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Jinx  Spec Sheet

All about the iconic ship from the book!

Glossary [Book 1 Text and Supplemental Materials]

World and Tech background, Acronym definitions, and more!

Jump to: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

0-9

2Zeus

Recording name of boomstep artist Amanda Mendez. Mainly known for long-form concept albums.

34-Series

Model line of BSW high-performance, transatmospheric, luxury touring ISCs in the 35- to 40-meter range. Manufactured from 10 to 39 with about 4,000 built.

A

Acheron Syndicate

An unusually successful, secretive, and dangerous organized crime group with operations ranging from piracy to illegal nanotech manufacture and distribution. Notorious for disregard for human life.

ACU

Ares Colonial Union. A large, powerful, treaty-violating first-tier superpower. One of three remaining first-tier superpowers that originated in Sol, but not on Terra, and the only non-Terran power to join the old UN before its restructuring into the Terran Governing Authority (on the Security Council of which, ironically, the ACU holds a permanent seat). Operates the fourth-largest and second-most advanced navy in existence. Actively and aggressively engaged in extrasolar territory-claiming.

ACUN

ACU Navy. The main military branch of the ACU. One of the most formidable militaries in Orion. Often criticized for its results-oriented and collateral damage-tolerant "Swift Resolution" doctrine.

Adams Precision Instruments

An electronics manufacturer based in Three Ravens, with a focus on very high-end sensors and related products for data-gathering in extreme environments.

AE

After Exodus. The modern era, beginning January 1st of the year that the total emigration rate from extrasolar colonies first outpaced emigration from Sol as the main driver of new colony-seeding activity. In recognition of the milestone this represented — humanity's cradle no longer comprising the center of its universe, at least in the logistical sense — the leadership of the UC, TGA, League of Post-Solar Powers, and most unaffiliated superpowers then extant convened at the JCA's headquarters and agreed by unanimous vote to commemorate humanity's successful transition to a starfaring species by initiating a new calendar starting with the Year 1 AE.

AFC

Allied Free Colonies. A second-tier, extrasolar superpower composed of a large federation of well-established, mostly-pacifist, mostly-Islamic colonies that have chosen to explicitly exclude themselves from both the benefits and obligations inherent in accepting the UC's freely-offered, "no purchase necessary" protection and general influence.

AFCS

Adaptive Fiber Camouflage System. A form of hybrid stealth/disguise technology that uses smart nanofibers to form an opaque cocoon around a ship. The fibers can bend and stretch to form any shape, allowing the cocoon take the appearance of an asteroid, wreckage, another sort of vessel, etc., and allow the ship within to escape notice or operate freely in hostile territory. Holographic projectors laced through the fibers complete the illusion in the visible spectrum. Although more convincing across a wider spectrum than other technology meant to achieve the same end with similar flexibility, working examples capable of fooling a determined military inspection are only suspected, not confirmed, to exist. Another limitation is that the smart fibers are too delicate to operate in any environment but vacuum.

AI

Artificial Intelligence.

Ailon

An upper-end consumer device manufacturer based in Ramses West. Noteworthy for generous warranty terms and unusually rugged products.

AllPass

A common and reasonably secure biometric identification system that allows contact-free purchasing, tracking, etc. The usage of AllPass in a colony or station is usually a good (but not fully reliable) indicator that the local rights framework places some emphasis on biometric privacy, but it is well-known to contain backdoors for use by law enforcement.

Amberius

CLASS IV. A yellow gas giant in the Noraza system, noteworthy for its unusually diverse biosphere.

AOCS

Adaptive Optical Camouflage System. A form of disguise technology that uses holographic projectors, sometimes in concert with active sensor interference measures, to hide or alter the appearance of something within a volume to be concealed, such as a ship, base, supply cache, etc. Most commonly used for hiding objects and areas on the surface of planets, moons, and other bodies from orbital observers.

Ares

CLASS I- Grade E. Fourth planet of Sol system: Mars. Was CLASS II before the launch of a pre-Exodus terraforming effort that remains ongoing, though it's regarded as unlikely to advance the planet above Grade E in the next century.

Arsenal Delta

A professional wootball franchise in the Orion Orange league. One of the oldest wootball franchises still in active competition. Main livery is red and white.

ASAN

Alliance of Sovereign Asian Nations. A first-tier, Terra-based superpower, and one of the first to flout the terms of the Outer Space treaties (some ASAN volume claims predate the beginning of the Exodus). Includes most of Terra's South Asian and Pacific Rim nations, with the notable exception of China, but mainly serves to unify their offworld interests rather than dissolving the borders between them, unlike a number of other global alliances formed during that period of history.

Autocooker

Any automated multipurpose food-preparation device. Available in many capacities under many brand names (although the original AutoCooker brand from which the generic term arose is now defunct). Most are broadly similar to fabricators, printing meals or meal components from a small selection of base materials and a wider range of nutritional and flavor-modifying supplements and then heating, cooling, combining, and otherwise manipulating them to produce the end product. Common aboard starcraft and isolated stations for space-saving reasons. Outputs are usually preferable to shelf-stable rations — when the machines are working properly, at least.

AutoDoc

Generic for any device able to both diagnose human health issues and administer treatment to some degree. Available technology in this class ranges from walk-up public clinic units capable of little more than dispensing basic medications all the way up to military field support units that can, if necessary, perform complex surgeries and cover months of follow-up care without human oversight.

Autotailor

A fabricator subtype optimized for clothing production. Used by nearly all clothing retailors (outside the very lowest- and highest-end establishments) to eliminate the need to stock pre-sized inventory and instead offer scan-fitted articles produced at the point of sale.

B

BE

Before Exodus. When not used in conjunction with a year, generally refers to the era before widespread hyperdrive availability when virtually all human activity was confined to Sol System. However, technically means "before the end of the Exodus," and so encompasses the pre-Exodus but post-hyperdrive period during which waves of hyperdrive-equipped, uncrewed probe fleets began to be dispatched from Sol (which continue to expand the outer limits of surveyed space), as well as the Exodus itself. When used in reference to a year, means that many years before 1 AE — so "40 BE" would mean forty years before the end of the Exodus, or roughly its beginning.

BHBC

British Hypercasting/Broadcasting Corporation.

Boarding Rifle

Any weapon chambered for rifle cartridges with a form factor specifically designed for use aboard ships, particularly in the area of length, and designed to accommodate usage by a spacesuited and/or armored operator both in and out of pressurized environments.

Boomcore

Electronic musical genre stemming from Boomstep (which see), the principal differences being increased tempo (165+ BPM) and a general lack of tonality.

Boomstep

Electronic musical genre characterized by syncopated rhythms in the 135-145 BPM range, complex structural experimentation, and particularly by the use of sampled recordings of extremely loud phenomena (sonic booms, gunfire, reactor failures, rocket launches, nuclear explosions, asteroid impacts, etc.) to convey the beat in place of some or all drums and other percussion. Some artists and purists — mostly those who were involved in the community's more purely experiential and experimental infancy, like Seminal DX — further restrict the definition by insisting that music can only be boomstep when played at the original volume of the events used for the beat, but (for an overwhelming catalog of safety-, practicality-, regulatory-, and ethics-related reasons) this is seldom achieved in practice.

BSW

Bethlehem Spaceworks. A major luxury consumer spacecraft manufacturer, based on Terra's moon, Luna. Conglomerate descended from a number of Terran car manufacturers with histories dating back several centuries BE.

Buoy

Any spaceborne satellite-like device intended mainly for communicating information to nearby spacecraft — for example, concerning local hazards to navigation, temporary customs requirements, quarantines, naval exclusion zones for live-fire exercises or weapons testing, or (for treaty-violating superpowers) laying sovereign claim to star systems and other volumes of space.

C

CAB13

CLASS IV. A large red gas giant, sole planet of the RT155U-CAB system, with an extensive ring system and 65 moons.

CAB13-M45

CLASS II. 45th moon of CAB13, originally host to unusually rich concentrations of several rare metals and minerals but mined so extensively that its mass was reduced by almost 15%.

