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Old 10-14-2011, 08:37 AM   #4
combatmedic
Banned
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: a crooked, creaky manse built on a blasted heath
Default Re: 'Imperial Culture' (non-canonista)

Cool beans, Astromancer. These sorts of details make the setting come alive for me.

playing cards-

About three centuries ago, decks of playing cards imprinted with images drawn from Imperial history and legend became popular among Navy men and spacers in the Domain of Deneb. The cards quickly spread from there to other parts of the Imperium. Emperors, heroes, and villains of the first several centuries of the Imperium make up the face cards. No proper names of persons are used on most decks, possibly as a legal precaution. Still, few students of history would fail to note the uncanny resemblance of the Red Empress card-face to Arbelletara, victrix of the Civil Wars. The numbered suits are rockets, blades, stars, and moons. Some scholars have suggested that the oddly archaic choice of rockets suggests an ancient origin for this sort of deck, and that the identification of face cars with Imperial figures may have developed long after the cards were first introduced.

This sort of playing card is usually printed on cheap plastic sheet material, but heavy paper is also popular.
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