking members of the Church of Scientology have made a number of serious allegations against David Miscavige, the leader of the Church and its administrations....
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The introduction begins like this: "Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to...
Basic Information
In the Scion RPG, player characters are the half-mortal children of the gods. This game from White Wolf Publishing that is set in a supernaturally-themed version of the modern...
Information is a double-edged sword.
Basic Information
Scry vs Scry is a trope that refers to a particular type of fight scene that's often more talk than fight, as they jockey for position...
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A character suffering from Scully Syndrome will go out of his way to deny evidence of supernatural phenomena or similarly weird events, coming up with all sorts of overly...
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For whatever reason, Hollywood thinks that the only city in the Pacific Northwest is Seattle. Likewise, the only trendy (or bohemian) city in the US that isn't New York or LA is...
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Sealed Evil In A Can is a trope common to Horror and Speculative Fiction. It refers to great evils that were defeated and imprisoned, but not destroyed, in the distant past. Now...
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Seattle is the largest city in the Washington State, as well as the largest in the Pacific Northwest.
The greater Seattle Metropolitan area is home to over 3 million people [2],...
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Seattle Center is a fairground, park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The 74-acre (300,000 m2) campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21...
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Secret Police refers to a police or National Security agency that operates from secrecy with little or no transparency or oversight. The secrecy and lack of review lends itself...
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Secret societies are groups and organizations who keep their activities secret before nonmembers. Frequently, the identity of members is kept secret as well. Secret Societies are...
Summary
March 17, 2009: The article details the possible allegorical meanings behind L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz. According to some scholars, the story is also a hidden metaphor for the...
Basic Information
The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel located in Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary contains approximately 40,000 - 70,000 human skeletons.
The abbot of the...
Basic Information
Seekers are characters who quest for the truth, uncover lies, seek out mysteries and generally try to gain knowledge.
List of Seeker Archetypes
Agent Mulder
Agent Scully
Amateur...
Basic Information
Self Fulfilling Prophecies are prophecies that come true because they were made; knowledge of the prophecy causes characters to act in a way that eventually makes it come true....
"I made it by being quicker than the quickies, and smarter than the smarties; and I made it square!"
—Scrooge McDuck
Basic Information
The Self Made Man is a stock character who owes nobody else...
Basic Information
Senescence is a technical term that means roughly "death by old age", or refers to the process of breaking down as you get older. Several theories have been proposed to explain...
Summary
November 14, 2007: An anonymous source has leaked a document entitled "Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures" detailing the operational procedures at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp...
Basic Information
September is the ninth month of the Gregorian calendar.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Days in...
This page lists news articles and events for September 1.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 10.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 11.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 12.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 13.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 14.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 15.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 16.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 18.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 19.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 2.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 20.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 21.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 22.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 23.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 24.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 3.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 5.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
This page lists news articles and events for September 6.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are...
Basic Information
According to legend, in the 3rd Century BC, King Ptolemy II of Egypt commissioned a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Seventy-two of the best Jewish scholars were...
Summary
December 20, 2008: From the 1920s to the 1950s, a Soviet scientist named Sergei S. Bryukhonenko worked on reanimating dogs, as well as causing a severed dog's head to react to stimuli. He...
Basic Information
A Sessile Animal is an animal that exhibits Sessility (zoology) - that is to say, an animal naturally immobile / rooted to the spot on a substrate. On earth, sessility is far...
Basic Information
Setting refers to the time, place, and circumstance of the plot.
List of Settings
Time
A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away
Alternative Calendar
After The End
Scavenger...
The beaten spyglass showed a beacon of hope to the thirsty, starving group. In the distance, a glittering cross high in the sky. Beneath that, Jamiel could see other buildings, and trees and...
Basic Information
The human mind can evaluate (and store in short term memory) between 5 and 9 parcels of information at a time. More than that leads to analysis paralysis (or just forgetfulness)....
Summary
March 1, 2003: A Japanese journalist has discovered hints that there might be an "underground city" below Tokyo, with a multitude of tunnels hidden from official maps. He claims that the...
Basic Information
Also known as the The Kübler-Ross grief cycle, there is a commonly held belief that anyone facing a tragedy goes through some number (usually quoted as 7, the number used by...
Summary
November 13, 2008: The article details the pervasive atmosphere of corruption among wholesalers which helped create the subprime mortgage crisis, including intimidation of whistleblowers...
Basic Information
The sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. Among humans, the ratio at birth is generally 105 boys to 100 girls, but social and environmental factors may...
Basic Information
The Shadow Biosphere is a hypothetical second biosphere that overlaps the one we're aware of, and is composed of microbial Shadow Life built along the lines of Alien Amino Acids....
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Shadow life is a theory which suggests that life may already exist on Earth which has no evolutionary connection with any form of life currently known to science. It was proposed...
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The shadow people are dark forms you see moving out of the corner of your eye. You look straight at them, and they're gone, so you tell yourself that you just imagined it.
In...
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The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a mutual-security organization which was founded on June 15, 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan....
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Nestled somewhere in the mountains of Tibet, lies the valley of Shangri-La; a peaceful valley of serene harmony. It's a happy land, isolated from the rest of civilization, whose...
Basic Information
These creatures can be found throughout the mythology of many different regions. Then tend to be poor looking animals; the ones that appear to be old and decrepit or underfed....
Basic Information
Shape shifting occurs when characters transform from one shape to another.
List of Shape Shifting Tropes
Voluntary Shapeshifting - Generally a good power to have.
Animorphism -...
Summary
July 17, 2008: Police found sharpened metal spikes at the bottom of a lake in a popular park in Seattle. Thirty nine sharpened metal spikes were found, anchored to the bottom, and pointing...
Basic Information
According to local legend, an Indian chief in the area had several sons but wanted a daughter; and every time his wife delivered a new child, and he saw that his hopes had once...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Forget crop circles - now we've got a mysterious SHEEP circle
Sources
Bibliography
1. Domestic sheep Wikipedia...
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The Shell Shocked Senior is a character who has experienced something traumatic in the past - usually involving a war or at least some kind of combat or military action - that...
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A shill is an associate of a person selling goods or services or a political group, who pretends no association to the seller/group and assumes the air of an enthusiastic...
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A shopping mall is a building or set of buildings which contain retail units and which are connected via walkways.
See Also
Mall Ninja
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia...
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This town ain't big enough fer the both of us.
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The Show Down is The Western version of a Duel. Two Gunslingers face each other, standing in the middle of the street. The...
Summary
March 18, 2009: An injured bat was spotted clinging to a space shuttle during its start into space.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and Story Use
Perhaps an alien,...
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January 6, 2008: Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI Translator, tells the London Sunday Times that she has first hand knowledge of members of the U.S. Government illegally selling...
Live And Let Dice Interview
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Side effects are things that happen when medicines are used other than their intended purpose. Traditionally the list can seem far more hazardous than whatever the problem was to...
"One is startled towards fantastic imaginings by such a suggestion: visions of silicon-aluminium organisms – why not silicon-aluminium men at once? – wandering through an atmosphere of...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Spider Silk
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
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The Singing Cowboy is a Characterization Trope. He's the cowboy who sings as his primary avocation. While it's true that some musical talent was always appreciated on the range,...
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A Revolver is said to be Single-Action if you must manually cock the hammer (typically with your thumb) before each shot. In this way, the hammer functions like a Safety. It also...
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Single Biome Planet is a speculative fiction trope where a planet is presented as having just a single type of terrain. One single environment dominates and defines the entire...
Summary
November 20, 2008: A single-cell amoeba has been discovered on the ocean floor which reaches sizes of up to three centimeters - vastly larger than any other single-cell...
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Single Line of Descent refers to the statistically improbable speculative fiction trope where there is one, and only one descendant of a famous hero or villain - preferably one...
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A Smith is someone who works with metal, shaping it or making things out of it. The term refers to a profession, typically a skilled artist or craftsman.
Linguistically it has...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Snake Species
Python
See Also
ACM-R5 - a snake-like robot
Genius Loci - in Roman Mythology, it often manifested as a...
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(Dorsohastatutus caudirotula)
A fearsome carnivore dwelling in the cypress swamps of the American South, particularly in the region around Lake Okeechobee, Florida. It...
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(mustelinopsis subitivorax)
The Snow Wasset is a large, migratory animal, about four times the size of a wolverine, dwelling in the lumbering region between the Great Lakes and...
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Given the right conditions, Criminals can gain a certain public respect. This is especially likely in remote rural areas, border towns, impoverished communities, and areas torn...
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A society is a group of individuals forming a greater whole.
List of Society...
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The Soiled Dove is a Western Character that is a saloon girl or brothel worker. The trope refers most commonly to a prostitute who's shown in some favorable light, the...
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A Solar Analog is a star that is photometrically similar to our Sun. To qualify, a star needs to be:
Within 500 degrees Kelvin of our sun's temperature - roughly 5200 to...
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A Solar Prominence is a big arch or loop of plasma extending off the surface of the sun. These loops are so big, you could fly a planet through them (in some cases, even a planet...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Planets in the Solar System
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Other Objects in the Solar System
2...
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A Solar Twin is a star that has significant major similarities to our Sun, even more so than a mere solar analog.
To qualify as a solar twin, a star must:
Be a Main Sequence...
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Solar-Type is a broad category of stars that have at least superficial similarities with our Sun. All such stars are main-sequence / dwarf stars, with color more-or-less similar...