Canary Station

A mid-sized orbital research station at Amberius (Noraza), whose well-publicized and unexplained destruction prompted Noraza's flagging as a CHCIV. Originally established purely as an exobiology center for the study of Amberius's novel gas-giant biosphere. Thanks, however, to a unique set of factors — unusual isolation without sacrificing reasonable proximity to a major UCN base, combined with natural anti-snooping coverage afforded by Amberius's particularly intense broad-spectrum radio emissions — Canary eventually attracted attention and substantial funding from corporations and institutions in need of a secure venue for exceptionally sensitive research. The resulting facility expansions took Canary from an original population of 48 to an eventual high (at the time of its loss) of 10,114.

Captain Paladin

Main character of a popular, century-spanning comics and other media franchise of the same name.

Cargo Sled

Any minimalist, unpressurized space vehicle. Typically used for ferrying spacesuited passengers and gear within a small radius around ships and stations for inspections, repairwork, etc.

Cassius

An inhabited star system. Site of a large UCN base and home port of the frigate Kettenburg, among many other ships.

CERT

Certification.

CHCIV

Critically Hazardous (Cause Indeterminate) Volume. A navigational warning flag applied to star systems and VOIs where colonies, space stations, or other city-scale infrastructure have disappeared or been utterly destroyed without identifiable, plausible cause. Flagging requires a full investigation by the JCA (which also manages the international database of such volumes) to rule out conventional causes. Although quite rare outside the realm of popular fiction and as yet unexplained, most volumes flagged as CHCIV do appear to pose real, repeatable hazards to human investigation — as attested by a long and growing catalog of confirmed post-flagging losses (mostly of unsanctioned independent research missions, both crewed and automated). Fully-compliant non-military flight computer software will not plot hyperspatial transits to, or near, volumes so flagged.

Claim-Jumping

The practice (long-suspected to be taking place, but not conclusively proven until the 58 Luz Dourada ICV case) of forcibly claiming a volume of space with other parties already present — typically, where the military forces of a volume-claiming superpower reach a system of interest after an ICV, but before the colonists have registered their arrival with the JCA via hypercast, and wipe out the colonists to cover up their presence and so clear the way to an undisputed volume claim.

Clarity

CLASS I+ Grade A. A hospitable planet in Storm's Eye, noteworthy for its incredibly diverse biosphere. Site of a SEORD facility. .

Cleaning Bot

Any robot intended for cleaning purposes. Common in both planetary colonies and ships/stations, but forms vary widely depending on application. In the context of ships and stations, usually refers specifically to sub-kilogram soft-bodied robots designed to squeeze through, and maintain, the many tiny volumes scattered throughout spacecraft and space stations that are effectively inaccessible outside of a well-equipped drydock. Most resemble overweight starfish with legs that end in sticky gecko-type climbing pads.

C-Lifter

Colony Lifter. Generic, non-technical term for many types of spacecraft employed in the initial infrastructure delivery and deployment phases of new colony-building, but typically refers to hyperdrive-equipped commercial shipping vessels larger than shuttles but still small (or robust) enough to land on a 1 gravity+ planet with atmosphere and return to orbit unassisted. Usage note: if speaking to a starcraft owner, operator, crew, etc., do not refer to the starcraft in question as a C-Lifter unless they use the term first, as it often carries negative/insulting connotations, even when a vessel arguably fits the description.

CMDS

Countermeasure Management/Deployment System.

CMS

Communication Management System.

CMSC

CMS Cluster.

Comms

Communicator, Communications, Communications Unit (etc.). Can refer to any device for transmitting or receiving data, but generally refers specifically to devices that enable one person to talk to another, especially as distinct from personal devices like hand terminals.

Cowboy-4

A 4th generation-plus single-seat starfighter manufactured by ExoHelix for interceptor and escort roles. Expensive on an up-front per-unit basis, but economical to operate, as well as reliable, versatile, and a favorite of pilots. Coveted by corporate and colonial defense forces for its extremely short launch-from-cold-start time (170 seconds for most variants). The Block 16 variant is likely the best commercially-available single-seat combat starcraft on the market, though it's matched or outclassed by most comparable 4th-gen-plus military fighters because of the gulf between commercially-available munitions, countermeasures, electronic offense and defense packages, and other combat systems and those fielded by most superpowers.

CPL

Certified Pilot's License.

Crash Field

Generic for any field-based system intended to safeguard an occupant, vehicle, or payload from impact and high-g damage in the event of a collision. Often single-use. Some rare, advanced versions can briefly mimic the effects of combat-grade inertial damping systems to preserve biological payloads in safety (though not comfort!) through short decelerations of thousands of gravities.

Crispin's Ice Cream

A popular, widespread restaurant chain known for gourmet ice cream and gelato.

Critically Hazardous (Cause Indeterminate) Volume

See CHCIV.

Crusaders

A small pirate organization, noteworthy for ignoring the survey data market, an unusually low rate of mortal collateral damage, and strong anti-corporate leanings.

CSAG

Coalition of South African Governments. A first-tier, non-territory-claiming Terran superpower formed by an unprecedented sweep of treaties just before the Exodus. Aggressively expansionist on the extrasolar front, but only by fully-legal colony seeding. The leader, by a substantial margin, in terraforming technology and practice, and second only to the UC in terms of resources dedicated to international humanitarian aid.

CURR

Current.

D

Deadface

A comms system mode where all receiving systems are fully disabled. A defensive measure against soft warfare attacks.

Deep Territory Outfitters

An equipment and apparel retail chain headquartered in Murata. Well-regarded for its range of planetside survival and emergency gear and highly successful in its target market of full-time space dwellers making the switch to join planet-bound ICVs.

Demolition Mech

Any powered exosuit or mech-like vehicle with wrecking or demolition applications. Ubiquitous and indispensable tools in early phases of colony-planting and remote-industry setup; key tactical assets for military and piratical operations alike.

DEPT

Department.

Dexei

Database Error 0xFF4E04 (Entry does not exist). Access attempt and UID logged.

DFGnoE

A boomstep artist. Favors found-sound samples obtained from mining operations.

Docking Umbilical

Any pressurizable device for linking two spaceborne vessels and/or stations airlock-to-airlock to allow passage by unprotected crew, particularly for emergency transfer applications.

Dreschirr-St. Francis

CLASS I Grade B/T+. A warm earthlike planet in the Grace-9 system, home to five low-to-mid-sized colonies founded by primarily Catholic ICVs.

Drone

In general, refers to robots that fly (as opposed to walk, roll, etc.). Most drones designed for non-weightless environments use repulsors for lift and jets or microfans for propulsion. Police forces almost always employ specially-equipped drones for rapid response and pursuit purposes. In the military sector, drones often fill infantry- and fighter/ship-support roles and may be equipped with substantial armaments themselves.

Drone, Limpet

A type of combat drone designed to make physical contact with enemy materiel (for example, a ship) and then reposition as necessary. Usually small, simple, deployed in large numbers, and designed to seek out, or create, defensive vulnerabilities for exploitation by other weapons/units rather than to inflict damage directly, especially in tactical situations where disablement is preferred.

E

Earl Hypershok

A non-carbonated energy drink flavored with blended black tea and bergamot, introduced by Twinings in Q1 62.

ECLI

Emergency Command Line Interface. A backup text-based input mode used by certain types of computer in cases of extreme damage or interface disruption.

EDM

Electromagnetic Disruption Munition (or Missile, in some contexts).

Emergency rations

Generic for food supplies that are packaged and processed for long-term storage. In the context of spacecraft and space stations, however, usually refers specifically to Emergency Compressed-Format Foodstuffs (ECFFs). ECFFs are engineered for the particular rigors of space travel, combining indefinite shelf life at any temperature up to 500 degrees Celsius with the highest calorie-per-volume achievable by modern chemistry. One standard crate of ECFFs will meet the complete minimum nutritional needs of one adult, not including water, for one legal year — or longer, as proven by a number of documented survival cases. Unfortunately, the trade-off for these virtues is a complete lack of flavoring and a texture closely resembling cardboard — unless water can't be spared for rehydration, in which case (while ingestion is still possible) it's nearer to high-density particleboard.

ENT

Entity.

Emmestanza

Second-largest landmass on Septima. Noteworthy for the vast and reasonably dangerous self-illuminated Nocte jungle, as well as the destination city of Phosphor.

Enzlanza

Entry not found. Did you mean:
Emmestanza, the second-largest landmass on Septima?
Enzo Elanza, Osiris Prime prime minister's cabinet leader from 52-Present?
EZ-LaxZA, an over-the-counter medication implicated in the death of instrumentalist Mohammed Clarke?

