GLOSSARY
A-P cannon—a weapon that fires accelerated particles of various types. Common on spacefaring warships.
Adamek, R. Pyatt—author of The Olmahoi: Reconstructing the Myth for Beginners, published in ‘595 EN.
Alik—an outrigger belonging to Long Span spine.
all-suits—the generic term for the highly individualized environment suits worn by outriggers.
Ana Vereine, DBMP—the first of a new class of warships—the Marauder—manufactured by the Dato Bloc as part of the Andermahr Experiment. Its design incorporates a captain surgically interfaced with the ship. Once part of the Ethnarch’s Military Presidium, it is now an independent vessel registered to Morgan Roche.
anchor drive—the usual means of crossing interstellar space, but by no means the only one (see slow-jump). Indeed, the anchor method has undergone several radical redesigns over time; current technology is rated at 49th-generation.
anchor points—regions of “weakened” space from which translation to and from hyperspace is both easier and less energy-expensive; jumps from anchor points are therefore of a greater range than from “normal” space and usually terminate in another anchor point. They are typically located near inhabited systems (but far enough away to avoid distortion by background gravitational effects) or in locations in deep space that are considered strategically important. There are approximately ten thousand million anchor points currently in existence—one for roughly every ten stars, scattered across the galaxy.
Andermahr Experiment—a covert project specializing in cybernetic interfaces designed to allow mind and machine to merge. Founded by Ataman Ana Vereine, who desired captains that were as much a part of their ships as was the anchor drive—an integral, reliable system rather than a flesh and blood afterthought. Continued in secret until the Ataman Theocracy emerged from the COE as the Dato Bloc. Culminated in the DBMP Ana Vereine, the first Marauder-class warship, with Uri Kajic its captain.
Armada—see COE Armada.
Aro—the largest moon of Jagabis and site of Emptage City; also the largest solid world of Palasian System. (Relative mass: 0.000271 [1.6 Cartha’s Planet]; distance: 1 million km; max. surface temperature: –140 degrees C; diameter: 5500 km.)
Ascensio—the homeworld of Morgan Roche.
Asha—the single, warlike deity of the main Kesh religion.
Asha’s Gauntlet—see Solar Envelope.
Ataman Theocracy—a tightly knit empire that existed as an independent entity until its absorption into the COE after the Second Ataman War in ‘442 EN. After several centuries, it eventually seceded as the Dato Bloc (‘837 EN).
Autoville—the vernacular name for the innermost dark body halo of Palasian System, so-called because of the prowlers that dominate it. (Radius: 2.4–4.0 PAU; largest mean diameter: 2400 km.)
AVS-44—one of the Ana Vereine’s large contingent of scutters.
B’kan’s Folly—the remains of the system in which a Solar Envelope was first employed.
B’shan, Lieutenant-Doctor Haden—a Kesh officer/scientist, serving with Linegar Rufo on Galine Four; subordinate to Field Officer Shak’ni.
Baeris Osh—a Surin territory.
Bassett—commander, COEA Golden Dawn.
Batelin Limit—the ceiling above which the complexity of a nation exceeds the biological capabilities of the individuals inhabiting it. In the case of the Pristine Caste, the value of the Batelin Limit is approximately three and half thousand systems.
Black Box—the generic term for AI. Usually abbreviated to “Box.”
Bodh Gaya—the capital system of the COE. Its second moon houses the Military College of the COE Armada.
Box, the—an AI commissioned by COE Intelligence. Its binary identification number (JW111101000) is one digit longer than normal, indicating its unique status. Created by the High Human known as the Crescend, the Box is designed to infiltrate and subvert all available systems, thereby increasing its own processing powers until, at its most powerful, it resembles its creator.
Byrne, Auditor—the leader of the outrigger clan associated with Long Span spine.
Calendar—The galactic standard timekeeping method consists of: 100 seconds per minute, 100 minutes per hour, 20 hours per day, 10 days per week, 4 weeks (40 days) per month, 10 months (400 days) per year. All dates are expressed in the form of Year (usually abbreviated to the last three digits, ie ‘397), Month, and Day from the Ex Nihilo reference point. See also Objective Reference Calendar.
Cane, Adoni—the occupant of an unidentified life-support capsule recovered by the COEA Midnight near Ivy Green Station anchor point while en route to Sciacca’s World. A genetically modified combat clone designed to mimic a Pristine Human, his origins may lie with the Sol Apotheosis Movement, although that theory is yet to be confirmed.
Cartha’s Planet—the rocky, innermost world of Palasian System. (Mean distance: 0.16 PAU; diameter: 3600 km; relative mass: 0.000169; specific gravity: 5.3; mean surface temperature: 425 degrees C.)