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Somalia is an African country. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya on its southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen on its north, the Indian Ocean at its east, and...
Summary
March 1, 2009: Somalia has been flooded with weapons, fueling the disordered state of Somali society, and affecting neighbors such as Kenya. The guns come from a bewildering number of...
Summary
October 31, 2008: As Somalia-based piracy has become more rampant, the rest of the world tries to fight it more effectively after pirates have stolen a shipload of Soviet-era tanks from an...
Summary
October 30, 2008: Piracy based in the Puntland province of Somalia preying on ships passing near the Horn of Africa has become rampant, disrupting regular commerce and leading to numerous...
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January 7, 2006: A large number of prominent libraries in the United States have books bound in human skin.
See Also
Anthropodermic Bibliopegy
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
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The Son Doong Cave in Vietnam is currently the largest-known cave on Earth. It was first discovered by a local in 1991, and surveyed by the British Cave Research Association from...
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A Soul Jar is an object which holds all or part of a person's soul (or life, or heart) outside of their body, making that person immortal and/or invulnerable. It may offer direct...
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Sound from ultrasound is a technology that makes it possible to use ultrasound and modulate it so that it can be heard by humans without a special receiver. One possible...
Summary
August 6, 2008: In Ventura Country, just north of Los Angeles, California, a mysterious "hot spot" appeared that caused the ground to reach a temperature of over 800 degrees Fahrenheit on...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Event/News: South Korea's first rocket ready - at last
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Summary
August 11, 2009: South Korea plans to launch its first rocket later this month at the Naro launch facility, a new facility on an island 480 miles south of Seoul. This vehicle, the Korea...
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In 1949, with a lot of help from spies in the Manhattan Project, the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon.
In the almost 60 years then, the Soviet Union and its...
Summary
August 13, 2009: Allegedly, in 1987 the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev wanted to topple the East German leader Erich Honecker because of his hard-line views, so that they could...
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Originally published by GDW, Frank Chadwick's Space: 1889 is one of the seminal "Steampunk" role-playing games. It's set in an alternate universe in which Thomas Edison invented...
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A spacecraft (or spaceship) is a vehicle or machine capable of spaceflight.
A starship is a spacecraft capable of traveling to distant stars.
Astronautics is the science of...
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Stardrives and Propulsion
The following methods and engine types can convey you through space. Some are much easier, faster, or realistic than others.
FTL Stardrive types
See...
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Sources
Science Fiction has taught us that outer space is just like our atmosphere, except you can't breathe in it. Other than that, and maybe gravity, it's just like being on...
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Hard Vacuum
Your spaceship or spacesuit is punctured, and the air is quickly rushing out into the vacuum of outer space.
Rule #1: Don't hold your breath!
Exhale quickly! If you...
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Space Is An Ocean is a trope that refers to speculative fiction that draws heavily on nautical imagery.
Sometimes it's more specific, being based on World War Two era Naval...
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In this classic speculative fiction trope, we are reminded that space is cold. Of course, more often than not, it gets totally blown out of proportion or otherwise misstated,...
I can't hear you. I've got a banana in my spacesuit.
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Sound comes to you in the form of vibrating air molecules. And what does outer space lack?
(Air is the answer I'm looking...
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The Space Needle is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Seattle, towering above Seattle Center. It stands out quite clearly on the Seattle skyline, looking like something...
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The term Spaceship most commonly means largely the same thing as Spacecraft, but sometimes with the added connotations of being "ship"-like.
Sometimes Spaceship is used...
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There is a long naval tradition of referring to ships as "she". An admiral once said that this is because it costs so much to keep them in powder and paint. In a science fiction...
"Space and duration are one."
Edgar Allan Poe, in Eureka, published 1848
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Spacetime refers to any model of reality where time and space are interlinked. In such a view, Time is...
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This speculative fiction trope describes a large whale-like creature. In space!
Really only works if space is an ocean, or if the whale has some sort of built-in genetic...
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The Spanish-American War was a war between Spain and the United States that started on April 25 1898 and ended on August 12 of the same year.
It's roots lay in the Cuban struggle...
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The Spanish Prisoner is a confidence game dating back to the early 1900s. In its original form, the con man tells his victim (the mark) that he is in correspondence with a...
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The three spatial dimensions perceived by man would be height, width, and depth. These correspond to the three perpendicular axes (plural of axis) of a Cartesian coordinate...
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A Spectacle is a narrative trope that is all about impressing the audience with cool sensory effects. Often the Rule of Cool will take precedence over plausibility.
List of...
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The Spectral Bat, also known as Linnaeus's False Vampire Bat or Vampyrym Spectrum, is the largest carnivorous bat in the world (unless the Desmodus Draculae turns out to not be...
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Science fiction, fantasy and everything in between. On television, usually destined for cult status or a very short run. See What If for categories of things that are speculated...
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Speculative fiction tropes are genre tropes which center on speculative fiction.
List of Speculative Fiction Tropes
Categories
Applied Phlebotinum
Magic And Powers
Stock...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Dungeon Forest - a favored habitat of spiders, especially the giant versions.
Trapdoor Alligator - a fictional creature...
Summary
July 6, 2009: A type of spider living in Taiwan builds life-sized decoys of itself out of detritus, plant parts, prey remains, or egg sacs to confuse attackers.
Source
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Spider silk is silk produced by spiders.
See Also
News: Gossamer Silk, From Spiders Spun
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Stub
This short article can be made longer. You can help Arcana by adding to it
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A spirit is a typically insubstantial type of creature that resides in our world, or in some sort...
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Summary
December 17, 2003: Ancient Egyptian shabti - funerary figures that represent servants in the afterlife - on display in the Bergen Museum in Bergen, Norway are allegedly moving when no one...
Basic Information
Sport - organized activities that train and depend on physical activities of the athletes - have been part of human culture throughout history.
Specific Sports
Ferret...
Summary
July 26, 2009: Parts of the Spratly Islands archipelago are claimed by Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. These claims are hotly contested, as this region is...
Basic Information
Squick is a type of Fan-Speak. It denotes an emotional response of being extremely disturbed or disgusted.
List of Squick
Anthropodermic Bibliopegy
Icelandic Phallological...
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A squid is an aquatic mollusk similar to the octopus. Unlike the gentle octopus which has eight tentacles, the squid had ten; so if you are ever attacked by a cephelapod, be sure...
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In time travel, a stable time loop occurs when the root cause of an event can ultimately be determined to be that event itself. A typical example is when a hero goes back in time...
Summary
November 27, 2002: According to an article published in Pravda, Stalin believed that the United States indeed covered up an UFO crash during the Roswell UFO Incident in 1947. Furthermore,...
Basic Information
Sources
Bibliography
1. full source reference
Game and Story Use
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The default setting of the vast majority of fantasy genre worlds is heavily influenced by Lord Of The Rings and Dungeons & Dragons. Heroic Fantasy and High Fantasy will hit...
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A star is an astronomical object which undergoes fusion in its core. A star is composed of plasma and forced into a spherical shape by its gravity. Stars are mostly hydrogen and...
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A Stardrive is a engine or propulsion system for a spaceship.
The word stardrive implies the spacecraft is able to travel to the stars in a reasonable amount of time. Typically...
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The inverse of Human Aliens or Rubber Forehead Aliens. These are alien aliens. They are usually distinguished by two or more of:
Non-Vertebrate physiolology
Nonhuman psychology...
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Cloaking Devices, Stealth Technology, Running Silent, using only Passive Sensors to limit your signature. These are common elements of sci-fi battles, because sci-fi writers...
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This is a Bibliography page for useful sources in the Steampunk genre. "Steampunk" is a general term for science fiction set in the Victorian Era, both contemporary fiction from...
Basic Information
Stellar means of, or pertaining to, a star or multiple stars.
See also: Star and Star System
Contrast with: Solar and Sun
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Stars are classified by the characteristics of the light they emit.
Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me
The majority of stars are of one of the following seven classes: Class O, Class B,...
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A Stellar Engine is a category of megastructure that converts a star's radiation into usable energy. There are three categories of Stellar Engine:
Class A: A propulsion system...
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A Stellar Megastructure is a term I just made up to subdivide the really really huge Megastructures from the merely huge ones. Such planetary-scale and interstellar-scale...
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A Stern Chase is a plot where the protagonist is being pursued and must stay in motion in order to hide from those who hunt him. A stern chase is a long term plot, often leading...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
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Stock Characters are types of characters which are recycled again and again in different stories and in slightly different forms.
Stock Character Subcategories
Always...
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The Stockholm Bloodbath took place in Stockholm between 7th and 9th of November 1520. It started directly after the coronation of Christian II of Denmark as the King of Sweden....
Summary
June 25, 2009: Wallabies in Tasmania, Australia frequently eat poppies in poppy fields (which are used to produce opium). As a result, they become high and hop around in circles, creating...
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The Stone-Flying Wizard is a wizard (or other magic-user) deemed responsible for the creation or positioning of megaliths. Only a handful of examples occur in folklore and myth,...
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A storm is a disturbed state within an atmosphere, usually implying severe weather.
Types of Storms
Blizzard
Dust devil
European windstorm
Extratropical...
Summary
April 1, 2009: After a Korean soap opera star committed suicide, allegations came to light that her agent had forced her to have sex with many important managers and personalities in the...
