Overview
Glanced Esteem is one of the strangest civilisations encountered so far by representatives of the Imperial Combine. Although first contact took place between Elm Caden and what was loosely termed an 'ambassador' of Glanced Esteem, there is currently no formal relationship between the two societies. The meeting with Caden was arranged as a one-off event by the Lem Bataan scientist Irim Su.
What is known about Glanced Esteem comes largely from Irim Su.
What is known about Glanced Esteem comes largely from Irim Su.
Culture
Glanced Esteem is a society, a civilisation, and a species, but all three of those things are also a single individual. The entire civilisation is one life form, or that single life form constitutes a whole civilisation — it is not yet clear in exactly which way Glanced Esteem should be described. The name it gives itself can be voiced by some species as Nosserhukkesenmusseresenmaukkosseryoss.
What does seem clear is that Glanced Esteem is very old, very intelligent, and very alien. The entity is intolerant of younger and less developed species, appears to seek out life forms which engage in some kind of unified experience, and it has an almost deliberately poor understanding of the concept of property. The civilisation as a whole is not only more advanced than the Lem Bataan, but also most of the many civilisations the Lem Bataan have knowledge of.
Warnings given by Irim Su suggest that Glanced Esteem does not take offence well, and may respond to effrontery with sudden and definitive violence.
Glanced Esteem has unusual thinking processes and communicates in an arcane fashion. To speak with it, several intermediaries are usually necessary. The closest species to Glanced Esteem is the Ton-Ta, and many individuals of that species are able to interpret Glanced Esteem's meanings.
The society of Glanced Esteem is organised around a complex model of sophisticated ethics. Those who have regular contact with the civilisation are said to be frequently baffled by exactly what sophistication is at play, since the ethics applied rarely seem to fall in their favour.
Irim Su's advice for surviving an encounter with Glanced Esteem ran as follows:
What does seem clear is that Glanced Esteem is very old, very intelligent, and very alien. The entity is intolerant of younger and less developed species, appears to seek out life forms which engage in some kind of unified experience, and it has an almost deliberately poor understanding of the concept of property. The civilisation as a whole is not only more advanced than the Lem Bataan, but also most of the many civilisations the Lem Bataan have knowledge of.
Warnings given by Irim Su suggest that Glanced Esteem does not take offence well, and may respond to effrontery with sudden and definitive violence.
Glanced Esteem has unusual thinking processes and communicates in an arcane fashion. To speak with it, several intermediaries are usually necessary. The closest species to Glanced Esteem is the Ton-Ta, and many individuals of that species are able to interpret Glanced Esteem's meanings.
The society of Glanced Esteem is organised around a complex model of sophisticated ethics. Those who have regular contact with the civilisation are said to be frequently baffled by exactly what sophistication is at play, since the ethics applied rarely seem to fall in their favour.
Irim Su's advice for surviving an encounter with Glanced Esteem ran as follows:
- Do not speak unless it is indicated by the intermediary that you should do so,
- Do not attempt to address the ambassador by name or title,
- Refer to the ambassador only by the genderless and formal pronoun [ruhe],
- Should you need to use a possessive form, the intermediary will understand [ruhesin],
- Do not sully the words 'Glanced Esteem' by using them.
Biology
The biology of Glanced Esteem has not been studied, and what little is known comes from the encounter between an 'ambassador' of the species and Elm Caden. It was made clear by Irim Su that "a minuscule part" of Glanced Esteem was presenting itself, implying that Glanced Esteem can break off parts of itself which can then work independently of the whole. It is not known for how long those smaller parts can remain isolated (→FSS).
The body of the 'ambassador' seen by Caden was made up of a matted, sheet-like network of glossy fibrils, which shivered and fluoresced in what appeared to be forms of communication. It was capable of moving around as a flowing mass, and was sustained in its own atmosphere, the composition of which was not revealed.
Irim Su stated that the Ton-Ta may be distantly related to Glanced Esteem, and suggested that life could once have been cross-seeded between their worlds. It can be inferred from that statement that the Ton-Ta homeworld is located in the same star system as the homeworld of Glanced Esteem.
The body of the 'ambassador' seen by Caden was made up of a matted, sheet-like network of glossy fibrils, which shivered and fluoresced in what appeared to be forms of communication. It was capable of moving around as a flowing mass, and was sustained in its own atmosphere, the composition of which was not revealed.
Irim Su stated that the Ton-Ta may be distantly related to Glanced Esteem, and suggested that life could once have been cross-seeded between their worlds. It can be inferred from that statement that the Ton-Ta homeworld is located in the same star system as the homeworld of Glanced Esteem.