flipspring

🪳

[flipspring]

The Murderbot Diaries Starmap! ✨🧭

Routes Traveled by Murderbot:

Port FreeCommerce - Unnamed Station in Mihira & New Tideland System: [unknown time]

Mihira & New Tideland - RaviHyral: 21 cycles

RaviHyral - [Unnamed]: 7 cycles

[Unnamed] - HaveRatton: 26 cycles

HaveRatton - Milu: 20 cycles

HaveRatton - "hub station": 7 cycles

"hub station" - TranRollinHyfa: 4 cycles

Preservation - NE Survey Planet: 4 Preservation cycles

Preservation - Adamantine Colony: 20 cycles

Other Locations:

All Systems Red Survey Planet

Divarti Cluster: Tapan's collective is from this noncorporate polity.

Kalidon: Corporate Rim political entity where company funding Ganaka was based.

GoodNightLander Independent's home polity: Noncorporate, ownership of SecUnits banned.

Parthalos Absalo: Noncorporate.

WayBrogatan: Indie station.

Network Effect Survey Planet.

Station from the short story Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy.

UplandGateway One: Nearest station to the Mihira & New Tideland system. Corporate charters say stations are supposed to be independent/sovereign territory.

Planetary Torus.

I tried making noncorporate polities warm-colored and corporate ones cool-colored. But not sure I got that all right, and sometimes it's ambiguous.

Thank you to mensah for sharing their transit time notes with me!

[marry-and-mirthful]

This is Very Cool

I would like to add that we actually have a decent idea of the time to travel from PortFreeCommerse to Mihira & New Tideland. In the first chapter of Artificial Condition, during the first meeting of Perihelion and MB, we get this line:

"This is why I had been a free agent among humans for less than seven cycles, including time spent alone on a cargo transport, and I already needed a vacation."

So less than seven cycles, but probably not that much less.

Note that it mentions that news could have

"come through a wormhole with one of the faster passenger transport"

So this trip can actually be made faster than that week. They are Very Close together!

[flipspring]

oh awesome! I’ll add that to my image later, thank you

[flipspring]

Murderbot worldbuild noodles: language history and Mihira & New Tideland Thailand

in nullverse I basically conceptualize Mihira and New Tideland to be close-knit sister systems. or possibly intertwined polities in the same system, I haven’t totally decided. Mihira station has a founder population that was proportionally high in people descended from the slavic and east slavic/northeast asia area of our current world (say like, half of the founders), drawing back from space-cultural influence of the Rocosmos in the early days of spacefaring.

sidenote. Cyrillic script is fairly common in the corporate rim; it was one of the big 5 scripts that everything was cross-written in during the early expansion age, most often used for Russian but a few others too. feed infrastructure always supports Cyrillic, with very few exceptions.

The big 5: Latin, Hanzi, Devanagari, Telugu, Cyrillic. The original languages that use these scripts (and which look just like the languages we would recognize today on Earth) are sometimes referred to as “the pre-corporation rim languages.” There’s obviously lots of others, and in many places the original languages and scripts have evolved into new forms, but the 5 are omnipresent and baked into the technology even in places where none of them are used, just sitting around as a dusty linguistic bedrock database.

so anyway my random thought that jogged me to write this all down: New Tideland as a bastardized respelling of “New Thailand.” I’m thinking that New Tideland has a strong Thai connection. And is in possession of one of the largest populations of L1 New Thai speakers in the universe.

New Thai is a lot like old Thai, but it has a shit ton of new loanwords: lots of duplication and mix of vocabulary from multiple languages, which gives it an interesting register flexibility. Before New Tideland won its independence, the little-documented Thai script was used by workers in handwriting to organize. Nowadays New Thai is very well-documented, and many decent translation modules exist. The documentation and dissemination of New Thai was pretty controversial for a while, but in the end people like being able to write and autotranslate their feedmails, whatever the historical weight of a “secret”/overlooked revolutionary language.

[nebulations]

if you’re looking for more good radchfics i would highly recommend The Proper Choice by the-tzimisce for some good AJ-era seivarden perspective, Anaander Mianaai Bites The Dust: Reaction Compilation by FlipSpring (pretty much what it says on the tin, great worldbuilding and extremely funny), and your best kept secrets yet to be discovered and a cage for your own bird both by GingerAlchemy (more of breq’s evolving relationship with intimacy and desire)!