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The little limestone church that once stood in the cemetery of Stull, Kansas was long purported to contain a "gateway to Hell". Some local residents spoke of devil worshippers...
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A subspace ansible is a form of FTL Radio that specifically uses Subspace for the "explanation" of how it works. Further information can be found on the FTL Radio...
"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!"
- Han Solo
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Subspace, Hyperspace, Ultraspace, Infraspace, Warpspace, Jumpspace, Otherspace (and probably several...
…are indistinguishable from Gods.
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Sufficiently Advanced Aliens are Aliens with Sufficiently Advanced Technology. They have incredible powers, which seem beyond even the powers...
…is indistinguishable from magic.
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According to Clarke's Three Laws, really awesome technology looks like magic. The idea is that our brains can't figure out how it works,...
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Suicide is the act of voluntarily ending one's own life.
In most jurisdictions it's not seen as a crime, but as a tragedy. However, in England prior to 1870, some suicides were...
This page is about The Sun, the specific star that the Earth orbits. For the sun of any other system, see Star and Interstellar Terrain.
Basic Information
Our Sun is a main sequence yellow star,...
"We Want White Tenants In Our White Community"
- old street sign
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A sundown town is a town in the United States that is or was all-white on purpose. The name refers to signs...
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Super-Earths are planets larger than Earth but not so large as a Gas Giant. So, from just a little more massive than the Earth, up to about 10 times the mass of the Earth.
There...
Summary
June 12, 2009: The Iron Mountain Mine near Redding, California is generally regarded as one of the most polluted places on Earth. The water is highly acidic and saturated with heavy...
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A supernova (plural is supernovae) is a stellar explosion. This often happens to large stars as they near the end of their lifetime. Stars more than about 8 or 9 times as massive...
"I could have sworn I put two pair of socks in the drier…"
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The noted weirdologist Charles Fort once hypothesized that there existed what he called a "Super-Sargasso Sea", a...
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Super-Science is the science and technology of the future. It's things we believe are possible, but we just don't have the tech for yet. Super-science is just ahead of the curve,...
Summary
April 2, 2003: An immature specimen of a particularly large type of giant squid has been caught virtually intact in the Antarctic Ocean. Its species may be large enough to attack sperm...
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Surtsey is a volcanic island off the coast of Iceland. It rose from the ocean on November 14, 1963, and the eruption that caused it to grow ended on June 5, 1967. Since then, the...
This page is about the genre. For the skills that you'd need to survive in this genre, see Survival Skills.
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Survival is a genre in which the primary conflict is between Man and...
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Survival horror is a videogame genre where the protagonists find themselves in a world suddenly populated by monsters or other threats. This is often a once familiar environment,...
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I...
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Have you ever gone directly from a brightly-lit area to a dark room and seen weird little black spots on the periphery of your vision that seem to dart away when you try to...
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A swamp is a region that mixes solid land with shallow bodies of water. The water is very slow moving, and covered by abundant vegetation which in some cases may be hard to...
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Swamp Planet is a subtype of jungle planet with a lot more water and mud. Aside from the dangers of loosing things in the muck, and maybe picking up some sort of parasite from...
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a constitutional monarchy in northern Europe, located on the eastern side of the Scandinavian peninsula. It borderrs Norway in the...
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A character with a Sweet Tooth has a very strong craving bordering on obsession for anything containing sugar.
See Also
Characterization Tropes
Sources
Bibliography
1. TV Tropes...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
CERN - possibly the largest science project in the world.
Consociational state - the power arrangement of...
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Syldavia is a fictional Balkan country created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé which appeared in a number of his Tintin adventures. It originally appeared in the story King...
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In 1818, a US Army Captain named John Cleves Symmes, Jr. devised a startling theory. He postulated that the earth was hollow and contained a number of cocnentric spheres. Such a...
Basic Information
Synesthesia is a neurological phenomena in which impressions affecting one sense trigger secondary effects involving another sense. Possibilities include:
Seeing letters or...
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These tropes and terms are commonly found in tabletop RPGs (and, to a lesser extent, wargames and minatures games). Most have to do with game mechanics, but some are about...
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Seriously? The whole platoon is pinned down… by a horse?
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A tachanka is a horse-drawn cart or carriage that serves primarily as a platform to carry a Heavy Machine Gun. The...
Basic Information
Tachyons are hypothetical subatomic particles that always move faster than light. You can't slow them down. Because they move faster than light, you also can't tell the...
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A Tachyonic Antitelephone is a hypothetical device that enables you to communicate with your own past. It sends messages via Tachyon transmission, and is a type of FTL...
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The Tagebau Garzweiler is a large coal mine using strip mining in Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany. The bucket-wheel excavators used there are the largest vehicles in the world....
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - security organization which Tajikistan is a member of.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
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The Talking Animal is a very common characterization trope in cartoons as well as fairytales. It's an animal that can talk, but still behaves like an animal.
Related Character...
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Judah, one of the sons of Jacob, had three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. He married his oldest son to a girl named Tamar. Er was wicked and God killed him. These things happen.
This...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Event/News: An Epidemic of Laughing in the Bukoba District of Tanganyika
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game...
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Tara has long been rumored to be the ancient seat of the High Kings of Ireland. The original monument consisted of a ring fort adjacent to a barrow, both surrounded by low...
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The Monument to the Third International, more informally known as Tatlin's Tower, is one of the most ambitious architectural project never built. It was proposed by Russian...
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The Technisches Hilfswerk (or THW for short) is a German agency that does technical, humanitarian, and logistical relief efforts both in Germany and around the world (such as...
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A technocracy is a form of government where scientists, engineers, and other technical experts hold political power in their respective fields. They are selected for their...
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The Technological Singularity is an event which is supposed to occur once artificial intelligence become smarter than humans and able to modify themselves to become even more...
Basic Information
This page lists technologies known or claimed to exist.
List of Technology Categories
Further technologies related to these categories can be found by clicking on the category...
Basic Information
Certain infomercials with slick or questionable video production value feature enthusiastic hosts and highlights of satisfied customers' testimony extolling the benefits of...
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Outer space is really, really cold. -454.8 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 degrees Celsius) cold. Brr… Well, that's not completely true. Only matter can have a temperature,...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Sources
Bibliography
1. Daily Mail article
2. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Changing history is dangerous. There's Temporal Paradox, Hitlers Time Travel Exemption Act, and all that Ontological Inertia to overcome. You might even accidentally commit...
Basic Information
A temporal panic room is a Panic Room (aka Safe Room) set up by a time traveler. It goes beyond a normal panic room by virtue of certain advantages conferred via time travel. At...
Basic Information
A Temporal Paradox (aka Time Paradox, or just Paradox) is a problem or contradiction resulting from Time Travel, usually involving broken causality. In general, these result when...
Basic Information
The Temporal Physics Professor is a Time Traveler who has a very good grasp on the theoretical, scientific, or philosophical side of Time Travel. He may have built, or even...
Basic Information
As the name implies, the Temporal Safehouse is a form of Safehouse specifically for time travelers.
A proper temporal safehouse:
is secure, and mundane entry is controlled. You...
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This world is full of nutjobs. Stalkers, kidnappers, lone nut assassins, political extremists, paparazzi, dedicated fans, you name it. Protecting celebrities and world leaders is...
Roll over.
Fetch.
Roll over in fourth-dimensional timespace and fetch something that doesn't exist yet.
Good dog.
Basic Information
This page is a sublist of Time Travel Tropes that just covers...
Basic Information
In agriculture, a terrace is a leveled section of a hill intended to conserve soil, prevent runoff of irrigation water, and thus make the hill suitable for farming. This method...
Basic Information
Terrain refers to the local geography and its physical qualities.
List of Natural terrain
Canyon
Cave
Desert
Dune
Salt Flat
Forest
Jungle
Miombo
Seasonal Dry...
Basic Information
A Terrestrial Planet is a planet with a rocky crust. They can vary greatly in terms of size, composition, temperature, environment, magnetic field, and the presence or lack of...
Summary
September 15, 2008: It seems possible that anxiety about terrorist attacks could trigger an epidemic of a psychosomatic illness even without a real attack. Several cases are mentioned when...
Basic Information
'Death Ray' For Planes
The New York Times
September 22, 1940
Nikola Tesla, at the age of 84, was interviewed by the New York Times, indicating that he was ready to divulge to the...
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Tetra Vaal is a fictional humanoid police robot from a short film by Neill Blomkamp. The robot is shown patrolling the slums of Johannesburg, South...
Basic Information
Texas is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big Texas is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just...
By quarkstomper
Keywords
Austin, Texas
Zombie Apocalypse
Kazakhstan
The Adventure Seed
The citizens of Austin were not too concerned when students at the University of Texas began turning into...
Summary
September 1, 2007: A hunter in Cuero, Texas, found roadkill that she believes to be a Chupacabra. She says she and the neighbors found three such creatures dead not far from her home, and...
Basic Information
The Thai gem scam involves layers of con men and helpers who tell a tourist in Bangkok of an opportunity to earn money by buying duty-free jewelry and having it shipped back to...
Summary
November 11, 2007: An artist discusses how specific colors can be linked to specific phobias.
Source
Original article
Fiction:
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Game and...
This page is about the character that is the best at everything, and knows it. For the hotshot fighter-pilot, see Ace Pilot.
"Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble,
When you're perfect in every...