ESCE

Extenuating Survival Circumstance Exception(s). A set of regulations under international maritime law that protect individuals forced to make and carry out greater-good decisions with mortal consequences in emergency situations aboard starcraft and space stations. A refuge of first resort for murderers and profiteers since it was codified, but (due largely to stringent burden-of-proof requirements) seldom successfully abused.

EST

Estimate(d).

ETR

Estimated Time Remaining.

Exodus

The forty-year period of sudden, widespread, crewed space exploration and explosive colonization that followed the introduction of reliable, economical hyperdrive technology, when the bulk of Sol System's (and especially Terra's) population departed for extrasolar colonies. Over 100,000 systems were first visited by humans (and many more by their survey probes) during this time, and many tens of thousands of colonies were founded. Officially ended December 31st of the final year that total emigration from Sol to new extrasolar colonies outpaced that from established extrasolar colonies to new colonies. Sometimes called the "Great Exodus."

ExoHelix

A high-end starcraft manufacturer based in Osiris. Mostly serves the private, high-end small-craft sector, but has also enjoyed considerable success with its Bandit- and Cowboy-series fighter designs.

F

F6

A small security/patrol starcraft type built by RT Systems. Many variants. Cheap, economical to operate, and reliable, thus common. Fielded by numerous police forces, colonial defense units, and contract security outfits across Orion.

Fabricator

Any machine for manufacturing physical items directly from raw materials and simple component "vitamins" according to digital plans. Fabricators can be general-purpose (as are most consumer models) or specialized (as with most industrial units), but most can perform a wide variety of operations, including additive printing, milling, welding, heat-treating, stamping, folding, and vapor-deposition-coating, as well as component manipulation and assembly down to the micron scale (or smaller), and can (given the materials) craft items from clothing to simple electronics to starship components. Available sizes range from disposable palmtop units all the way up to massive spaceborne manufactories capable of printing two-mile superfreighters in situ. A ubiquitous feature of modern life and crucial to nearly all phases of colony-building.

FCS

Flight Computer System.

FDR

Flight Data Recorder. An air- or spacecraft's "black box" (though usually painted high-visibility orange).

Field

Any of several useful phenomena that can be broadly characterized as a projected energy-membrane with tailorable physical properties or effects, such as selective reflection or absorption of specific radiation spectra (as in the field-shells crucial for preventing excessive x-ray exposure aboard spacecraft during hyperspatial transits) or the containment of gas molecules above a specific size (as in patch fields and repulsors). All are extremely energy-intensive to induce and maintain.

Field-Plate

See G-Plate.

Filigree West

An inhabited star system home to a number of high-security corporate and private research stations.

First-Band [System]

Technically, any star system colonized mainly by emigrants from Sol during the Exodus — and thus host, or former host, to the oldest colonies — but usually refers to a specific list of about 3,200 systems that have enjoyed consistent growth since that time. Of the remainder, most were effectively abandoned for brighter prospects amidst the Second-Band Systems before 20 AE, leaving behind an extensive (and now extensively scavenged) catalog of unpopulated colonies known collectively as the Shell Belt. This wave of early colony abandonment (sometimes called the secondary or minor Exodus) is usually traced to the overoptimistic surveying frameworks and general urgency characteristic of the Exodus-era zeitgeist, which certainly produced numerous colonies with grave and poorly-foreseen long-term threats to self-sufficiency. For many First-Band colonies that eventually became part of the Shell Belt, however, the retention issues that ultimately led to abandonment stemmed not from outright threats to human habitation but rather to more mundane quality-of-life factors ranging from extreme seasonal weather to curiously determined local pests to unpleasant-smelling atmospheres.

Flight Computer

The core navigation and system management computer aboard a spacecraft. Most critically, responsible for the extraordinarily complex calculations necessary for hyperspatial transits. Despite the singular form, almost always refers to an extremely robust and well-distributed system of modular processing and storage components; even the lowest-cost economy models on the market can perform transit calculations with up to 50% component loss, and include multiple backup interface modes to allow pilot command inputs in emergency situations up to and including total loss of cockpit control systems.

Floor wand

A cleaning appliance similar to a vacuum cleaner, but combining wet-mop and sterilization features into the same cleaning head, which is long, narrow, and articulated for reaching under equipment.

FLT DECK

Flight Deck. The cockpit of an air- or spacecraft.

Flux

Database Error 0xFF4E04 (Entry does not exist). Access attempt and UID logged.

FPC

Fowler-Protski Confederacy. A large, notorious pirate organization. Suspected by GALPOL and other authorities to supply at least a tenth of all black-market survey data on the market.

FractalTask

A common personal assistant application.

FSOR

Federation of South Orion Republics. A third-tier, extrasolar, territory-claiming democratic superpower, founded on Aska (CLASS I+ Grade A) in the Ussio-P Beta system. Slow-growing and very isolationist to date, but its leadership's long-term intentions are a perennial matter of international concern because, despite its tier rating, the FSOR's military technology is widely considered to be on par with the leading Terran first-tier superpowers', and its navy has demonstrated extreme aggression toward uninvited visitors to its claimed volumes on many occasions.

G

Galactic Health Organization

See GHO.

GALPOL

The extrasolar (and much larger) branch of INTERPOL (Terra's International Criminal Police Organization).

Ganrat

Arms and munitions manufacturing mega-conglomerate headquartered in Germany (Terra, Sol), with production sites in 300+ other systems (plus an undisclosed number of development and testing facilities). Among the largest military contractors in operation. Its tiered system of colonial defense packages have dominated the commercial market since the mid-Exodus.

GDF

Genetic Divergence Factor. How close a person's genetic code is to "baseline human." Very significant for Gens if they're travelling or seeking a new home, since a high GDF could lead to them being treated as non-human, or even as a non-person, depending on the location. Must be assessed on an individual basis, in theory, but abuses and false reporting are common in Gen-hostile communities. GDF thresholds are set by colony communities as part of the basis for determining whether Gens are "human" for legal purposes — a measure frequently abused, especially in small/remote colonies with substantial high-need Gen populations.

Gen

Technically, any human whose genes substantially diverge from "baseline human." In general usage, any human whose genetics give them visible or otherwise observable non-human feature(s) or abilities. The standard for what comprises "substantial" divergence varies by jurisdiction, but is typically around 0.25% Genetic Divergence Factor, or GDF (necessary as most people now living carry some minor degree of genetic modification resulting from the spread of various historical cancer and hereditary disease "patches"). Of more concern to Gens — who in virtually all contemporary cases are descendants of Gens and had no agency in their personal genetic makeup — is where their community sets the GDF threshold that divides humans from non-humans, since exceeding that threshold usually has serious implications for their legal status.

Most Gen lines (or "Strains") have proved to carry serious long-term genetic defects, so most Gens have specialized health needs and predispositions to serious and rare or otherwise unknown cancers and metabolic, endocrine, neurological, and/or psychological disorders. During the Exodus, these issues made Gens unpopular in struggling colonies, where their health issues were viewed as too burdensome to risk where medical supplies were already precious. Advances in technology and the general colonial supply chain have rendered this complaint largely moot, but the prejudice persisted long enough to become deeply embedded in colonial culture, and Gens and Gen interest groups have been fighting an uphill battle ever since against the perception of Gens as unstable, unreliable, sickly resource-sinks, untrustworthy and violence-prone.

The catastrophic legacy of Exodus-era anti-Gen sentiment and legislation is widespread and only gradually being reversed. Civil rights granted to Gens vary by jurisdiction and run the gamut from full rights down to legal status on par with pets, or even livestock. Examples — both historical and contemporary — of high-GDF Gen communities losing their employment, homes, and savings after local threshold revisions revoked their legal personhood are sadly common and a major driver of ongoing tensions. Although many authorities, including the UC and TGA, offer human-equivalent rights to Gens in theory, the HumanCommons standard rights framework in use by most colonies is carefully ambivalent on the subject, and enforcement varies wildly in practice. The result is that Gens are severely disadvantaged, and often actively oppressed, in most localities — a situation exacerbated (in the view of non-Gen authorities) by a long-running history of high-profile terrorist actions by, or at least attributed to, various Gen-rights groups.