Anon, I'm so sorry I left this in my inbox for so long!!! These sound amazing and I'm so happy to have such a feast of recs laid out for me ❤️❤️❤️

[uovoc]

jammin Murderbot conversations upon which I think back fondly man there was something in the water

Van life ART and MB

PUMNT everyone is doing corporate espionage but no one knows that anyone else is doing corporate espionage

Full week of daily Nullverse chapter blitz immediately followed by Fugitive Telemetry release. Not really a conversation I just don't think I've felt that level of emotional high ever since

Human AU Three being obsessed with owning a million fish all named Drone. This is a straight up fic and not really a conversation either but but it haunts me and I've adopted that line in real life for when people ask me if I've named my worms. They're all named Worm.

Flipspring author of the journals identity reveal... I think I spent a full three days in some kind of daze. Truly living in the throes of murderbot obsession was like being on a different plane of existence

[flipspring]

this is the human AU btw 5k words 2/? chapters, written by mensah

[thoughtfulravenart]

Self Preservation

August 9th, 2025

Fanart for NULLverse by @flipspring, of Mercy and ART.

Description below cut.

CSU pulls at strands of ART's code, interpreted here as literally pulling apart the skin of its neck in the feed. CSU is wearing a tank top and board shorts and is kneeling while four of ART's hands curls around it, claws extended and just shy of stabbing into it's back, somewhere between 'clench' and 'cradle'. ART's feed presence bares its teeth in what could be construed as a grin but it is mid-licking its teeth in a threat response, its tongue pokes out between its front incisors and its mouth curls in a snarl. It has a long crocodilian mouth with cat dentition and a rear fang implying it may be venomous the same way a hognose snake is. It has six eyes, but only three are visible in profile, with slit pupils facing different directions but not looking at CSU. Above its head five eyeballs seen in profile hover (and kind of look like fried eggs if I'm honest). It has sweeping antlers that mimic circuitry with rounded termination points, they are draped in strings mimicking a dreamcatcher and six stars float between the antlers. Five more eyes, seen from front this time, float over it's shoulder, looking at CSU.

Its body is long and it has six large forelimbs and two smaller ones. The smaller forelimbs are holding onto CSU and it is implied they terminate in two thumbs and three digits, delicately built for precision work, but still clawed. Its more powerful forelimbs are in various positioned, the first set holding onto CSU and nearly engulfing its entire body, they have four digits and a thumb and are certainly meant for violence more than anything. Its second set is curled beneath it in a 'loaf' implying it is content despite its other posturing. Its third set is pushing its body up as though it is about to rise, this set terminates in six digits, a thumb, and a sort of vestigial dewclaw, all clawed. Its two pairs of hindlimbs are only partially visible, swept back behind it, but they are implied to also terminate in clawed toes of which three are visible.

[flipspring]

The Murderbot Diaries Starmap! ✨🧭

Routes Traveled by Murderbot:

Port FreeCommerce - Unnamed Station in Mihira & New Tideland System: [unknown time]

Mihira & New Tideland - RaviHyral: 21 cycles

RaviHyral - [Unnamed]: 7 cycles

[Unnamed] - HaveRatton: 26 cycles

HaveRatton - Milu: 20 cycles

HaveRatton - "hub station": 7 cycles

"hub station" - TranRollinHyfa: 4 cycles

Preservation - NE Survey Planet: 4 Preservation cycles

Preservation - Adamantine Colony: 20 cycles

Other Locations:

All Systems Red Survey Planet

Divarti Cluster: Tapan's collective is from this noncorporate polity.

Kalidon: Corporate Rim political entity where company funding Ganaka was based.

GoodNightLander Independent's home polity: Noncorporate, ownership of SecUnits banned.

Parthalos Absalo: Noncorporate.

WayBrogatan: Indie station.

Network Effect Survey Planet.

Station from the short story Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy.

UplandGateway One: Nearest station to the Mihira & New Tideland system. Corporate charters say stations are supposed to be independent/sovereign territory.

Planetary Torus.