Summary
September 14, 2008: The United States armed forces have funded a project which attempts to create "thought helmets" which would allow its soldiers to communicate soundlessly by "thinking...
This page is about the Western Character, but can (in a pinch) be used for barbers up into the modern era. For barbers of earlier eras, see Barber-Chirurgeon.
Basic Information
The art of the...
Summary
August 18, 2008: A large underground complex has been discovered in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original story
Game and Story Use
Dungeons are more common in real life...
Summary
December 22, 2007: The article discusses and showcases the paintings of the Polish artist Zdzislaw Beksinski, who specialized in catastrophic landscapes and surreal human...
Basic Information
The Beautiful People are a type of villains whose main feature it is that they always appear to be Better Than You - richer, more beautiful, more cultured, always elegant, and so...
Summary
October 29, 2008: By studying the reading habits of American customers at Amazon.com, it could be shown that the reading lists of people from different ends of the political spectrum were...
"As someday it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list;
I've got a little list."
— W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado
Basic Information
The Black Book is the name given after World...
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The Bumblebee is a trope that defines a character as kid-friendly: this is the character that appeals to children. Typically it's the youngest, most colorful (literally and...
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The Bushwhacker is a Combat Role of someone who uses Stealth and Hit and Run tactics to engage the enemy quickly, unload from point blank while their defenses are down, and then...
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The Butcher is an Always Male Characterization Trope and a common Name. It refers to a character whose name or nickname is or includes the phrase "The Butcher". For Added...
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The Caligula is a Stock Character who is the leader of a great Empire or Nation - and stark raving mad! The character trope ranges from Ax Crazy to just a Bunny Ears Lawyer, but...
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The Chains of Commanding is an authority trope. It implied that when you have a high position of authority, you bear a very heavy responsibility, you can't tell anyone else about...
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The Charmer is a very charismatic and flirty male character. Unlike the Casanova, he's not a sexual predator, but he's got a way with the women and isn't afraid to use it. The...
Summary
September 2, 2009: The mythical Chupacabra has allegedly been found - a dead specimen has been discovered near Blanco, Texas. It was discovered by one of the students at a taxidermy...
Basic Information
Sheriffs and marshals often have deputies to assist them. One very common variant on this type of character is the Clueless Deputy. He probably has some redeeming feature (or...
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A common trope of time travel stories, The Constant is a character, location, or detail that appears in every (or the most relevant) era the story visits.
See Also:
Future...
Basic Information
The Coroner is a stock character who is a Coroner or Medical Examiner. (In many jurisdictions, they aren't the same thing. The M.E. is a Forensic Pathologist, trained to examine...
Summary
April 7, 2009: The article discusses the darker aspects of Dubai, including:
Expatriates finding themselves stuck in Dubai when they face unexpected financial hardship.
Abuse of migrant...
Basic Information
The Dark Times is a Horror Trope. Far back in primordial aeons, before the birth of man, the world was a wild and terrifying place. Fearsome demons or bizarre Eldritch...
"Please allow me to introduce myself,
I'm a man of wealth and taste."
- Sympathy for the Devil, by the Rolling Stones
Basic Information
The Devil is the Ultimate Evil, Evil...
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DPS is a videogame term that stands for Damage Per Second. The DPSer is a combat role all about dealing said damage, as quickly as possible, to a single target. This may be done...
This page refers to the Character as Narrative Device trope. For the big scaly beast of mythology, see Dragon.
Basic Information
The Dragon is the second-in-command, or elite Mini Boss, of the evil...
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This Western Character Trope is a vagabond, wandering without roots, and only stopping in towns long enough to make a little cash or resupply.
Usually he's The Quiet One that's...
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Noah did not just build arks. After the Deluge, he planted a vinyard, and because that's what you do with grapes, he made the fruit of the vinyard into wine. He overindulged,...
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The End Of The World As We Know It is both a speculative fiction trope and a horror trope. It represents either large-scale devastation over the entire world the protagonists are...
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The fair folk is a term commonly used to mean fairies. It is most often used by people who believe that by saying the word fairy they will draw the fairies' attention and\or...
Basic Information
In The Wild West, a man had to grow up fast if he wanted to survive. Quite a few gunslingers and outlaws made their reputation before they were even old enough to shave...
By jhubert
Keywords
Global Consciousness Project
Centralia, Pennsylvania
Halloween
The Adventure Seed
A secret government organization has taken the principles behind the Global Consciousness...
Summary
February 21, 2009: In the United Kingdom, old prison barges have been converted to house Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and Lithuanian construction workers who work at a power station in...
Basic Information
Located in the Comox Valley to the southwest of Mt. Washington. The plateau is dotted with small lakes and small hills. A large section of the plateau is part of the Strathcona...
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In folklore, The Grim Reaper is the personification of Death. He is usually dictated as carrying a scythe and is a skeleton wearing a black cloak.
In this form, Death is not seen...
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The Gump is someone who, unknown to the public at large, was present at one or more famous historical events and possibly even influenced or caused them. This is often done as a...
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The Gunslinger is a character who is primarily defined by his gun, and/or his skill with a gun. He or she comes in a few styles and subtropes, depending on what genre they appear...
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November 7, 2007: A Swedish hacker tells how he infiltrated a global communications network used by scores of embassies over the world, using tools freely available on the...
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The Healer is a Combat Role most focused on keeping the rest of the adventuring party on it's feet.
Related Tropes and Roles
Healbombing
The Medic
The Mezzer
The Tank
Character...
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In Austin, Texas, there is a neighborhood just up the hill from Zilker Park. If you wind up through these quiet streets, it seems like a normal neighborhood built in the 1950s;...
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The Hunter is a characters as device trope. He or she hunts a specific type of creature or foe and has become obsessed with the hunt.
See Also
Bounty Hunter
Church...
By jhubert
Keywords
Nightmares for many are very, very scary
Personal data of 600,000 on lost laptop
The End Of The World As We Know It
The Adventure Seed
There is a very small number of people...
Basic Information
She's a sweet, kind and innocent young woman; as Pure as the Driven Snow. Ideally, she'll fall in love with a young man as innocent as she is; more likely, she'll risk falling...
"Jack not name! Jack job!"
— Sweetums, in The Muppet Movie
Basic Information
The Jack, as in Jack-of-all-trades, is a combat role of a character that can do a little bit of everything. They...
Summary
November 20, 2008: The article describes how piracy in Somalia is only a symptom of the real problems of Somalia - the overall breakdown of government and widespread anarchy. It also...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
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The Man They Couldn't Hang is a fairly rare Characterization Trope. It's mostly applied to Western Characters, and typically only once per setting.
This character has a scarred...
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The Mezzer (derived from "mesmerizing") is a combat role that specializes in applying Standard Status Effects like Sleep (status) or Paralysis to the enemy. The Mezzer's job is...
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The Mole is a character who pretends to be on the good guys' side while actually serving an opposing faction.
Moles come in various types including the Treacherous Advisor and...
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A maelstrom is a powerful, and typically permanent, whirlpool. The most famous one is the Moskstraumen, located off the rocky shores of Lofoten, Norway. Several others exist,...
Summary
May 28, 2009: Strange circles have formed under the ice on Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. These have been observed by the International Space Station. Nobody knows for sure what is...
Summary
November 17, 2008: Network analysis and data mining by Google can now outbreaks of the flu two weeks in advance of the predictions of the Center of Disease Control by checking search terms...
Basic Information
The Net is a purple alloy with a net-like lattice pattern on it's surface. It was independently discovered by both George Starkey and Isaac Newton in the 17th Century. Both...
Basic Information
The Nuker is a Combat Role where you blast the heck out of the opposition with area affect attacks, instant death magic, and similar nastiness. Uses either Heavy Weapons or...
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Théodore Géricault was a French artist, known for his works in the medium of painting and lithography, mostly in the style known as Romanticism. He lived from 1791 to 1824....
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The Okona is sort of a "wannabe", "vaporware" or "training wheels" version of the The Ace or the Loveable Rogue. Either we're told of his prowess but never see it in action, or...
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Most Christian Bibles use the term Old Testament to refer to the Tanakh, or the Hebrew Scriptures. It describes the Creation of the world and the history of the Jewish people...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Summary
February 9, 2009: According to the report, the United States came very close to a massive bank run on September 18, 2008 which would possibly have resulted in a collapse of the US economy...
Basic Information
Witten by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant.
The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols is a book which explains the symbology behind a vast range of items and...
Basic Information
The Petmaster is a combat role more common in videogames than tabletop games. The general concept of this combat role is that you have one or more pets that do the fighting for...
Basic Information
The Pioneer is the person who is among the first to explore and settle a new territory. This Western Character predates The Wild West, since Pioneers got started when "the West"...
Basic Information
The Plugger is a combat role and type of ace pilot whose specialty is staying calm, reacting as appropriate, and never making mistakes. It overlaps a bit with the The Tank (and...
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This Horror Trope is a subtrope of Body Snatchers and Body Horror. Some sort of alien or supernatural creature takes over the minds or bodies of large numbers of people, ranging...
Summary
December 18, 2007: Scientists in Minnesota have created a laboratory where sound is dampened to such a degree that it is officially the "quietest place on Earth".
Source
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
The Thermobaric Weapon, also known as a Fuel-Air Munition or Vacuum Bomb, is a category of powerful explosive device. It's explosion happens in stages. First it release a cloud...
