Alliance Entertainment
Things people in the Alliance do for fun (here's where I put mention of games, sports, pastimes I've said in books somewhere).
Did you know there was a "Fleet Commandos 3" 3deo? Probably was a 1 and 2. "Big Manly Axes!"
Arts
Ballet
There are all-Pelted and mixed company (and only human, naturally) ballet companies, but the first all-Pelted ballet company was the Karaka'An one. They still debate over which form is better for digitigrade Pelted dancers: true en pointe and en plat, where the dancers dance on the balls of their feet.
- Salle Le Peletier is still around!
- The Karaka'A have their famous ballet company, though, which Simone Foster is part of.
Visual Art
The Opus Posters. Not sure whether to put this in entertainment or its own category, or in history?? "She recognized the image--few people in the Alliance wouldn't--but she also knew enough to estimate its cost. The Opus posters had been reproduced so often that most surveys listed the series as the most requested prints in the Alliance Core. For all their popularity, they were simple images: on a matte black background, a small gray figure of a man, arms raised as if conducting, with an intricate DNA helix against the right margin and a ghostly set of eyes just visible beside it. Which set depended on the poster: Opus #1 had a vulpine's oval pupil in an equally animal socket, for Joy, the prototype who would later become the stock for the Seersa race; Opus #2 had a domestic cat's slit pupil in a human's eye socket, for the Karaka'An, like Taylitha. Hancock didn't have any Opus poster, though, but one remarqued in tasteful gold foil. The signature of Project Homefront's Lead Scientist Joseph Shandlin had been reproduced in the corner, next to a lock of hair. A limited edition--it could have cost between one thousand fin and five depending on the hair. One thousand fin comprised a substantial chunk of a station administrator's pay, particularly with a billet this remote."[1]
Poetry and Songs
Exodus Lullabies
Written in Meridan. Alysha Forrest translated some into Universal for the library at her finishing school, as her father had sung them to her as a child.
Music
- Lenaldin-jun River Suite[2]
- Pianos are still handcrafted, and individual musicians of high enough caliber will select specific ones for performances and have them shipped to the concert halls, and tuned there to their specifications.
Sports and Physical Activity
In Dreamhearth, the former Fleet officer liked to go... was it skiing? Look that up and put it here.
Fencing
Very popular! We get a mention of the 'Selnor Locals' in Faith. (Competitors mentioned: Sorinel and Kerry). More data probably in "Dark Lighthouse." There are schools:
- Karentkeri Academy, a Harat-Shariin blade school
- Jezherel's School for Light Weapons, another Harat-Shariin blade school (very intimate)
- Donneret, rapier and long dagger [3]
Rhedball
Mentioned in Alysha's fall; no details. [2]
Riding
Travel
Cruises
"Their first flight was on a passenger liner that delivered Core citizens to an out-sector hub home to several cruise companies. It had bemused them both to learn that many of the worlds on the border were popular tourist destinations, whether for tourism, culture, food, or spiritual retreat." [4]
Games
- Pantheon, a card game