Prop canon — what the novel actually says

Mined from Pandora's Star itself. Every quote below was checked back as a verbatim

substring of the book text before being written here; quotes that failed that check were

dropped rather than paraphrased. Counts are descriptive mentions, not total mentions.

confidence: book means the novel's own description supports the design family.

inferred means it was reasoned from function. none means the novel gives no basis —

those are the real design decisions, and they are yours, not the system's.

array

29 descriptive mentions · family: sleek_brushed_metal · confidence: book

The novel establishes that arrays vary drastically in size, ranging from planetary "vast crystal towers" to "small handheld" units and wearable devices. Personal arrays can be worn on the wrist—described as "burnished" with a "tiny red power LED"—or carried in bags and tool kits. Handheld versions feature a "screen to unfurl" and slots that accept and eject small black memory disks.

Verbatim:

“vast crystal towers”
“screen to unfurl”
“burnished wrist array”

Family reasoning: The text explicitly describes a personal wrist array as "burnished," which directly points to a polished or brushed metal finish, perfectly aligning with the sleek_brushed_metal aesthetic for the portable tech.

handheld

7 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The handheld array is a small, portable electronic device that can fit inside a shoulder bag. Its most prominent physical feature is a flexible display that can unfurl when placed on a surface. The unit contains a slot to insert and eject memory crystals, which are described as little black disks, and it is equipped with a speaker for audio output.

Verbatim:

“small handheld array”
“screen to unfurl”
“ejected the little black disk”

Family reasoning: The text describes the device's size, unfurling screen, and media slots, but provides no details about its casing material, color, or overall aesthetic style to assign it to a specific design family.

memory crystal

13 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The memory crystal is a physical data storage medium that comes in at least two distinct shapes: a small, black disk that can be inserted into and ejected from a handheld array, and a larger cylinder. They are portable enough to be carried in a bag or case, and easily handed or slipped from person to person.

Verbatim:

“small black disk”
“fist-sized cylinder”
“ejected the little black disk”

Family reasoning: The text explicitly describes the object as a black disk or cylinder made of crystal, which does not match the fleshy, brushed metal, wet latex, or off-white composite design families provided.

malmetal

4 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

Malmetal is a blue-gray material used in large-scale spacecraft construction, such as airlocks, assembly platforms, and outer shells. It is highly flexible and capable of changing shape; it can form a giant sphere or a folded shell, and is able to be contracted into thick rings or peeled back into a toroid skirt.

Verbatim:

“giant blue-gray sphere”
“contracted into thick rings”
“peeled back to a thick toroid skirt”

Family reasoning: The text specifies the material is blue-gray and capable of folding or contracting, which rules out the off-white composite. However, it lacks the specific textural details required to confidently assign it to sleek brushed metal, organic fleshy tech, or viscose medical prosthetics.

ion pistol

3 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The ion pistol is a small, heavy weapon. It is compact enough to be carried concealed inside a jacket, where it creates a noticeable weight, or it can be worn in a holster suspended from a belt. The text establishes nothing else about its specific shape, color, or material.

Verbatim:

“small heavy bulge”
“small ion pistol”

Family reasoning: The novel only describes the pistol's size, weight, and how it is carried. It provides no details regarding its material, color, or surface finish to justify placing it in any of the specific design families.

pistol

5 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The pistol is a small, heavy weapon that functions as an ion stunner, though some are augmented for lethal short-range blasts. It is compact enough to be carried in a jacket, producing a noticeable bulge, or worn in a holster hung from a belt. Guards use them by waving them to direct people.

Verbatim:

“small heavy bulge”
“legal ion stun pistol”

Family reasoning: The text establishes the pistol's size, weight, and how it is carried, but provides no details regarding its material, color, or aesthetic form to assign it to a specific design family.

force field

27 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The force field is an energy barrier that takes various forms, including a "neutral gray curtain," a translucent "globe," or large "protective hemispheres" and domes. While it can be worn "unseen" as armor, it typically exhibits a "telltale sparkle" and a "slight surface instability." When interacting with energy or taking damage, it can blaze with radiant violet streamers or burn in a hazy turquoise light with snapping static.

Verbatim:

“neutral gray curtain”
“telltale sparkle”
“hazy turquoise light”

Family reasoning: The text describes an immaterial energy barrier (translucent, sparkling, glowing turquoise or violet) rather than a physical object. It does not fit any of the established physical material design families (metal, composite, latex, or fleshy tech).

sensor

23 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The novel establishes that sensors come in a wide variety of forms and sizes. They range from "tiny solid-state sensors" and small stealthed drones to flat "patches the size of paving slabs" that can be stuck to floors. They are often integrated into other hardware, such as large clusters on starships, collar mounts, or concealed within the smooth conical bodies of guardbots. A distinct alien variant consists of "fat sensor stalks" housed inside transparent suit bubbles, which feature two eyes, twinned orifices at the front, and patches of colored fibers.