Summary
April 5, 2009 - Article discusses how the government is declassifying information about Area 51. It includes interviews with test pilots of Project Oxcart, and a mentions discussion of...
Basic Information
The Evil Counterpart of the Cowboy, this villain uses the same skill set to steal livestock, primarily cattle and horses. See Rustling for more information.
A two-bit rustler may...
Summary
July 6, 2009: The article predicts that California will experience zero infrastructure and housing growth for at least five years, resulting in a permanently smaller economy for both...
Basic Information
These Are Things Man Was Not Meant To Know is a horror trope. It denotes any kind of knowledge which only brings madness or other types of misfortune to humans.
Objects and...
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The Shades Of Fact is a meta concept on how much real life is distorted in a portrayal of the facts.
List of The Shades Of Fact Tropes
Real Life
News Broadcast
Documentary
Truth...
Basic Information
In the United States, a sheriff is generally the chief law enforcement officer for a county. It is usually an elected position, though in emergencies a sheriff may be appointed by...
Basic Information
In the time travel genre, a character is taking the slow path if after time-traveling to the past, he returns to the time he came from by living through the intervening time like...
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The Sniper is a combat role of someone who combines ranged combat with the element of surprise. Ranges from One Hit Kill types, to dedicated Terrain Denial.
This tends to overlap...
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There's a weird little footnote to the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16). The verses following that account tell of the descendants of Cain. Most of these just get a...
Basic Information
The Steamroller is a combat role (and also a subtype of Ace Pilot).
The Steamroller is a very aggressive attacker, who launches a flurry of blows and hounds the enemy...
Basic Information
The Stocks were a device used for torture, public humiliation, and punishment in the Medieval and Colonial Era. The Stocks were considered a lower-class punishment, whereas,...
Basic Information
The Stoic is a type of character who constantly displays a quiet demeanor, often bordering on the brusque or rude. In general, he will only display strong emotions in situations...
Basic Information
The Tank is a Combat Role that involves sucking up damage and protecting the other characters in the Adventuring Party. Sometimes also known as The Brick.
Subtypes and Related...
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The Time Of Myth is a setting trope. It describes a setting in the ancient past, when myths and history become indistinguishable. Often is highly anachronistic.
See...
Basic Information
Even if you don't have to worry about Temporal Paradox, deciding to change the past is not a decision to be made lightly. You're undoing an infinite number of events, and...
Basic Information
The Tokyo Fireball is an anime trope. In many anime series, Tokyo gets destroyed in a spectacular fashion, and possibly rebuilt later on.
Sources
Bibliography
1. TV Tropes Wiki...
Summary
October 1, 2008: The article describes Colonia Dignidad, an evangelical cult consisting of German expatriates living in the foothills of the Andes in Chile. The colony was founded and led...
Summary
May 27, 2009: Since February 2008, the city of Coatesville, Pennsylvania in the United States has experienced a bizarre string of fires and arson - there have been 67 cases of fires so...
Basic Information
The Trapper is a combat role of the character who is in the business of Terrain Denial by means of placing traps and devices. Tends to stay put, or act stealthy, and wait for the...
Basic Information
The Unmasqued World represents both a setting and a speculative fiction trope. It represents a world where some supernatural or otherworldly element - magic, aliens, and so forth...
Basic Information
Some names are just hard to pronounce. Cthulhu, Mxyzptlk, or Nahasapeemapetilon, for example. Such names may be used for comedic effect, or to drive home just how alien a...
Summary
August 11, 2008. Increasingly large numbers of people in Detroit are converting urban prairie into farmland as many supermarket chains have left the city and created a food desert. Some of...
Basic Information
From TV Tropes Wiki:
Theurgy: where the magic is done entirely by spirits and gods with whom the caster makes deals; the "caster" in this case knows nothing more than a glorified...
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This Western Character isn't a genuine Gunslinger, but either he thinks he is, or he just wants to be one. His Quick Draw isn't. Not that he knows that. Most likely intends to...
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The Western is a Genre of story, set in The American West, usually between 1840 and 1890.
List of Western Tropes
Anti Hero
Bad Guy Bar that's also a Dance-Hall or Brothel
Badass...
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The setting comprising of the American Frontier, circa 1840 - 1890.
What's In A Name?
The title The American West is sometimes used to indicate a less cinematic and legendary...
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The World is a man-made archipelago built off the coast of Dubai. When finished, it will consist of over 300 islands in the shape of the continents of...
Basic Information
February 15, 2008: Three severed, right, human feet have washed up on the beaches of three different Gulf Islands in seven months.
Update: Original post didn't make it clear...
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In a Cargo Cult or Time Travel scenario, a modern person with some technological convenience uses it to try and impress the locals. Guns, cigarette lighters, and Polaroid cameras...
Basic Information
The Thule Society was an occult secret society founded in Munich, Germany in 1911. It is most commonly known for sponsoring the predecessor of the Nazi Party. It was dissolved by...
Basic Information
Timber Wind was a classified US military project started in 1987 to develop a nuclear thermal rocket. It was intended for use in launching Strategic Defense Initiative satellites...
"I was born about ten thousand years ago;
There ain't nothin' in this world that I don't know.
I saw Peter, Paul and Moses
Playin' ring-around-the-roses
An' I'll whup the guy what says it isn't...
Basic Information
When you go back in time, where do you end up? There are several options:
You remain at exactly the same geographic location: Basically, you don't go anywhere. More accurately,...
Basic Information
A time machine is any device or object that allows a person using it engage in time travel. Time machines come in many varieties, but for story purposes they can be broadly...
Basic Information
The pinnacle of the time travel character power curve. He or she has the skills of the Veteran Chrononaut, the science of the Temporal Physics Professor, the magical tricks of...
See also: Temporal Paradox
Basic Information
The time police is a law enforcement organization, usually from The Future, dedicated to dealing with unauthorized time travel, especially when such time travel threatens to...
Basic Information
Time Spying is the use of Time Travel for surveillance or espionage purposes. There's several possible methods, depending on how your Time Machine works.
Intangible Time Travel...
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Time Travel stories are about characters who travel through time. Possible motivations include changing history to avert a bad present or future, correcting changes made by other...
Redirect: Time Travelers
Basic Information
Time Travelers are people who travel through time, either via a Time Machine, supernatural powers, or via a Rip Van Winkle scenario. They might be great scientists, powerful...
That which did not kill me has already been retroactively aborted.
Basic Information
Time Travelers have a situational version of Immortality, being able to outlast anything that doesn't kill them...
This is a Bibliography page for useful resources in the Time Travel genre.
Sources
Books
Asprin, Robert and Linda Evans
The Time Scout series— An inexplicable disaster has left tears in...
The fellow in the overcoat and the battered grey hat adjusted his glasses and extended his hand. "Hello," he said, "I'm McMack. We haven't met yet, but we will and that's where I know you...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Time Travel Tropes are genre tropes and speculative fiction tropes specific to stories involving Time Travel.
List of Time Travel Tropes
A Little Something We Call Rock And...
Basic Information
Timey Wimey Ball is a Time Travel Trope wherein a character explains that Time Travel (and the rules thereof) is very convoluted. He'll go on to explain that it's not something...
Basic Information
A Tipler Cylinder is a type of Time Machine first proposed by mathematical physicist Frank J. Tipler in 1974. The Tipler Cylinder exploits a geometric oddity of spacetime to...
Basic Information
Tires are the donut-shaped things that fit around wheels to provide extra traction. They also absorb shock and protect the wheels.
Tires on Wagon Wheels
Old wagon wheels had...
foldunfold
Table of Contents
Adding Tags
Porting Material from the TV Tropes Wiki
Adding Material for the Random Character Generator
Random Plots
Random Campaign Settings
The potential scope of...
Basic Information
Tokyo is the capital and largest city of Japan.
List of Locations
Tokyo Tower
Yasukuni Shrine
See Also
The Tokyo Fireball
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Tokyo Is The Center Of The...
Basic Information
The Tome of Eldritch Lore is a horror trope. The tome is a book which contains forbidden and dark knowledge which is likely to drive the reader insane and cause all sorts of...
Basic Information
In fiction, Time Travelers almost always head into the past. History is familiar and intriguing, and all sorts of plotlines suggest themselves (from epic transformations of world...
Basic Information
A Tong is a type of Secret Society found among Chinese American immigrants. The first Tongs started in the 19th Century, and were created for mutual support and protection from...
Basic Information
September 2, 2005: A bug has been found which has eaten away the tongue of a fish and attached itself to the stump, effectively replacing it.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Original...
Summary
November 22, 2007: The article provides images of nine giant buildings soon to be built.
The buildings featured in the article include:
Aqua (chicago) - Chicago
Chicago Spire -...
History
by Century
Disasters
Myths
List of Mythologies
Myth. Characters
Myth. Creatures
Mythological Places
People
Non-Religious Orgs
Organized Crime
Philosophies
Professions
Religious...
This page lists the 100 top-rated entries.
Basic Information
Topical tropes are tropes that focus on topics that transcend genre or medium.
List of Topical Tropes
Authority Tropes
Betrayal Tropes
Censorship Tropes
Combat Tropes
Weapons...
Basic Information
A Topopolis is a hypothetical megastructure that could orbit a star. From the inside, it would look like a tube, and it's rotation would create gravity on the walls of the tube,...