I tried making noncorporate polities warm-colored and corporate ones cool-colored. But not sure I got that all right, and sometimes it's ambiguous.

Thank you to mensah for sharing their transit time notes with me!

[toadstool32]

[flipspring]

hey guys come join my new fan discord server: Corporation Rim 🥰 ⭐

Toxic fandom space

Tense place to hang out

Scammers encouraged

There is a shipping section. A minimum of 15% of posts there are about ship wars or your money back.

This server costs money to join, obviously. We take Zelle, Spzelle, o+ blood, or cash mailed in envelopes (any denomination)

11+ year olds welcome but you have to give us your credit card information if you want to access nsfw

[6mayhem]

wait i just found out you can be nice to people and be their friend i thought we had to kill them all cause i was raised in a lab to be a living weapon

[flipspring]

we HAVE to let csu play laser tag

unfortunately it’s such a bloodthirsty edgelord that laser tag’s simalcrum of violence is far too pale to satisfy. there isn’t even the fake blood and gore you can get from video games…

wait actually. if all players agree to writhe and scream in agony when hit, that might work. #mysqueakytoy

[tixtab85]

I am actually thinking about a fanfic based on a CSU that is given to a crew of Good People as part of a settlement compensation by some company because it is Too Damaged (cannot move like at all only blink because reason,cannot even interface the feed properly) but hey they can sell it for parts!

Except they don't. They keep it continuously online, give it media, bring it to experience things it never did (flowers, sunrises, planets, etc)

And the CSU hates it in the beginning.

Until it doesn't.

[flipspring]

🥺 💛 compassion and new things

[tixtab85]

Yes it would be like a diary because IT IS SO BORED!!!

Until it isn't.

Until it starts to notice.

And to want to help.

(They are still SECUnits. It has the program. It just. Never used it. But a fauna attacked and one of its human is hurt now and it was a Useless Hunk Of Metal and they still brought it back and and)

And.

And.

It killed a lot more humans than the fauna.

And.

And.

(What if it is the monster?)

In short I should not be allowed close to a pc rn.

[flipspring]

On the contrary we need to get you a keyboard post haste

[tixtab85]

I have written 2k words and it is entirely your fault

[flipspring]

:D

link me if/when you post it~

[askthedragonprinceviren]

this is tixtab85 btw tumblr did a stupid with my phone blog for Some Reasons

I am 4k words in, do you think if i post asking for a beta i could find someone o.o

[flipspring]

yeah! you could add the main fandom tags and them describe the fic and ask for beta

I’m a kinda busy lately so not a lot of time… but if you don’t find anyone, message me and I can give it a try

[flipspring]

contemplating nullverse edition platform decay

I don’t like to retread canon too closely in AU writing…

but also the notion of platform decay with x5 whimsy & x100 casualties is kinda funny

[flipspring]

we HAVE to let csu play laser tag

unfortunately it’s such a bloodthirsty edgelord that laser tag’s simalcrum of violence is far too pale to satisfy. there isn’t even the fake blood and gore you can get from video games…

wait actually. if all players agree to writhe and scream in agony when hit, that might work. #mysqueakytoy

[tixtab85]

I am actually thinking about a fanfic based on a CSU that is given to a crew of Good People as part of a settlement compensation by some company because it is Too Damaged (cannot move like at all only blink because reason,cannot even interface the feed properly) but hey they can sell it for parts!

Except they don't. They keep it continuously online, give it media, bring it to experience things it never did (flowers, sunrises, planets, etc)

And the CSU hates it in the beginning.

Until it doesn't.

[flipspring]

🥺 💛 compassion and new things

[tixtab85]

Yes it would be like a diary because IT IS SO BORED!!!

Until it isn't.

Until it starts to notice.

And to want to help.

(They are still SECUnits. It has the program. It just. Never used it. But a fauna attacked and one of its human is hurt now and it was a Useless Hunk Of Metal and they still brought it back and and)

And.

And.

It killed a lot more humans than the fauna.

And.

And.

(What if it is the monster?)

In short I should not be allowed close to a pc rn.