Given the particularly thorny ethical issues surrounding human genetic modification beyond the realm of strictly therapeutic applications, the practice has been heavily restricted (where not banned entirely) by most governing bodies since before the Exodus, and no entirely novel Gen Strains have been created since about 30 AE — largely because the last noteworthy fully-novel Strain, RA/P Delta-12, killed 9,589 out of 9,592 voluntary participants within 5 years of undergoing the transformative therapy, despite the Strain's full compliance with all GHO regulations and guidance for development and clinical testing. Most Gen populations now living — or, in most cases, gradually dying out — are the results of experimental efforts or aesthetic-slavery operations banned under present legislation (few of which were actually legal at the time of execution, either). Note that (profoundly unsafe) black market "personal transformation" genetic-rewrite offerings, while technically pushing recipients' GDFs into the Gen range, do not comprise Gen Strains because they are not fully passed to offspring — in the rare cases when offspring are still a possibility post-treatment.

GHO

Galactic Health Organization. The direct descendent of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Terra.

Glue Grenade

Any type of nonlethal airburst munition that deploys a sticky, rapid-set, strand-forming liquid (for example, polymer resin, plastic/glass emulsions, or psuedosilk) with the goal of immobilizing its target. Commonly carried by security forces and police, as well as their drones. Distinct from (and safer than) foam-type capture munitions.

G-plate

Colloquial for the flat-form pseudogravitation generators used aboard stations and starships to provide a convenient source of weight, as opposed to the conventional approach of achieving this with centripetal acceleration (which is less agreeable to many individuals and severely limiting for station and spacecraft design).

Gray Legion

Database Error 0xFF4E04 (Entry does not exist). Access attempt and UID logged.

Gunbuddy

Slang for Personal Protection Drone (PPD), a class of light combat support device. Most colonies, especially within the UC, classify PPDs as restricted semi-autonomous armaments and therefore outlaw them for civilian usage — while at the same time military, paramilitary, and licensed security groups with access to full-capability combat support drones seldom bother fielding them — which has given them a (not entirely unfair) reputation as weapons employed exclusively by criminals, pirates, and spies.

H

Hand Terminal

A pocket-sized personal computing/recording/storage device, typically card- to hand-sized and having one or more displays. Hand terminals are available from hundreds of manufacturers in a good-as-infinite variety of configurations, but most include both a flatscreen and a holo projector, voice, gesture, motion, and touch inputs, voice, video, and holo recorders, a variety of networking capabilities, a hypercast receiver, and substantial onboard processing and storage capacity.

Halcyon

A premier consumer electronics manufacturer, especially of hand terminals and other worn tech. Based in Osiris.

Haven [System]

Any star system whose interstellar surroundings (or other phenomena) make it difficult to detect (or navigate safely into) by conventional means. Very rare, and those containing useful planets even moreso. Exclusive rights to navigation data for such systems are extremely valuable.

HDUHF

High-Dimensional Ultrahigh Frequency. A type of hypercast transmission.

Hermes

A popular messaging account service with a wide range of feature offerings, including one of the best fee-free subscription options available.

HIC

Heads-up Instrument Cluster. Generally, a holo overlay within a ship's cockpit to supply a pilot with critical information.

Hi-Secure

Trade name for a line of extremely robust hatches, locking systems, and storage solutions manufactured by RGGM International.

Hollowdog Core

A children's cartoon concerning Detective Hollow D. Dog and sidekick ChowCow, who investigate various mysteries and crimes (usually perpetrated by one of the show's large stable of recurring villains, such as Professor Sledge, Droid 13, and the Sniggler) in the spun-asteroid habitat of Core.

HWTU

Hyperwave Transmission Unit. A type of hypercast transmitter.

Hypercast

Generic term for communications transmitted through the higher spatial dimensions. These are significantly faster than light, but neither instantaneous nor unlimited in range. Producing hypercast transmissions requires enormous signal-generating arrays and stupendous amounts of power. Most colonies and other major population centers maintain at least a pair of transmitters for hypernet access (assuming nobody else is already running some within a few light-seconds), but outside large naval vessels and deep survey units, few starcraft are large enough or mount sufficient generator capacity to accommodate one. Hypercast receivers, on the other hand, are small enough to be part of many types of handheld devices, and broadcasters across Orion provide one-way streams of content ranging from free entertainment, news, and educational programs to subscription-based data and messaging feeds.

Hyperdrive

Short for "Hyperspatial Ballistic Drive". Any type or combination of systems installed in a spacecraft capable of displacing itself and everything physically attached to it into a ballistic trajectory along the fourth spatial axis.

Colloquially, a hyperdrive enables a ship to "jump to hyperspace" and travel at considerable multiples of lightspeed, but both aspects of this description are misleading. In the first place, a hyperdrive does not transport a ship "into hyperspace" as though hyperspace were another place (since all physical matter is already in hyperspace, just like it's already in the first three dimensions), but rather applies the necessary energy to overcome the hyperspatial boundary limit that tends to keep all matter in the visible universe at the same displacement on the hyperspatial axis (that is, the "zero" displacement defining the hypersurface HØ along which our universe is distributed), as well as to achieve sufficient initial velocity along that axis to achieve one or more oscillations around zero before locking back in again (or, colloquially, "dropping out of hyperspace"). In the second place, it is not the hyperdrive itself that produces fast travel around the physical universe: a hyperdrive is designed to move an object exactly perpendicular to the first three dimensions, and so to achieve no visible displacement whatsoever. Rather, by displacing a ship away from the hyperspatial zero-level, a hyperdrive causes a ship's existing velocity and vector in the first three dimensions to be effectively multiplied, since those dimensions become increasingly compressed (except near sources of gravity) with increasing positive or negative hyperspatial displacement, at least to a point.

The topology of the inter-universe volumes to either "side" of the HØ hypersurface is so complex — being influenced by all sources of mass distributed along it and their relative motion, along with all sources of mass in both neighboring antimatter universes (H+1 and H-1) and numerous other considerations — that ballistic transits through those volumes require such intricate navigational calculations over such massive volumes of data that processors and storage sufficient to the task did not exist at all until about a century BE, and took another thirty years to shrink enough to put in a spacecraft.

Hypernet

Colloquial term for the Galactic Information Exchange (GIE) or Galaxy-Wide Web (GWW) (though the latter term is sometimes criticized as premature, human civilization itself being far from galaxy-spanning at present). Sprawling granddaughter of the original Terra-bound Internet and functionally similar in the broadest sense (more similar, in fact, than its nominal parent, the seldom-lauded lightspeed-limited SolNet), although its underlying architecture and prevailing usage trends are both heavily shaped by considerations arising from hypercast lag between server clusters in different star systems (which generally ranges from hours to days) and lightspeed lag between server clusters and locally-served access points.

Hyperspace

The next spatial dimension after height, width, and depth. Human senses and experience are limited to the first three dimensions — we are unable to see objects that are displaced more than a tiny distance away from our own position on the hyperspatial axis — so the topography of hyperspace is more difficult to explain.

The usual explanation of our universe within its higher-dimensional context begins by removing two axes, leaving length and hyperspace: in this view, our universe is a one-dimensional line drawn along the bottom of a circular trough, and the trough is just one such in a whole circular washboard of concentric troughs and ridges — the bottom of each trough being a complete, distinct universe composed mainly of matter, and the top of each ridge being one composed mainly of antimatter, with the slopes dividing them representing (roughly) both the degree of spatial compression encountered between universes and the resistance encountered to moving "sideways" (or radially) along the hyperspatial axis to climb out of a trough (for normal matter) or fall away from a ridge (for antimatter)*. Add one axis, and this circular-washboard-multiverse becomes an onion-multiverse, with each spherical layer representing a distinct physical universe, alternating matter and antimatter; add another, and we are close as most people can imagine to the true state of things — three-dimensional universes condensed along four-dimensional hypersurfaces, nested like an infinite (or at least presumed infinite by most theories) set of hyperdimensional Russian dolls, with the spaces between being the volumes through which hyperdrive-equipped ships rise and fall again on each pendulum-swing of their ballistic transit-trajectories.

* These "between-universe" slopes are a result of topology in spatial dimensions above the fourth, but those are beyond the scope of this glossary.

Hyzedo

A Terra-based high-end personal vehicle manufacturer.