Basic Information
In Hebrew, the first five books of the Bible are refered to as the Torah, literally, "teachings" but more commonly "the Law". They are also refered to as the "Books of Moses",...
Summary
August 6, 2009: Hologram projectors have been developed which not only track and follow the hand of an observer, but which also use ultrasound to make the user experience "touching" the...
Basic Information
A Town Marshal is Law Enforcement position in the US. In modern usage, a Marshal is often a civil officer or court officer, such as a bailiff.
Sheriff, Marshal, or US Marshal?
In...
This page lists various real world town and cities, both current and historical. For mythological cities or fantastic versions of ostensibly real towns and cities, refer to Mythological Places or...
Basic Information
In this classic horror trope, everybody in a small town is in on a secret. The protagonist slowly begins to suspect something is wrong.
Related Tropes
Lovecraft Country
A Fete...
Summary
January 10, 2006 - Due to pollution and contamination by Polychlorinated Biphenyl and Polybrominated Diphenyl, 1 in 50 female Polar Bears in the Svalbard Islands of Norway also have male...
Basic Information
The TP-82 is a very large triple-barreled pistol (with detachable stock) issued to Soviet and Russian cosmonauts from 1986 to 2006. During that time, they were a standard part of...
Basic Information
Traditional medicine is medicine as it was (and often still is) practiced before the advent of modern-day, scientific medicine.
Sources
Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Every...
"Azathoth" is the name given in the Necronomicon to "the monstrous nuclear chaos beyond angled space," the illusory personification of the Big Bang, just as "Thor" personifies lightning. The...
Basic Information
Skills and Training Tropes are narrative tropes about acquiring new abilities
What You Know
Charles Atlas Superpower
Chekhovs Skill
I Know Kung Fu
I Know Mortal Kombat
I Dont...
Basic Information
The Trans Global Highway is a proposal to connect all the continents of the earth via bridges and tunnels.
It would require numerous elements and additions to existing roadway...
Basic Information
Basically, Transhumanism is a movement and philosophy that states that humans can and should use all available technology - advanced medical anti-aging techniques, artificial...
This page is about the discredited precursor to modern evolutionary theory. For information on the School of Magic, see Transmutation Magic.
Basic Information
Also known as Transmutationism or...
Basic Information
The Trapdoor Alligator was invented by R. K. Millholland for the webcomic Something Positive. It is an otherwise ordinary alligator which lurks behind trapdoors similar to...
Basic Information
Traumatic insemination is a type of reproduction practiced by some species of invertebrates. In such cases, the male pierces the abdomen of the female with his penis and implants...
Summary
December 13, 2007: Scientists have created an artificial brain and taught it to fly an F-22 Raptor in a flight simulator.
See Also
Artificial Intelligence
Robot
Source
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Bräutigamseiche - A tree in Germany steeped in folklore
Forest
News: 5 cm. fir tree removed from patient’s lung
News:...
Summary
July 22, 2008: A man from Indonesia suffers from bizarre disease that causes tree-like growths on his body.
See Also
News: Missionary Encounters Extremely Bizarre Skin Condition In...
Basic Information
According to the Book of Genesis, God placed two trees in the center of the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He commanded Adam and Eve...
Summary
July 9, 2009: Tremors are increasing near Parkfield in central California. As Parkfield lies on a segment of the San Andreas Fault, this might indicate that the "Big One", the expected and...
Basic Information
Triad is a term that describes a version of Organized Crime that started in China and has spread to many cities with large Chinese populations.
Their criminal activities include...
Basic Information
Something horrible happens. Later, you get in your time machine, and decide to go back and prevent it from ever happening. However, you live in a setting where You Cant Fight...
Basic Information
Tricksters are characters who play tricks, disobey normal rules, or otherwise challenge authority.
List of Trickster Archetypes
Blithe Spirit
Boisterous Bruiser
Bugs Bunny
Con...
Basic Information
A Tridge is a Bridge that connects three places instead of two. Instead of being shaped like an "I", it's shaped like a "Y".
Sources
Bibliography
1. Kikko bridge photos and info...
Note for those adding content: This section mirrors the TV Tropes Wiki. Use the same names for tropes, mirror the structure of that wiki, and post a link to the appropriate page there for every...
[This template is just for use in setting up automatic redirects to other pages. This is useful when a page you've created has several possible names or spellings, none of which have any functional...
Basic Information
Tropical cyclones - also often called hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression or simply cyclone - are devastating rotating storm systems.
In the...
Basic Information
Troy, also known as Illium, or Ilios, or Ilion, or possibly even Wilios or Wilusa, was one of the major city-states of the ancient world, at the center of a complex web of allied...
Basic Information
Truth In Television is a trope that occurs when a story or media portrayal of something is actually an accurate reflection of reality - especially when you wouldn't expect it...
Basic Information
The Tunguska Event was a massive explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Lower Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, at around 7:14 a.m. (0:14...
Basic Information
The Tunnels of Moose Jaw are a tunnel complex in Moose Jaw, Canada. They were originally build as maintenance tunnels for the heating system of downtown area buildings. During...
Basic Information
The Republic of Turkey is a country of 70 million people consisting of the Anatolian Peninsula and parts of Thrace. Its largest city is Istanbul, although the capital is Ankara....
Summary
March 21, 2009: The article describes how the current government of Turkey is combating the secretive Deep State - but not to dismantle it, but to replace it with its own people in...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Turkmenistan Locations
Darvaza Gas Crater
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
Twenty Minuted Into The Future describes a setting that takes place in the near-term future, usually not much later than the middle of the 21st century.
See Also
Dystopia
Next...
Basic Information
The Twin Paradox refers to a thought experiment (later confirmed by physical experiments involving airplanes, and by GPS satellites) that illustrates that someone who takes a...
Summary
March 17, 2008: A baby girl named Lali Singh born on March 11, 2008 in the small Indian village of Saini, has a rare condition known as CranioFacial Duplication. She has 2 faces. They both...
Summary
August 14, 2008: Two Roman coffins made out of sandstone have been excavated in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. They are thought to have originated from Pons Aelius, a walled fort...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Event/News: Demons hit school
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Summary
October 1, 2009: A criminal attorney in Oak Brook, Illinois named Constantine "Connie" Xinos has made it his personal mission to stop the local public library. He has unsuccessfully voted...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Locations
Chernobyl
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
The Trope of the Ultimate Evil is a villain-specific version of He Who Must Not Be Seen. May be the Big Bad Evil Guy, or an Eldritch Abomination, or the semi-abstract force that...
Basic Information
Will the Universe exist forever, and one day be cluttered with sentient life filling it's every inhabitable nook and cranny? Or will it collapse or tear itself apart long before...
Basic Information
In science fiction, the term Ultrawave or Hyperwave denotes a form or energy or particle that travels faster than light and can thus facilitate FTL Communication, specifically...
Basic Information
The Uncanny Valley appears when robots or other entities look almost, but not exactly like humans. Human observers will always notice that there is something wrong - sometimes...
Some places on Earth are so outre as to defy traditional classification. This is where such places can be found at The Arcana Wiki.
Big Well (Kansas)
Carhenge
Devil's Tramping Ground
Garden of...
Basic Information
Undead are either the spirits of the dead or animate corpses - or both at once. In either case, undead are generally regarded as deeply unnatural - something that should have...
Summary
March 19, 2009: An undersea volcano has erupted near Tonga. Scientists were able to take multiple pictures of the powerful explosions of the various eruptions.
Source
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
A UFO is an acronym for Unidentifed Flying Object. The term encompasses any aerial object or phenomenon of unknown nature.
UFO is frequently used as a synonym for flying saucer,...
Basic Information
This page lists terrain features which do not fit into established categories.
List of Unique Natural Terrain
Andros Platform
Bimini Road
Externsteine
Hanging Rock,...
Basic Information
The United Arab Emirates is a federation of Middle Eastern states, which are also called emirates
List of Emirates
Abu Dhabi
Ajman
Dubai
Fujairah
Ras al-Khaimah
Sharjah
Umm...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Cities
Grimsby
Kingston upon Hull
London
Other Locations
Loch Ness
Uffington White Horse
Callanish...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
Cities
Centralia, Pennsylvania
Detroit
Greensburg, Kansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Miami, Florida
Midian, Kansas
Monte Ne,...
"Here, laddie," the dwarf says handing you a small cup, "Have a noggin of ale!"
Basic Information
Here is a list of some units of measurement and their equivalents in the US and Metric...
Basic Information
Universal Tropes are tropes which are used in all media.
List of Universal Tropes
All Is Well That Ends Well
Appeal To Obscurity
Beginners Luck
The Big Board
Bindle Stick
Call...
Summary
March 14, 2009: Traces of an unknown burrowing species have been found in Devon in southern England. The creature lived 260 million years ago at the bottom of desert wadis. Some of the...
Basic Information
This speculative fiction trope concerns how every negative space wedgie and swirly energy thing in a sci fi TV show is always a unique phenomena that has never been encountered...
Basic Information
Black Holes in Science Fiction almost never follow the laws of physics.
For one thing, they're never black, the rule of perception asks them to be dark blue or eerie purple, or...
PROFESSOR FARNSWORTH: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
FRY: Oh. What's it called now?
PROFESSOR FARNSWORTH: Urectum.
-...