Verbatim:

“tiny solid-state sensors”
“patches the size of paving slabs”
“fat sensor stalks”

Family reasoning: The term encompasses a massive variety of devices, from human solid-state electronics and paving-slab-sized patches to alien biological stalks with eyes and orifices, providing no single unifying visual language for the general category.

capsule

2 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The capsule is a "simple spherical" vessel used for research and life-support, capable of carrying up to fifteen passengers. It is relatively small, being "barely larger than the shuttle," and sits atop a "drum-shaped propulsion section" equipped with plasma rockets. The text establishes nothing about its material or color.

Verbatim:

“simple spherical life-support capsule”
“barely larger than the shuttle”
“drum-shaped propulsion section”

Family reasoning: The text describes the capsule's geometric form (spherical on a drum-shaped base) and size, but provides no details about its material, color, or surface finish to match any of the specific design families.

virtual vision

17 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

Virtual vision is an augmented reality overlay generated by retinal inserts, physically manifesting externally as a pulsing web of thin silver lines around the user's eyes. It projects visual data directly into the user's sight, displaying elements such as translucent green or black text, translucent icons, bright red trajectory plots, and simple star maps. It can also display infrared feeds that turn the user's sight sparkling pink and white, as well as customized interface avatars like a pale blue ghostly hand with purple nails.

Verbatim:

“generated by her retinal inserts”
“web of thin silver lines around her eyes”
“translucent green text”

Family reasoning: The object is an internal cybernetic augmentation (retinal inserts) and a digital visual overlay. The only external physical description is thin silver lines on the skin, which does not match any of the provided material-based design families (such as brushed metal shells, wet latex, or off-white composite).

OCtattoo

16 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

OCtattoos are technological body modifications that are etched into the skin and wetwired into the user's nerve fibers. They appear as patterns, pictures, spirals, webs, or lines on various body parts, including the face, limbs, hands, and ears. Visually, they can be thin and nearly invisible, or dense enough to completely cover an area. They actively glow, shimmer, flicker, and ripple in colors such as silver, emerald, platinum, midnight-black, and gold. They are used to interface with external technology by connecting to 'i-spots' on consoles or devices.

Verbatim:

“wetwired into his hand’s nerve fibers”
“shimmer like pulsing silver veins”
“24 karat golden skin”

Family reasoning: The object is described as a glowing, subdermal tattoo etched into human skin rather than a physical prop made of metal, composite, latex, or rubbery materials.

e-butler

3 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The novel establishes nothing about the physical appearance, material, form, size, or color of the e-butler. It is explicitly described as a software entity rather than a physical object, functioning as a "program construct" with an "artificial voice" that can receive messages and transmit membership codes to electronic locks.

Verbatim:

“program construct’s artificial voice”
“received by an e-butler”

Family reasoning: The text explicitly identifies the e-butler as a program construct and provides no physical or visual description, making it impossible to assign to a physical prop design family.

car

142 descriptive mentions · family: off_white_composite · confidence: inferred

The novel establishes very little about the visual appearance of standard cars, noting only a "small station car" and that one features a "small screen" inside. However, related heavy-duty vehicles with "car-sized tires" are described as having rusting metal sections, smashed window glass, and off-white composite bodies.

Verbatim:

“small station car”
“small screen in the car”
“composite bodywork bleached to a bland off-white”

Family reasoning: Although standard cars lack detailed visual descriptions, the text explicitly describes related vehicles (which have "car-sized tires") as having "composite bodywork bleached to a bland off-white," directly pointing to the off_white_composite visual language.

train

20 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The text establishes that trains run on tracks or "silver rails," sometimes winding along curving viaducts. They come in various forms, including loop trains, local trains, car-carry trains, and heavy goods trains. Visually, a heavy goods train is described as having bright front illumination followed by a long, dark series of wagons.

Verbatim:

“glaring front lights”
“dark bulk of the wagons”
“silver rails”

Family reasoning: The text describes the trains as having glaring front lights and dark wagons running on silver rails, but provides no specific material, color, or stylistic details about the train's chassis to assign it to any of the specific design families.

enzyme-bonded

3 descriptive mentions · family: undetermined · confidence: none

The novel establishes that "enzyme-bonded" refers to a type of concrete used as a paving material. It is extruded from a chemical reactor to form a "flat level surface" for vehicles and pedestrians. Physically, it is a hard road material capable of stripping "huge scars of black rubber" from the locking wheels of braking vehicles. The text provides no specific details about its color or fine texture, other than it being distinct from dirt and stone chippings.

Verbatim:

“enzyme-bonded concrete”
“flat level surface”
“huge scars of black rubber”

Family reasoning: The object is a flat concrete road surface. The text provides no visual details that would align it with fleshy tech, brushed metal, medical prosthetics, or off-white composites, making the design family undetermined.

What reading the book changed

artificial voice — software, not an object. It was in the design backlog and has

been dropped. Anything visible is the ARRAY it runs on.

unfurl*, wrist units that are burnished with a tiny red power LED, scaling up to

vast crystal towers. Use the book's word, and note the unfurling screen is a

distinctive, castable feature nobody has drawn yet.

his hand's nerve fibers*, a web of thin silver lines around her eyes. They read as

character/makeup work, not props, and are flagged rather than queued here.