Caste C—third of several unknown Castes mentioned in the ancient Gil-Shh’ana Fiche. See Primordial Castes.
Castes—Following the speciation of the Human race, numerous Castes have proliferated across the galaxy. These Castes are too numerous to list, but they can be classified into three broad groups: High, Low, and mundane (which includes Pristine and Exotic). There are seven predominant Exotic Castes to be found in the region surrounding the COE: Eckandar, Hurn, Kesh, Mbata, Olmahoi, and Surin.
Cemenid—the fourth and largest planet of Palasian System; a gas giant with thirteen major satellites. (Mean distance: 2.24 PAU; diameter: 183200 km; relative mass: 1.33.)
chaos-lock—a security device employing the chaotic electrical output of two identical circuits to conceal ordered data: when the two “tuned” circuits are linked, the data can be extracted from the signal; otherwise, the signal is concealed within unpredictable noise, and is impossible to decode.
COE—see Commonwealth of Empires.
COE Armada, the—the combined armed forces of the COE, responsible for external security. Active soldiers are referred to as Marines.
COE Intelligence—the body responsible for information gathering outside the COE. Originally and still nominally a subdepartment of the Armada, but an independent body in practice.
COE Intelligence HQ—the command center of COE Intelligence, a large, independent station located in deep space near the heart of the Commonwealth.
COE Military College—the main training institution of COE Armada personnel; situated on the second moon of Bodh Gaya.
COEI—COE Intelligence vessel identification prefix.
Commerce Artel—a galaxy-wide organization devoted to initiating and coordinating trade between Castes and governments that might otherwise have no contact. It prides itself on remaining aloof from political conflict yet has some strict behavioral standards to which it expects its customers to adhere (such as the Warfare Protocol). Structurally, it is divided into chapters managed by indigenous Caste members with only loose control from above. It has strong links, locally, with the Eckandar Trade Axis.
Commonwealth of Empires—often abbreviated to “COE” or “Commonwealth.” A relatively ancient Pristine nation currently in its 40th millennium of nominal existence—”nominal” in that the membership of the COE is fluid by nature, with provinces joining and seceding on a regular basis. It has had many different capitals and its borders have changed radically over the centuries. Indeed, it has drifted with time, and now occupies territories quite remote from its original location. One thousand inhabited systems currently fall under its aegis, and another three thousand uninhabited systems have been annexed. It is ruled by a democratically elected Eupatrid and a council of representatives who, when united, wield supreme executive power. Its security departments include Intelligence, Armada, and Enforcement.
Congreve Station—the abandoned xenoarchaeological base built upon Mok, the moon shared by Kukumat and Murukan.
Cornilleau University of Antiquities—one of the many centers of study in the galaxy devoted to the exploration of Humanity’s past.
Crescend, the—a High Human of some note and great history. His time of Transcendence is not recorded. Little is known about him, beyond the facts that he is the founder and overseer of Trinity, an ally of the COE and a key supporter of the Interventionist Movement. He is assumed to be a singular entity simply because the (male) first person singular is his pronoun of choice.
Dahish—a mildly alcoholic drink found in most places in the COE.
dark bodies—small, solid bodies found in most planetary systems (usually in belts, or dark-body halos) falling in size roughly between asteroids and planets.
Darkan, General—a senior officer of the Kesh N’Kor Republic and commander in chief of the destroyer SRF Sebettu.
Dato Bloc—an independent nation founded on the ruins of the Ataman Theocracy that recently broke free of the COE. Although not hierocratic in nature, the Ethnarch exerts a strict rule. Its security departments include the Ethnarch’s Military Presidium and the Espionage Corps.
Daybreak, COEI—a courier vessel belonging to COE Intelligence.
DBMF—vessel identification prefix for the Ethnarch’s Military Presidium.
De Bruyn, Page—head of Strategy, COE Intelligence.
Dictatrix—supreme leader of the Kesh N’Kor Republic.
Diprodek-2—a potent neurotoxin most effective against Pristines.
Dirt & Other Commodities, Inc. (DAOC)—a mining consortium that currently owns the rights to the Soul of Sciacca’s World. Its jurisdiction includes the planetary surface down to and including the mantle. In exchange for these exclusive rights, DAOC Inc. maintains the COE’s penal colony based in Port Parvati and the Hutton-Luu System’s only major base, Kanaga Station.
Disisto, Gered—dock security chief, Galine Four.
disrupters—see hyperspace disrupters.