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Urban Prairie is the terrain that forms in a city after buildings have been demolished and the area has fallen into disuse.
See Also
Detroit - this city is particularly famous...
Summary
June 12, 2009: Many cities in the United States have gone into stark decline and lost much of their population and economic power. The American government is looking at a plan first...
Summary
March 12, 2009: An American jet has shot down an Iranian drone over Iraq. The article also gives some information on Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles:
The Ababil ("Swallow") has a...
Basic Information
This Western Character is a federal law enforcement officer, charged with apprehending fugitives from federal law, protecting the federal courts and ensuring the smooth function...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - security organization which Uzbekistan is a member of.
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
Vampires are according to most folklore and fiction blood-sucking nocturnal creatures of at least vaguely human-like appearance.
It is hard to define a vampire since in legends...
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Vampire bats are a type of bat which feed on the blood of other animals, including humans.
See Also
Desmodus Draculae
News: Nicaragua's Vampire Problem
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Summary
March 6, 2009: A skeleton of a woman was exhumed in Venice which was believed to be that of a vampire at the time of her death. She was buried during a plague in 1576 in a mass grave with...
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Vampire Tropes are tropes about vampires.
List of Vampire Tropes
Chinese Vampire
Friendly Neighborhood Vampires
I Hate You Vampire Dad
Japanese Vampire
Kiss Of The...
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Vancian Magic is the depiction of magic found in Jack Vance's The Dying Earth stories, rather rich and arcane version of Rule Magic. Vance's books were a big influence on...
Summary
November 8, 2009: An article on the Discovery News website reports that archaeologists have discovered bronze weapons and hundreds of bones in the western Egyptian desert, which they...
Basic Information
The Vaquero is a Mexican or Mexican-American cowboy. Other terms for roughly the same character concept include Gaucho and Charro.
It's from the Vaqueros that we get the word...
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Vegetation of Metal is a term from Alchemy which describes a metal-crystal formation, typically derived by dissolving metals in a fluid. Not unlike a modern science fair project,...
Basic Information
Categories of Vehicle:
Aircraft
Aerodyne
Fixed-Wing Aircraft
Rotorcraft
Ground Effect Vehicle
Aerostat
Land Vehicles
Animal-Drawn Vehicle
Human-Powered Vehicle
Railed...
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This is a page about the planet. For the Roman Goddess, see Venus (Mythology)
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Venus is the second closest planet to the sun in our solar system, falling between Mercury and...
"Merely corroborative detail to add verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative."
— Poo-Bah in The Mikado by W.S. Gilbert
Basic Information
In literature, fiction, and...
"When we too are armed and trained, we can convince men that we have hands, feet, and a heart like yours; and although we may be delicate and soft, some men who are delicate are also strong; and...
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Vertical Farming is a proposed method of conducting large-scale agriculture in urban high-rises. This would enable food production close to the market, save an fuel and energy as...
This page is about the asteroid. For the goddess after which it was named, see Vesta (mythology).
Basic Information
Officially 4 Vesta, the fourth asteroid discovered. Vesta was discovered in...
This page is about the Time Travel Character Archetype of an experienced and capable time traveler. For the list of crazy cool things such a character can do with a time machine, see Temporal...
Basic Information
She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history and gave her name to an era. She became the model of the modern era constitutional monarch. Of mostly German descent, she...
Basic Information
Video Analytics is the technology, software and process of using computers to automatically analyze video footage from a security camera.
Such systems are used as a virtual...
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The trope of Videocassette Time-Travel was pioneered in The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. In this version of Time Travel, you can actually see the progression of ages pass around...
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Videogame genres represent types of videogames that differ by gameplay
List of Videogame Genres
Action Adventure
Metroidvania
Action Game
First Person Shooter (FPS)
Hack and...
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Videogame tropes are tropes that are common in video games.
List of Videogame Tropes
Above The Ruins
Advancing Wall Of Doom
AI Roulette
All In A Row
The Anime Of The...
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Video Motion Detection is a form of Motion Detection that uses some form of video camera or digital camera, wired to a computer. The computer constantly compares the current...
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This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Vietnam Locations
Son Doong Cave
News: Police 'can't cope' as Vietnamese flood drugs trade
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
The Vile Vortices are twelve roughly evenly distributed geographic areas that are alleged to have the same mysterious qualities popularly associated with the Bermuda Triangle....
Basic Information
Villains are the antagonists that heroes strive to defeat in a story.
List of Villains Tropes
Affably Evil
Aliens And Monsters
Amoral Attorney
A Nazi By Any Other Name
The Anti...
"I'm tired of being an intellectual criminal!!!"
— Professor Moriarity from Sherlock Hound/Great Detective Holmes; (usually just before he pulls out a big honkin' gun and goes berserk)
Basic...
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Vineta is a semi-mythological place. Its existence is reported in a legend
It is a legendary sunken city in the Baltic Sea and also known in Polish as Wineta. It is sometimes...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Noteworthy Volcanoes
Real World Volcanoes
Hekla
Surtsey
Mythological Volcanoes
Fictional Volcanoes
Sources
Bibliography
1....
Basic Information
A Volcano Planet is a particularly inhospitable single biome planet. The air is choked with smoke, the ground is scorched and cracked (and prone to earthquakes), and the water...
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A Von Neumann Probe is a small, unmanned, robotic, self-replicating spacecraft. It is sent out into the cosmos to explore and map, but is also programmed to make more of itself....
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A Voodoo Zombie is the undead servant of a bokor (or voodoo sorcerer). The potential zombie is given two drugs. The first slows down their metabolism and induces a death-like...
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The Voynich Manuscript is a mysterious illustrated book, written in an undeciphered language and even an unknown alphabet. Several attempts at deciphering it have been made by...
Basic Information
A Wagon Train is a group of covered wagons traveling together for mutual assistance.
As the movies tell it, these are identical wagons moving in single file over the prairie,...
To those who live in Wagon Wheel, you have my apologies. I don't know you, and this may come off as cruel, but I just couldn't resist sharing the mystery, which seems perfectly matched with the...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: 'Stoned wallabies make crop circles'
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: In Wal-Mart's Image
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Basic Information
There are two basic kinds of monsters one can meet in a traditional Gygaxian Dungeon Crawl. One is the type you find when you enter a specific room, for example: "ROOM 27: You...
This page lists all the "wanted" pages in the wiki - that is, unwritten pages to which links already exist.
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
List of Historical Wars
Hundred Years' War
Spanish-American War
World War I
World War II
Types of War
Conventional Warfare -...
This article is about the U.S. State of Washington. For the U.S. capital, see Washington, D.C.. For the first U.S. President (for whom the State is named) see George Washington.
Basic...
Basic Information
The WASP Injector Knife is a knife that injects compressed freezing gas into the target, doing massive damage to most life forms. One of its intended purposes is to fight sharks,...
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The Wasteland Elder is a character trope found most commonly in rundown subsistence-level villages, be they in the Middle Ages, the Wild West, or a Post-Apocalyptic setting. He...
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A Water World is a Terrestrial Planet who's surface is covered with Water. It probably has islands, and in general the water isn't nearly as deep as an actual Ocean Planet.
All...
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In this Time Travel Trope you travel back in time, and discover that the past isn't the way the history books record it. Worse yet, it's for no good reason. There's no raging...
DON DIEGO DE LA VEGA: Do you know how to use that thing?
ALEJANDRO MURRIETA: Yes. The pointy end goes into the other man.
DON DIEGO DE LA VEGA: [sighs] This is going to take a lot of work.
—-...
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List of Tropes related to Weapons and how they are used:
Absurdly Sharp Blade
Aerosol Flamethrower
An Axe To Grind
Anatomy Arsenal
Ancestral Weapon
Animated Armor
Annoying...
Basic Information
A weaponsmith is a person whose profession is to make weapons. Considering that Smith means someone who makes things out of metal, one could certainly argue that a weaponsmith is...
Basic Information
A Weapon of mass destruction (often abbreviated as WMD) is an instrument of warfare that is purposely designed to cause loss of human (or, as the case may be, other sentients')...
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According to the TV Tropes Wiki, which has no reason to lie to me, ferrets have become a popular type of animal sidekick character. Personally, this troper hasn't noticed it so...
Basic Information
Weather are all the phenomena which occur within a given atmosphere at a given time.
See Also
Meteorology
Space Weather
Storm
Sources
Bibliography
1. Geoff's Climate...
Basic Information
The following tropes represent ways that an author or GM might explain away the ramifications of supernatural or unusual elements of his or her setting.
Apathetic...
Legends, mythology, UFO lore, Conspiracy theories, Fiction, and even (seemingly) mundane cultural traditions from other countries. These can and have been used to inspire role-playing game...
Basic Information
We Live In A Fishbowl is definitely a speculative fiction trope and a horror trope.
We Live In A Fishbowl means that some sort of creature beyond our understanding watches us...
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In this speculative fiction trope, some higher dimensionality being or sufficiently advanced aliens are studying mankind from beyond our conventional reality. They may even have...
"Mit Müch und Blarg harb ich gebaut für das so kurze Leben. Gott wirt mich in der antern Welt eine schönere Arbeit geben.“
- Inscription glued onto a mirror built into the Weltmaschine.
Basic...
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Were-kin is a catch-all term for shape-shifting creatures such as werewolves. Were-kin usually refers to humans who willingly or unwillingly transform into an often savage and...