I

ICV

Independent Colony Venture. A group of colonists who have legally committed, and pooled the necessary funding, to found a new colony without financial support from, or other sponsorship by, a power or superpower.

The ICV model slightly predates the Exodus, before which time corporations sponsored most non-government-backed colonization. However, most corporate-backed colonies — often staffed on harsh lease-and-repay financial models — collapsed before 35 BE due to profitability, public-relations, and retention issues. The hypernet made it impossible for corporations to hide problematic living conditions at their colony sites from the public or the surfeit of better, obligation-free arrangements from their staff. The nail in the coffin for profit-driven colonization models arrived when open-source advances in automated remote manufacturing helped the burgeoning commercial colony-building industry drive the full cost of founding a new 2,500-family colony — including nav data and surveys for a virgin CLASS I at Grade C or better, all housing and production infrastructure, 3 LY of supplies, and enough new C-Lifters to carry the lot — below one average adult's yearly income per family share. As a result, the vast majority of ICVs from the early Exodus onward have been entirely independently funded, with most of the small remainder sponsored by religious groups and NGOs.

Per data from an independent census taken in 55, 97% of ICVs register their charters and proof-of-arrival data with the JCA to ensure protection under international claim law, and 92% register at the time of founding to join the UC, with another 5% joining within 5 LY.

ID

Identifier.

IDEA

Interengine Duct Engagement Actuator. A hyperdrive part that helps control coolant flow for certain subassemblies.

Immersive Media

Media, created by any of a variety of devices/effects/systems, that can give a participant a convincing multisensory illusion that they are part of whatever is being displayed. Although extremely immersive neural interface-based systems exist, noninvasive Immersive Media systems that can be stepped into — and out of — at will are most popular. Gaming rigs occupy a wide middle ground in this arena, combining convincing but noninvasive audio/visual/motion simulations with arrays of reconfigurable appendages to provide the user with tactile feedback and interaction with the simulated environment, controls, etc.

Inertial Damper

A system that mitigates the effects of forces due to acceleration within its effective volume by using fields to selectively apply counterforces such that all masses therein may continue moving relative to one another as though their containing frame were stationary. In spacecraft, allows for acceleration rates that would be otherwise deadly for crewmembers without total fluid immersion and cavity-packing. Installations capable of compensating for more than a few gravities require extensive scanning capabilities and massive processing resources to be usable on live subjects and are regarded as high-risk for that application even by most militaries, which, coupled with their massive power requirements, means they are seldom found anywhere apart from combat spacecraft and specialized high-speed high-value cargo carriers.

Infusion Patch

A stick-on patch with a large array of microneedles that allow medicine and fluids to be transferred through the skin to a patient's bloodstream as easily as a single needle, but in a more easily applied/removed package.

International Claim Law

The section of modern international maritime law concerning extrasolar volume and body claims — instituted to regulate the practice without actually contradicting the longstanding illegality of such claims under the old UN and current TGA's Outer Space Treaties — as well as related and undisputedly legal issues like colonial boundaries and extraction rights.

While convoluted in its particulars, the core tenets of International Claim Law, known collectively as the Right of First Substantive Claimant, are straightforward: no volume of space or extrasolar body may be claimed as property or territory unless it is not and has never been populated by humans; and furthermore, no volume or body may be so claimed except by a living, human representative at the coordinates in question. Also significant is its blanket denial of claims by individuals, corporations, etc., as it states that no volume or body claim shall be recognized or legally enforceable by any entity but a TGA-, JCA-, or UC- recognized governing body.

International Claim Law is credited as one of the biggest factors in the ongoing success of nation-less colonization, as registered colony-founding by ICVs legally blocks any superpower from claiming the containing body or volume. (Note that colony-founding does not (and may not) comprise a volume or body claim in itself.)

International Maritime Law

In modern usage (that is, not in a context exclusive to Terra's oceans), a body of international law governing public and private rights, duties, disputes, and other issues in the context of extrasolar space and operations therein. Analogous to a combination of Terra's Law of the Sea and Admiralty Law, but somewhat further-reaching as it continues to be expanded and adapted (through ongoing efforts between the TGA and its members, JCA, and UC) to address the issues and complexities particular to multinational and nation-less interstellar spacefaring and colonization. Applies in most spacefaring contexts apart from those in volumes claimed by the handful of powers that prefer to reject or override its stipulations in whole or in part. Of particular importance is its section defining International Claim Law, as well as the ESCE stipulations covering emergency survival situations.

IronCore

A dance club in Phosphor on Septima. Started in the sub-basement of a skyscraper, but was later detached from the building's structure and equipped with automated excavation systems to shift itself about five hundred feet deeper in response to noise complaints; a subsequent shift to boomstep as its music of choice has prompted a series of additional complaints concerning both noise and structural damage, which the owners have addressed by progressively sinking the club further still. The club is currently sited over 6,000 feet below the surface — and continues to draw complaints.

Irrinus

A second-band star system containing Septima, among several other planets.

ISC

Intersystem Craft. Generic term for hyperdrive-equipped starcraft.

J

JCA

Joint Colonial Authority. International, neutral recordkeeping and certifying authority for colony-founding claims; maintains the public databases in which independent colony ventures must lodge evidence of where and when they met the legal definition of colony-founding to enjoy legal protection under international claim law against counterclaims by territory-claiming powers. Also mediates international legal considerations between the UC and the TGA, maintains the international standards for weights and measures, and oversees the units tasked with investigating potential CHCIVs and maintaining the public database thereof, among other functions. Founded in the early Exodus following jurisdictional negotiations between the nascent UC and the old United Nations just prior to its restructuring into the TGA.

JDRIVE

Jump Drive. Alternate term for Hyperdrive.

Jephron Range

CLASS I- Grade F. The oldest First-Band colony founded on a Grade F still in existence today. Sometimes used as a byword for "the farthest reaches of inhabited space" (despite its proximity to Sol) or in opposition to Osiris Prime to encompass "people from all places and walks of life", as well as in reference to someone sticking out senselessly difficult conditions without expectation of eventual relief or reward.

Jetbike

Modern descendent of the motorcycle, with repulsors replacing tires.

JV

Joint Venture.

K

Kapuseru Capsule Hotel

A minimalist, low-cost, overnight-only hotel on Lumen Station Six in Yangtze Beta. Operated by an American couple notorious for ejecting guests who ask about the name.

L

LIC

License.

Lightwood

Semi-legendary forest of Sekken, home to the Lightwood-genus trees capable (by means as yet unknown) of siphoning electrical energy from generators, batteries, etc., with no detectable physical connection and at a surprising distance to supplement their otherwise unremarkable photosynthetic processes for growth. As well-abused a subject in popular fiction as it is unpopular to visit in actual fact.

LLCEP

Limited Liability Chartered Extraction Partnership. A type of corporate tax structuring used by offworld mining companies.

LOC

Location.

Lock Screen

Any multi-function display used to control a powered hatch or door (as are common on ships and space stations, for instance).

LRI

License, Registration, and Itinerary.

LSCS

Lumen Station Six Child Services.

LSPD

Lumen Station Six Police Department.

Luminous Spinewood

Tree species native to Septima, noteworthy for its bioluminescent bark and inspiration for the well-known aesthetic of Phosphor.

Luz Dourada

An ICV massacred at Harmonia Profunda-12 by an ACUN volume-claim detachment in early 58. The ACU, whose military strategists had identified Harmonia Profunda-12 as a top-priority claim target, issued statements that its forces had checked the system some weeks after Luz Dourada failed to register with the JCA on time and claimed the volume after finding no evidence the colonists' convoy ever arrived. The actual events — the ACU's vessels dropping after Luz Dourada's and launching an overwhelming, devastating attack within seconds of detection — were brought to light by the seven colonists who survived (out of 21,481) to bring a damaged hypercast transmitter back online and stream the evidence to the JCA, leading to the first proven case of claim-jumping by a first-tier superpower.

The incident sparked lasting international outrage. Footage from the JCA court proceedings — especially the seven Luz Dourada survivors' testimonies before the court and the Martian array of high-level military and executive defendants — dominated the news cycle for months. Ultimately the ACU was subjected to massive penalties and paid enormous restitutions to the survivors; however, it continues to deny any wrongdoing in prior instances where it had claimed volumes targeted by ICVs purported (as was initially suspected in Luz Dourada's case) to have suffered failed transits — and to deny independent investigation of those volumes for evidence to the contrary. Even so, the case prompted a mass re-opening by the JCA of other suspect ICV disappearances in an investigation whose sheer scale makes it unlikely to culminate in formal charges for at least a decade.

