Re: [OT] What mailing list is this again?

Brian2 asked:
> Can someone explain the alarishi for me?

No.  Even I can't.  :-)

>  I keep hearing this entity bandied
> about, but still have no idea just what it is.  Can anyone.anything
be
> Alarishi?

The Alarishi Empire was dreamed up some years ago by a lister whose
connection with reality is a bit erratic/tenuous.  It is believed that
"Alarishi" derives from al-Arish, which is IIRC one of the first
cities the Iraelites came to as they left Egypt.

The AE controls three M-star systems (Huy Braseal, Coronado, and
Alarish), and claims a fourth system (Cibola).	Alarish (the star) has
a brown dwarf planet/secondary star, which in turn has moons, one of
which is Alarish (the planet).	Like all other AE territory, Alarish
has no external atmosphere--everyone lives either underground or
inside, depending on your point of view.  Most of the citizens of the
AE inhabit planetoids, habitats, or ships.

The overall government is a libertarian monarchy.  Within this
framework, any definable territory can establish itself as a
sovereignity with its own constitution, courts, legal code,
enforcement powers and penalties.  The wide collection of
sovereignities under one overall government is what makes it an empire
(not size or population--the AE has a bit under 40 million people).
There's really no such thing as a "typical" AE sov but a few of them
are: the Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (aka
Templars); the Radical Lesbian Collective; the People's Democratic
Socialist Republic of Marxgrad; Foward Power (antimatter engineering);
Reynolds Shipbuilding and Skydock; Han Bank; SARCo (Search and Rescue
Co, also known as Vultures R Us); the University of Alarish; Jack Old
Ron (population 1); the Planet of the Geeks; Murphy's Lawyers; the
Kinetic Elench (who use K-guns on their ships); the Turing Republic
(artificial intelligences, credit to Tom Barclay); el Nuevo Pueblo de
Nuestra Senora de los Angeles y Todos Santos (New L.A. and  a pod of
dolphins); Genetech; Musashi.  And there are some peculiar ones too.

AE is noted for excellent vacuum/zero gee troops (all powered armor),
antimatter engineering, biosystems, and a few other advanced
technologies.	It is also neutral ground and a meeting place for
spies, mercenaries, agents, hustlers, grifters, diplomats, and so
forth--similar to Istanbul or Casablanca in WW2.

To become an Alarishi resident you have to conform to Imperial law,
such as it is (mostly "pay your lease on time and don't blow up your
neighbors"); don't run afoul of IBIS (Imperial Bureau of Intelligence
and Security); and ideally you'll have an interesting (or bizarre)