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Western Characters are a subset of Characters As Device tropes. They are frequently used in stories set in The Wild West, and thus, The Western.
List of Western Characters
Shady...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Please expand on it!
See Also
News: Gulls Vicious Attacks On Whales
Trope: Space Whale
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
According to Wikipedia, the world largest wiki site:
A Wiki ([ˈwiː.kiː] <wee-kee> or [ˈwɪ.kiː] <wick-ey>) is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, or otherwise edit...
Summary
January 1, 1900: The article discusses possible technological evolutions within the "next hundred years" - i.e. during the run of the 20th century. Many of the predictions are rather...
Basic Information
A common morality trope is for certain kinds of non-humans to not have the same moral status as humans, so that killing/destroying one is not nearly as bad as killing a...
Summary
August 3, 2009: Much more than any other developed nation, Japan is fascinated by and enamored by robots, with Japanese corporations sponsoring prestigious robotics research even when it...
Summary
June 14, 2004: This article comments on the drastic decline in sightings of UFO, ghosts, and other paranormal phenomena in recent years.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original article
Game and...
Summary
August 16, 1999: The article examines how neighbors of murderers and other criminals are very likely to claim that they didn't notice anything strange about the people living next to them,...
As the Arcana Wiki grows, it is also important to lay down some boundaries about what is and what is not acceptable for it.
No Original Characters/Creations
Historical and currently living...
Basic Information
What The Hell Hero is a characterization trope. It occurs when someone who is supposed to be one of the heroes does something that seems to be morally dubious, or even like an...
Each entry should consist of at least two sections. For a sample entry, please see the Aufhocker entry.
Optional: You can start your entry with a short vignette that shows how a character in a...
Basic Information
This speculative fiction trope is a form of expospeak wherein a time traveler asks the ignorant leveler the date - and then clarifies that what they really need to know is the...
Basic Information
What You Are In The Dark is a morality trope that examines what happens when a character has a chance of getting something he really wants - wealth, revenge, love, or anything...
Basic Information
A wheeled shield was a shield on wheels used by the police of Detroit, United States in the 1950s.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Photos of wheeled shields
Game and Story Use
This is...
Basic Information
A wheeled vehicle is a land vehicle that uses wheels - which many versions adorn with tires. It may or may not have an engine - for those that don't, see animal-drawn vehicle or...
Basic Information
Where I Was Born And Razed describes a character who destroyed his own neighborhood, home town, or in extreme cases nation or planet. This might have been accidental or...
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A White Dwarf (also called a Degenerate Dwarf) is a small star made of Electron-Degenerate Matter. On average, they have a mass similar to the Sun, but a size only comparable to...
Check how particular Members joined this Wiki.
Summary
June 11, 2009: The World Health Organization has declared a Level 6 Pandemic response to the latest strain of Swine Flu - the highest response in over 40 years. At this point, this Flu has...
Basic Information
Why Couldn't You Be Different describes a character who somehow differs from what his parents wanted - and the parents let him know that. Maybe the child was born deformed, maybe...
Summary
October 29, 2008: Research has shown that men will subconsciously tend to find women wearing red clothing or otherwise being near red colors more attractive than otherwise.
See...
Summary
September 2, 2009: The Japanese government is preparing to fund efforts to built an orbiting solar power station, and several Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi have signed on as well....
Wichita is the largest city in Kansas, at over 300,000 citizens, and has been labeled one of the most accurate microcosms of the United States as a whole. The population diversity in percentage...
Basic Information
A wiki is a collection of web pages which can be edited by multiple contributors.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
Consider creating a wiki for your...
Basic Information
The Wild Stallion Rule is a Time Travel Trope named after the band in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and one of the best examples of this rule in action is the "cage and...
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WIMPs stands for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, one proposed type of Dark Matter. WIMPs have many traits in common with Neutrinos, but are much larger and more massive,...
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The wire game, as depicted in the movie The Sting, is a confidence game that trades on the promise of insider knowledge to beat a gamble, stock trade or other monetary action. In...
Basic Information
This article is a stub. Feel free to expand upon it.
Wisconsin Cities
Green Bay
Madison
Milwaukee
Sheboygan
Wisconsin Places of Interest
House on the Rock
Lake Michigan
Lake...
Summary
September 15, 2008: After rumors spread that a soccer player in a game in Butembo, Congo used witchcraft, a riot developed in which 13 people were killed.
Source
Bibliography
1. Original...
Summary
May 11, 2006: An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about "Spaceport Sheboygan", a planned facility in Sheboygan, Wisconsin that would be a combination aeronautics & space...
Basic Information
This Trope is very common to horror and speculative fiction. A character who gains power (be that magical power, superpowers, genetic augmentation, or just expanded scientific...
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A Wizard is a person who employs and understands Magic.
In fiction, the ability to manipulate magic is usually an innate gift, a talent that you are born with, and it's typically...
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The Working Cowboy is a cowboy who actually has a job herding cattle and spends the majority of his time doing that job. (Unlike the majority of cowboys in The Western who seem...
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World War I was a global war that mostly raged in Europe. It began with the declaration of war by Germany against Russia on August 1, 1914, and ended with an armistice on...
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World War II was a global military conflict that involved most of the world's nations. It's starting date is generally considered to be September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded...
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A wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that is basically a 'shortcut' through space and time. Spacetime can be viewed as a 2D surface, and when 'folded'...
Basic Information
The Worthy Opponent is the equal and opposite of a hero in the story - someone, if their circumstances had been different, would have been a friend of the hero. Despite their...
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Guys like girls; and guys like cars; so what could be sexier than a gal who fixes cars? Enter the Wrench Wench, a girl who knows her way around a machine shop and can fix...
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A write back to the future is when a time traveler in the past gets a message to companions in the present by hiding it away so that it will be recovered at the appropriate time...
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November 30, 2007: A bag, which contains a number of letters, belonging to a member of the Long Range Desert Group in World War II has been found in the Sahara...
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
— Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Basic...
Basic Information
Xenobiology is sometimes used as a synonym for astrobiology, but there is a distinction between the technical terms.
Astrobiology looks elsewhere for carbon-based life that uses...
Basic Information
The Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is dedicated to the kami of Japanese soldiers who died fighting for the Emperor of Japan. Currently, the names...
This page lists news articles and events for the year <enter year here>.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the...
Basic Information
A year is defined as the time it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
List of...
JOCASTA: An oracle came to Laius one fine day…
and it said
that doom would strike him down at the hands of a son,
our son, to be from of our own flesh and blood. But Laius,
so the report goes at...
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Basic Information
You Can't Go Home Again is when one or more of the main characters is displaced from their home, and unable to go home again for some reason - perhaps because travel there is...
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The Young Gun is the Western equivalent of the Kid Samurai: a younger, less-awesome version of The Gunslinger, looking to make a name for himself. Expect him to be hot-headed and...
Basic Information
Your Days Are Numbered describes a character who will soon die - perhaps because of a curse, a terminal disease, or because it is his destiny to die at a particular time. The...
Basic Information
Ys is a mythical city of Brittany (France) now said to lay beneath the waters of Douarnenez Bay. In the most common version of the Ys legend (there are many variations), the city...
"Zeerust: the particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic."
— The Meaning of Liff
Basic Information
This trope describes how something...
Basic Information
In Greek Mythology, Zeus is King of the Gods, and ruler of Mount Olympus.
What he's all about
Some gods are Gods because they represent something - they're the anthropomorphic...
Basic Information
The Žižkov Television Tower in Prague was originally built from 1982 to 1992. In the year 2000, the artist David Černý adds sculptures of faceless babies to its...
Doctor Blake pulled on her rubber gloves and leaned over the cadaver on the table, which half an hour earlier had tried to kill us. "Strictly speaking," she said, probing the body's skull with a...
Basic Information
The Zombie Apocalypse is a sub-trope of Our Monsters Are Different. It portrays a world where zombies have recently shown up and are rapidly overwhelming the world (or at least...
Summary
November 6, 2007: Professional archaeologist working on the Egyptian ruins at Hierakonpolis do a humorous take on the zombie outbreak reported in Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide,...
Summary
June 4, 2008: A team of biologists have studied a type of wasp that infects caterpillars with its larvae. And once the larvae hatch, they eat through the skin of the caterpillar and form...
Summary
November 30, 2007: A cockroach paralyzed by a parasitic wasp - which uses cockroaches to deposit their larvae - has been successfully "revived" by the application of specific...
Summary
May 16, 2009: "A new species of fly injects the ants with larvae, which attack an ant's brain and eventually cause the head to fall off."[1]
This fly species which is native to South...
Basic Information
Romero Zombies and Voodoo Zombies are often depicted as having a slow, laborious, shuffling walk, making it possible for folks who aren't paralyzed with fear to out run them....
Basic Information
The Zombie Infectee is someone who's been bit by a zombie (or other undead), and is doomed to become one themselves. They're in the early stages of what will likely be a painful...
Basic Information
The Zombie Legion is very different from most movie Zombies. It isn't infectious at all, and can only be raised by Necromancy or raised by powerful Intelligent Undead or a Demon....
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Taking the Zombie Legion one step further, sometimes a Ghost Ship will have an undead crew. Pirates are like sailors, except more crude, treacherous, dangerous, and vile. By...
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Zoology is the discipline of biology which concerns itself with the study of animals.
Sources
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