LY

Legal Year. Defined by the JCA as the 365.25 (24-hour) day orbital period of Terra to provide a consistent unit across all star systems and planets for such uses as defining a human's age for medical and licensing purposes, calculating financial interest, and scheduling taxes.

M

M9.8-2122

An uninhabited binary star system.

Mad Wok

A family-owned pan-Asian restaurant that operated on Canary Station in Noraza prior to its destruction.

MAG

Magnitude.

Mag-Boot

Magnetic boot. Any type of footwear with adjustable electromagnetic plate(s) in the soles to enable the wearer to stand and walk (after a fashion) on ferromagnetic surfaces in microgravity, usually controlled with heel-mounted switches.

Mag-Grapple

Magnetic grapple. Common tool for working in microgravity, both inside and outside of pressurized environments; employed for anchoring, tethering, self-rescue, and as a mobility aid. Most mag-grapples include a lightweight grapple head containing an electromagnet on the end of between a hundred and a thousand meters of wire on a motorized reel, but many variations exist.

MDX Osiris

A professional wootball franchise in the Orion Orange league, based out of Theris in Osiris. Main livery is red and black.

Mech

In general, any type of large machine or vehicle equipped with legs for mobility, as opposed to wheels, tracks, repulsors, etc.

MIN

Minimum.

Misha's Pirates

A popular, long-running drama/comedy concerning the misadventures of Misha (self-proclaimed Pirate Queen of all Orion) and her enormous crew of misfit robots, whose talent for effortlessly annihilating every GALPOL, military, and colonial defense force arrayed against them is matched only by their capacity for self-sabotage and the accidental betterment of their victims' lives as they seek to pillage and plunder every colony, station, and organ of government they run across.

N

Nanoscale Distributed Device

See NDD.

NDB

Navigation Database. In the context of flight computers, a very large set of information describing charted star systems — and the gulfs of never-quite-empty space between them — in sufficient detail (for example, the locations, masses, shapes, and complete orbital calculations for all objects over a certain mass threshold in a system, the system's overall velocity and vector relative to the galactic core and its expected trajectory as influenced by other significant sources of gravitation over the foreseeable future, the densities and distributions of dust, gas, and various particles within and around it, and so on — along, of course, with all the mundane details of human activity therein) to enable accurate computation of hyperspatial ballistic trajectory solutions for transiting from one system to another. Data on star systems is updated constantly by numerous organizations; the most common edition in use is the free and reasonably complete OpeNDB. As OpeNDB is only regarded as acceptably safe for transits within the bounds of well-colonized space, however, a ferociously competitive market also exists for subscription-based proprietary navigation databases. Survey data for completely unexploited systems is a stunningly valuable commodity in the present economy — exclusive data-access options for promising systems' charts are coveted by colony ventures, territory-claiming superpowers, and corporations alike, and often sell for millions ($UC) at auction. Rumors also abound concerning a secret and profoundly exclusive black market for the trade of data on otherwise undiscovered systems hidden by dust clouds, star nurseries, and other interstellar phenomena — that is, "Haven" systems where anyone with the data could expect to operate without interference from competitors, authorities, etc. — for which purported sales seldom dip below the billion ($UC) mark.

NDD

Nanoscale Distributed Device. Most commonly refers to surveillance, tracking, and/or detection-tasked nanotech "mite" devices, but technically includes any type of unanchored microscopic device with data storage, sensing, and/or processing capabilities intended for bulk/swarm deployment. Heavy and widespread adoption of the technology was, sadly, not convincingly linked to a general rise in a bevy of health issues ranging from birth defects to long-latency lung cancer until well into the Exodus, resulting in one of the worst public health crises in history. NDDs are currently banned or heavily restricted for nonmilitary use in most population centers, and the remains of spent NDDs are classed by the Galactic Health Organization as an environmental contaminant requiring the same cleanup precautions as asbestos, heavy-metal and/or radioactive dust, etc. The GHO estimates that litigation, cleanup, and health treatment costs related to NDDs exceeded a trillion dollars ($UC) within a decade of the UC's first civil-usage ban recommendation.

Noraza

A remote star system with five planets, including the CLASS IV Amberius.

Nova Systems

A software development conglomerate based in Remus Prime.

NRU

Network Routing Unit.

NSCaF

A phenomenally effective dermal repair and reconstruction pharmaceutical. Restricted under current NDD bans to military usage only, but often available from black market sources at outrageous markups.

Nutro-Rekovr machine

Trade name for an appliance for recovering all nutritional traces from used eating utensils, dishes, etc., and processing them into usable autocooker ingredients where possible, or hydroponic plant food otherwise. Common aboard stations and spacecraft.

NZHP

Non-Zero Human Presence.

O

OOOOOOMF

OI-OI-OI-OI-OI-OUT-ME-FACE. A British punkbang group (57-present) from New North Birmingham on Blasken (CLASS I Grade B) in C-Aster 7.

OOS

Onboard Operating System.

Osiris [Prime]

CLASS I+ Grade A. A colonized planet in the system of the same name (technically, Osiris Prime is the planet and Osiris is the system, but these names are used interchangeably). One of the most populous systems outside Sol, and a major cultural influence since the Exodus.

Osiris Riots

A series of violent civic disturbances across a number of stations and cities in Osiris that took place in 58-59, mainly prompted by the Kendu Clinical Center bombing by Gen-Rights group GRAP in 58 and exacerbated by a string of follow-up attacks by GRAP and other groups with significantly divergent goals.

OTH

Over The Horizon (detection). A long-range scanning mode for planetary-surface use, typically made possible by either satellite monitoring or networks of pre-deployed support drones.

P

Palmlock

Generally, any locking system that uses biometric information obtainable from the human hand (including skin prints, subdermal structure, and/or DNA) as its key. In the context of weapons, a lock built into the grips of a gun that allows only the owner and/or others designated by the owner to arm or fire it; a ubiquitous feature on small arms fielded by militaries and paramilitary groups.

PanCol

Trade name for a type of network-enabled nanotech hair dye. Recently banned by UC NDD legislation.

Patch field

An application of field technology that creates an energy-based gas seal. One-shot, small-area devices are common in spacesuit emergency kits, but vacuum-rated patch fields larger than the decimeter scale are so energy-demanding (and such negligible proof against physical hazards) that they are almost never found in permanent installations in place of more conventional doors, hatches, windows, etc.

PBIT

Periodic Built-In Test. A type of computer system diagnostic run repeatedly during operation to detect faults that might arise from damage, radiation, hostile activities, and other unexpected conditions.

PDLG

Point Defense Laser Grid. A system of controllers, sensors, and high-output lasers used by starcraft to automatically identify and destroy incoming threats such as debris (under normal circumstances) or missiles (in combat).

Pegasus

A consumer electronics manufacturer, especially of hand terminals, drones, and appliances. Based in Trinity South.

Phosphor

The "City of Lights" on Septima, widely renowned for its nightlife, extravagant public festivals, and unhealthy cuisine.

Pilothouse

A warfare/strategy simulation game, with a focus on space combat scenarios from the dogfight level up through interstellar-scale fleet combat. Well-known for its veracity, competitive leagues, and usage as a training platform by numerous militaries.

PlazBomber Andromeda

An arcade-style video game for hand terminals wherein the player controls a spaceship charged with defending the Milky Way from an alien invasion from Andromeda.

PMCS

Power Management Core System. The main network of controllers in charge of a ship's generators.

PPC

Primary Policing Charter. Indicates that a particular police force is a local authority's main law-enforcement agency, as opposed to contract security.

ProgBoom

Electronic musical genre stemming from Boomstep (which see), with the principal differences being decreased tempo (115-125 BPM) and the inclusion of vocal tracks (generally of screaming).

PROX

Proximity.

PTR

Permission To Release (request).

Pulsegun

Generic for any rifle- or (rarely) pistol-type weapon that discharges laser or maser energy in short charged pulses.

