Story-Identification: Long story or novelette about the evolution of humanity as they fight a generational war

After a very long-lasting war, human society has evolved into different castes, each with evolved instincts to help them do their jobs well, living inside giant ships.

Kamikaze fighter pilots feel ecstatic when plunging their ship into the enemy, scholars are tasked with preserving knowledge, but have lost understanding of what real free inquiry is, etc. You can see that the system was initially designed to hang together and survive over the long term, but nobody living it could see that anymore. The story itself is about a character in a rare coordinator role, who briefly glimpses what has become of the plans before - but the war is so back and forth that it seems it will never end.

It was definitely written in the 90s or earlier and felt 70s or 80s. Really want to find this! I read it around the same time as the forever war, but it's not that.

Comments

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

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Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

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story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...

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