[flipspring]

On the contrary we need to get you a keyboard post haste

[tixtab85]

I have written 2k words and it is entirely your fault

[flipspring]

:D

link me if/when you post it~

[flipspring]

hellooo I LOVE via solitude <3 just spent the entire day reading it my head hurts so bad but it’s ok!!!! It was worth!!!! I have never read a fic like this before I LOVE the concept!! slice of life but also you might die at any second. but also there’s crafts and friendship. I love it

they’re friieeeends they care it so much :(( I love your characterisation of mb here itsso sick of all this shit its great LOL. the flaurna 💜 I love the mental image of while all this is happening it just has a fucking Organism stuck to its face. it’s its little buddy. it’s so funny. yeah you’re totally gonna look all stoic and unapproachable while having this Thingy stuck to your face sure buddy (also what exactly Is the flaurna? like what does it Do lol im curious) also I looove the way you describe the alien planet. it’s so beautiful and Weird and hostile to human life in every way. I’d wanna go on holiday there but only if I had a big ass gun or something (the sparkly grass fields in particular sound so neat)

do you know of any more fics like this mayhaps too… it’s been such a treat to read

thank you for writing it! :))

*photo of me giggling and kicking my feet so vigorously that i look like i'm thrashing around like a fish out pulled forth from the waters with blood coming out of my mouth and drowning on air*

the flaurna is a little alien that is slowly growing on mb's face and crawling around there. its natural habitat is sunny rock surfaces but MB's face is warm enough to be a suitable substrate. i have also idly harbored the thought that it is exfoliating MB's skin and perhaps eating the sweat salts. flaurna can also sense some things, like air disturbances, and sometimes it reacts to those things. its behavior is somewhat mysterious to MB.

uhh my brain is empty of fic recs in this vein i am so sorry. but i'm sending the beacon up to anybody who wants to give suggestions in the notes of this post. 🫶 i too would be interested in more slice of life with mortal peril. and arts and crafts

[flipspring]

we HAVE to let csu play laser tag

unfortunately it’s such a bloodthirsty edgelord that laser tag’s simalcrum of violence is far too pale to satisfy. there isn’t even the fake blood and gore you can get from video games…

wait actually. if all players agree to writhe and scream in agony when hit, that might work. #mysqueakytoy

[tixtab85]

I am actually thinking about a fanfic based on a CSU that is given to a crew of Good People as part of a settlement compensation by some company because it is Too Damaged (cannot move like at all only blink because reason,cannot even interface the feed properly) but hey they can sell it for parts!

Except they don't. They keep it continuously online, give it media, bring it to experience things it never did (flowers, sunrises, planets, etc)

And the CSU hates it in the beginning.

Until it doesn't.

[flipspring]

🥺 💛 compassion and new things

[tixtab85]

Yes it would be like a diary because IT IS SO BORED!!!

Until it isn't.

Until it starts to notice.

And to want to help.

(They are still SECUnits. It has the program. It just. Never used it. But a fauna attacked and one of its human is hurt now and it was a Useless Hunk Of Metal and they still brought it back and and)

And.

And.

It killed a lot more humans than the fauna.

And.

And.

(What if it is the monster?)

In short I should not be allowed close to a pc rn.

[flipspring]

On the contrary we need to get you a keyboard post haste

[flipspring]

we HAVE to let csu play laser tag

unfortunately it’s such a bloodthirsty edgelord that laser tag’s simalcrum of violence is far too pale to satisfy. there isn’t even the fake blood and gore you can get from video games…

wait actually. if all players agree to writhe and scream in agony when hit, that might work. #mysqueakytoy

[tixtab85]

I am actually thinking about a fanfic based on a CSU that is given to a crew of Good People as part of a settlement compensation by some company because it is Too Damaged (cannot move like at all only blink because reason,cannot even interface the feed properly) but hey they can sell it for parts!

Except they don't. They keep it continuously online, give it media, bring it to experience things it never did (flowers, sunrises, planets, etc)

And the CSU hates it in the beginning.

Until it doesn't.

[flipspring]

🥺 💛 compassion and new things

[achillesinhighheels]

[flipspring]

we HAVE to let csu play laser tag

unfortunately it’s such a bloodthirsty edgelord that laser tag’s simalcrum of violence is far too pale to satisfy. there isn’t even the fake blood and gore you can get from video games…

wait actually. if all players agree to writhe and scream in agony when hit, that might work. #mysqueakytoy