Q

R

RadFlush

Trade name for a type of medication that combats and (in large part) repairs the damaging effects of radiation on the human body. Available as an over-the-counter drug almost everywhere; a basic necessity for anyone who lives or works in space, especially developing children.

REF

Reference.

Repulsor

A refined application of patch field technology that employs a low-density field membrane to produce a higher-pressure volume between itself and the ground, allowing for fan-less levitation. Among the lowest-power-consumption applications of fields currently in use, but far from efficient, and generally limited to maximum displacement heights of about thirty meters.

RGGM International

A manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Allah's Spear, with a focus on difficult-to-fabricate spaceship and space station components.

RooshRoosh

A boomstep artist best known for their siege-themed piece Wedding Suite in G (not because the track attracted large numbers of fans as such, but because it became a perennial ceremony-destroying favorite of pranksters, jilted exes, and assorted malcontents across Orion, most famously when anarchist Sergei Ronald used it to simultaneously deafen over six thousand attendees at Queen Julie's wedding jubilee in 49).

RT Systems

A general starcraft manufacturer based in Aphemis White, with manufacturing facilities in about a hundred systems overall. Major supplier of colony venture support vessels in every class.

RT155U-CAB

An isolated, currently-uninhabited star system, noteworthy only for playing host to a brief and unusually aggressive resource-rush that was the catalyst for a legal battle over the distinction between mining and actual theft-by-degrees of extrasolar bodies that has been smoldering, unresolved, in the JCA court system for the twenty years since.

S

SBIT

Startup Built-In Test. A type of computer system diagnostic run at startup to detect pre-existing faults.

Second-Band [System]

Any star system colonized primarily by colonists from First-Band Systems (as opposed to those from Sol), generally (but not necessarily) during the Exodus.

Sekken

CLASS I Grade B. Only colonized planet in the remote star system of the same name, noteworthy as the home of Lightwood forest and of the secretive research and development division of upper-end starcraft and propulsion manufacturer Kydet Starcraft.

Sentinel

CLASS II-. Sulfurous yellow moon of Clarity. .

Seminal DX

A boomstep artist. One of the earliest promoters of the genre. Developed an allergy to UnBoom and is now completely deaf, although many fans consider his post-hearing compositions to be his best work.

SEORD

Storm's Eye Offensive Research and Development. A highly secretive weapons technology manufacturer thought to carry out most of its product testing in the otherwise-unknown haven system of Storm's Eye.

Septima

CLASS I Grade A. A colonized planet, home to the destination city of Phosphor, in the Irrinus system.

SEQ

Sequence.

Shell Belt

The widely-scattered set of star systems that contain one or more abandoned First-Band colonies. Originally garnered a justified reputation as the realm of outlaws, pirates, and scavengers, but decades of industrious activity by the latter and determined anti-piracy sweeps by the UC and various superpowers have combined to eliminate any reasonable justification for living or operating (legally or illegally) in Shell Belt systems — which is hardly to say the Shell Belt as a whole is, or is ever likely to be, fully abandoned. Hopeful, and occasionally successful, treasure hunters, historians, and explorers continue to sift the Shell Belt for unscavenged Exodus-era colonies, bases, caches, and dumpsites, especially those related to unregistered and "lost" colonies or which are otherwise tied to any of a vast bevy of conspiracy theories and general deep-net folklore. A popular setting for fiction and nonfiction across all sorts of media.

Shock-Rifle

A low-power energy projector that fires spectacular-looking but harmless bolts of light. A staple of carnival shooting galleries and live-action "survival games."

Sholem Alpha

A remote and heavily-defended star system claimed by Israel early in the Exodus and built up since into a major military manufacturing hub.

SIG

Signature.

Sisyphus 4

CLASS I- Grade E. A colonized, but not hospitable, planet in the Gift-4 system, noteworthy (or notorious) as the cradle of the boomstep genre of music.

Spacer's Friends

Brand-name herbal lozenges formulated and packaged specifically for use aboard spacecraft to combat nausea and other symptoms induced by weightlessness.

Speeder

Any aircraft for planetside use that relies on repulsors to achieve flight.

Spencer Spacecraft Ltd.

A very old Terran British starcraft manufacturer; instrumental in the pre-Exodus and early Exodus years, but defunct as of 11 BE.

SPSC

Self-Positioning Shipping Container. A generic class of shipping containers with basic vacuum navigation and maneuvering capabilities.

Standard Habitability Scale, The

The JCA's planetary classification scheme, which assigns nonstellar bodies a CLASS from I to V to denote their general suitability for human habitation based on their surface conditions. CLASS I requires that humans be able to survive without protective equipment, beyond weather-appropriate clothing, on most of a planet's surface. CLASS II denotes surface conditions requiring at least one form of protective equipment for human survival on the surface, although examples range from quite comfortable (+) rated low-oxygen worlds to extremely dangerous (-) rated volcanic moons. CLASS III denotes unsurvivable surface conditions for any reasonable protective technology, which usually results from high gravity but can also come from extremes of pressure or surface chemistry or even (rarely) unusually aggressive native life or diseases. CLASS IV denotes planets without a well-defined surface on which to attempt surviving, including but not limited to gas and ice giants (but excluding earthlike but landmass-less waterworlds). CLASS V covers all other bodies, particularly those so small that they present no discernable habitation challenges distinct from survival in open space.

The CLASS rating is designed to be obtainable from minimal survey efforts (to facilitate rapid cataloguing by exploratory missions) — generally a few orbits and a handful of remote landings can provide enough data — but this does mean that the CLASS rating alone is a poor yardstick for whether a planet can support long-term human habitation. For example, a CLASS I could have amenable surface conditions for human survival, and yet be so resource-poor, unstable, or otherwise dangerous that no colony could reasonably expect to achieve a comfortable, sustainable existence there. For this reason, CLASS Is can be (but don't have to be) subjected to a much deeper, long-term set of surveys to assign a secondary Grade (A through F) to denote their actual suitability for colonization based on a massive set of well-known factors. Survey data for ungraded CLASS Is can sometimes be had at deep markdowns on the data market, but no legitimate ICV will actually land prior to conducting or obtaining the survey effort required for the Grade rating, at minimum.

Starfest

A summer holiday, generally observed July 7 but sometimes aligned with a colony's local year, that celebrates extrasolar colonization. Staples include carnival games, a "Tastes of a Thousand Colonies" feast with signature dishes from colonies across Orion and Perseus (seldom a full thousand, but colonies that can muster that number usually take great pride in the fact), and, where celebrated on stations or ships, a "Lifting Hour" at noon where all public spaces' artificial gravity is disabled for an hour of communal games in microgravity.

Stealth

In the context of spacecraft, denotes any combination of hardware, software, and hull geometry designed to make a craft difficult or impossible to detect across a wide spectrum of scanners, at least at sufficient range. Stealth systems are (in general) most effective at shrouding small-to-mid-sized spacecraft from detection by other spacecraft, and less effective against high-resolution scanning systems on stations and other large spaceborne platforms. Against the latter (and discounting more conventional ways of avoiding detection, such as ship-shadowing), most stealth systems are limited by optical observability to an effective range of between 50 and 100 kilometers, depending on the density of the stellar background against which the spacecraft must approach the observer. In general, stealth-capable spacecraft have limited loiter times (from hours to days) dictated by the thermal capacity of their TSS installations, and must substantially (if temporarily) reduce their stealthiness in order to maneuver, communicate, deploy weapons or countermeasures, or use non-passive scanners. Furthermore, no technology is currently known to exist to mask the signatures of hyperspatial jumps or drops.

Storm's Eye

A haven system located somewhere in the region, containing the planets of Clarity and Ward. Nav data is owned and controlled by SEORD, which operates at least one facility there.

Superfreighter

In general, any intersystem bulk freighter over one kilometer in length.

Superpower

Any government/power that meets certain thresholds for overall volume of influence (whether via volume-claiming or colony-seeding) and military capabilities. In general, to enter the ranks of the superpowers at the fourth tier, a government or equivalent body must be the dominant influence over at least twenty well-colonized systems and be able to police and administer all system-adjacent volumes within that space. (Note that control of interstellar space and/or controlling all VOIs within a given "border" are not requirements for being classed as a superpower; most superpowers focus on control of systems judged to be desirable by their own criteria, rather than on claiming strictly contiguous system groupings, and generally make no attempt to control access to volumes more than a few light-hours from those systems' stars.)

SW

Software.

T

Tac Code

Tactical Code. In the context of flight computers, one of a number of common, manufacturer-specific phrases used to verbally activate command macros (that is, preset and/or pilot-configured sequences of commands to be executed together) by name.

TCC

Terran Cryptographic Council.

Terra

CLASS I Grade C. Third planet in Sol System: Earth. Was originally CLASS I+ Grade A before the impact of humanity's industrial revolution and subsequent population explosion. Determined ongoing environmental cleanup and regeneration efforts, combined with the Exodus's massive population reductions, are expected to advance the planet to Grade B by the turn of the century.

TFG

Terrain Following Guidance (mode). An autopilot mode used by flight computers for speeders, military aircraft, and some atmosphere-capable starcraft for flying at minimal altitude and very high speed, generally as one facet of a holistic detection-avoidance strategy.

TGA

Terran Governing Authority. Descendent of the pre-Exodus body known as the United Nations on Terra. Nearly all superpowers originating in Sol are either members or junior members and most vigorously defend its various and well-intentioned regulations. In practice, however, the TGA has little power over its member states (especially over the first-tier superpowers), and its retention of the old UN's Outer Space treaties barring extrasolar territory-claiming has been a point of dispute and some ridicule since its inception, as most of its leading members have chosen to ignore those regulations for over a century.

TGACR

Terran Governing Authority Code of Regulations.

TGALLC

Terran Governing Authority Limited Liability Corporation. A type of business tax structuring indicating primary registration with the TGA.

Three Ravens

An inhabited star system. Site of a naval outpost with a UC Naval Investigative Office branch.

Tightbeam

A type of private communications mode carried out between parties via laser or other directed, non-broadcast mechanisms to prevent third-party eavesdropping.

Ti-Gra

Trade name for a series of titanium-graphene composites manufactured by 4M Corporation. Applications include security and pressure hatch cores, external station sheathing, etc.

TODSCHIC

A fashion retail chain headquartered in Roterhafen. Offerings are mostly sterilized mass-market imitations of the "domp" style popularized by punkbang music groups like OOOOOOMF.

TSS

Thermal Scavenging System. A critical component of life support aboard both spacecraft and space stations, which often generate heat faster than their exteriors can naturally dissipate it. Generally consists of a network of thermal conduction channels that link major heat-generating systems and components to a thermal sink/storage unit that can store and convert the collected heat into more useful energy. Combat ships usually require massive TSS installations to cope with the thermal loads of their outsized maneuvering and propulsion systems, as well as weapons platforms like PDLGs, Directed Energy Weapon Systems, and railguns. TSS installations also play a key role in stealth systems, which usually include one or more external layers of sheathing to capture internal heat that would otherwise raise the temperature of a stealth-capable spacecraft's outer surfaces; stealth TSS installations also usually include multiple or outsized thermal sink hardware to extend hiding time, since a sink's thermal load cannot be converted to electricity with perfect efficiency and some heat must be vented in the process.

T-West Holdings LLCEP

A midsized extraction corporation with a focus on rare elements, based on Luna (Terra's moon). Unusually successful at locating profitable concentrations of scarce resources on non-planetary bodies, but its growth has been checked by repeated failures to conceal operations from more aggressive competitors, as well as by a string of protracted lawsuits related to its environmental practices.

U

Uberflu

Informal for a family of highly contagious, long-latency influenza viruses, all descended from a novel subtype first identified circa 152 BE and responsible for over a dozen global and extra-global pandemic events in pre-Exodus Sol. Infections are notoriously difficult to treat, even by modern standards, and the virus particles themselves are unusually resistant to normal sanitizing methods. Spread via interstellar travel is still a major threat to public health when new variants arise. Ironically, however, GHO-funded efforts have managed to co-opt uberflu for the campaign against itself, with bioengineered versions regularly released into populations across Orion to "infect" them with contagious but harmless immunization payloads for the latest known mutations.

UC

United Colonies. Technically a first-tier extrasolar superpower, though not in the conventional sense, as it isn't a centralized government with explicit authority over its member colonies. Rather, it is the main body responsible for peacekeeping, rendering humanitarian aid, and otherwise supporting extrasolar colonies and colonial development for systems and holdings not aligned with one of the superpowers (for example, the United States, China, the Alliance of Sovereign Asian Nations, Russia, Germany, the South/Central American Union, the Ares Colonial Union, etc.) that claim extrasolar territories in contravention of the old UN and present TGA's various pre- and post-Exodus Outer Space Treaties. Although its charter allows support for colonies aligned with non-violating powers and superpowers (for example, the AFC and CSAG), most such powers explicitly reject the UC's involvement except in cases of dire emergency.

The UC's stated mission is to combine the resources of successful colonies to elevate fledgling and struggling colonies toward self-sustainment and provide general military support against piracy and other threats — all without any explicit charge or imposition in return, save the expectation that colonies so aided will eventually become contributing members. However, it's an open (and oft-protested) secret that UC-aided colonies failing to measure up to the UC's published minimum standards for everything from basic housing and dietary provision to protection of various personal freedoms, limitations on the exercise of authority, and compliance with GHO recommendations will shortly find themselves cheerfully and more or less relentlessly interfered with until those standards are met. Toward these and related ends, the UC maintains enormous naval and emergency response/humanitarian aid forces — both the largest of their kinds in existence.

The UC was founded by a number of philanthropists and the leadership of an originally-crowdfunded shipbuilding concern early in the Exodus in response to rising issues with colonial infighting, nascent intersystem piracy, early reports of claim-jumping by superpowers, and colony collapses that turned deadly either without or well in advance of any adequate humanitarian response, once it became clear that the UN and other Terran humanitarian bodies weren't evolving toward being able to manage such problems on an acceptable timetable.

UCN

United Colonies Navy. The largest (if not the most advanced) military force in existence, with naval bases throughout Orion. Patrols all UC member systems on a no-less-than-quarterly basis, responds to distress/attack reports, sweeps uninhabited systems for pirate activity, and provides rapid transport for emergency/disaster response forces.

UCNIO

UCN Investigative Office. The intelligence and security branch of the UCN.

UHB

Ultrahigh Bandwidth.

UnBoom

Trade name for a hearing loss-reversal medication originally developed for, and still marketed mainly to, boomstep fans, although military customers now comprise the balance of the market base.

Universal Charging Pad

A common consumer device for wireless charging of other devices.

U-Tool

Trade name for a line of self-adjusting hand and power tools manufactured by Hephaestus NanoFoundry TGALLC, although the term has come refer to any tool with self-adjusting functionality — or even just an unusually large variety of applications (with connotations similar to the archaic idiom "Swiss Army Knife"). Particularly popular with militaries, as well as most job sectors involving frequent hands-on work in vacuum.

V

Vescar

An inhabited star system in the general vicinity of Noraza.

VOI

Volume Of Interest. Any region of space not containing a star system, but significant enough for other reasons to merit inclusion in navigation databases.

W

Ward

CLASS II. A planet in Storm's Eye.

Westford

An inhabited star system near Noraza.

WitProt

Witness Protection. Graded based on the estimated threat level against the individual concerned, from one (unarmed/unorganized threat) to seven (military threat from a major foreign power).

Wootball

A sport played in microgravity stadiums crisscrossed with elastic webbing, with large teams and the object of kicking either of two balls into the opposing team's goal. Distant descendent of Football (also called Soccer in a few regions on Terra), from which the sport takes its name (Weightless Football). Numerous professional teams exist and compete in various leagues.

X

Y

Y94084-L

An uninhabited star system near Noraza.

Yangtze Beta

An inhabited star system. Site of Lumen Station Six, among many other stations. Major mining and manufacturing hub with a high concentration of active industrial shipbuilding and colony infrastructure support operations.

Z

Z-Ball

A game played in microgravity with large rubber balls, similar to dodgeball.

Links and Interviews

What inspired Jonesy's story? Find out that and more in this interview with Angie Quantrell!
(This is the SHORT version, and includes more about me, James!)

Where did Jonesy's story come from? Find out in this interview with Kathy Temean!
(This is the LONG version.)

Who did that rad cover art? Check out Antonio Caparo's site for more cool art!
(Author's note: this should be reasonably safe, but it's not my content. Concerned parents/guardians are invited to pre-screen!)