Dominion, the—a long-lived multi-Caste nation which joined the COE in ‘199 EN in order to fend off the Ataman Theocracy.
Drish’en—a burrowing animal found on Hek’m.
Dro, Sh’manit—the Sixteenth and last G’rodo Matriarch.
druh—a Kesh weapon used in armed combat; typically a curved, bronze sword about as long as the average Pristine forearm.
Dubsky, Professor—a scholar based at the Cornilleau University of Antiquities.
E-shield—an electromagnetic barrier designed to ward off particle and energy weapons. Used mainly by medium-to-large spacefaring vessels.
Eckandar—(Eckandi: adj. & sing. n.)—a Caste flourishing in the regions surrounding the COE. Its members are typified by their slight size, gray skin, bald scalps, and unusual eyes. They are a gregarious Caste, preferring trade and communication over conquest. They are also well-advanced in genetic science. Their past stretches back beyond that of the COE, although they lack the continuity of history that strong nationhood often provides. Their sole uniting body is the Eckandar Trade Axis.
Eckandar Trade Axis—the main society of the Eckandi Caste, devoted, much like the Commerce Artel (with which it has close ties), to facilitating free and nondiscriminatory trade with and between the COE and its neighbors.
Eli—an outrigger belonging to Long Span spine.
Emptage City—the main base of Palasian System; situated on Aro, the largest moon of Jagabis. (Population approximately 350,000.)
EN—see Ex Nihilo.
epsense—an ability encompassing telepathy and empathy. The ritual training of epsense adepts generally takes decades and incorporates elements of sensory deprivation. Note: telekinesis and precognition are not covered by epsense and are assumed to be nonexistent. Skilled utilizers of epsense are referred to as epsense adepts, or reaves.
Espionage Corps—see Dato Bloc.
Ethnarch—the title of the leader of the Dato Bloc.
Ethnarch’s Military Presidium—see Dato Bloc.
Eupatrid—the title of the chief executive officer of the COE.
Ex Nihilo—refers to the date upon which the COE is believed to have been founded. Evidence exists to cast doubt upon the accuracy or relevance of this date—notably the fact the Commonwealth as a single body did not exist at all between the 13th and 15th Millennia— but the date remains as a reference point. Usually abbreviated to EN.
Exotic—any mundane Caste that differs physiologically from the Pristine. There are a vast number of Exotic Castes, and, although no one type of Exotic comes close to outnumbering Pristine Humans, the Exotics as a whole mass far greater than Pristines alone.
Far Reaches—the name of the outermost fringes of the Outer Arms.
Ferozac—a neurotoxin effective against Pristines.
flicker-bombs—devices used in space warfare to attack an enemy vessel. Employing the fact that small masses (under a few kilograms) can slow-jump a small distance within a gravity well, these missiles skip in and out of space on their way to their target, which, it is hoped, they will materialize within, causing massive amounts of damage. They are easily deflected by hypershields, however, which form a barrier in hyperspace that no such weapon can cross.
40th Millennium—the current millennium in the history of the COE. See Ex Nihilo.
Free-For-All—outermost dark-body halo surrounding Palasian System. (Radius: 15.2–21.7 PAU; few clusters and eccentricities known; largest mean diameter: 1375 km.)
G’rodo—a Kesh lineage recently expunged from the N’Kor Republic.
Galactic Reference Book—see Queale, Linn.
Galine Four—a small mobile station owned by Linegar Rufo III; crew no more than one thousand.
Gatamin—the fifth world of Palasian System; a gas giant with three major satellites and an extensive ring network. (Mean distance: 4.56 PAU; diameter: 60000 km; relative mass: 0.3; rings 100000–145000 km.)
Geyten Base—a COE communications base around Cemenid in Palasian System.
Gil-Shh’ana Fiche—an anomalous data storage device recovered from Hurn ruins in ‘636 EN. Some segments of the fiche’s contents point to the existence of several unknown Castes occupying the region now inhabited by the COE, although incompatible technology prevents clear translation; such ancient relics are occasionally found throughout the galaxy, but few are as spectacular or mysterious as those in Palasian System.
Golden Dawn, COEA—COE Armada destroyer.
Gorund Sef—a planet in COE territory.
Grand Design—the Human term used to describe the social communion of the Olmahoi Caste.
grayboots—see Olmahoi retribution squad.
Guhr Outpost—a COE Armada refueling base orbiting Voloras, outermost planet of Palasian System.
Gwydyon—a system near but not part of the COE.
Haid, Ameidio—former transportee, Sciacca Penal Colony, and mercenary.
Handrelle System—a COE system.
Hek’m—the Olmahoi Caste homeworld.
Herensung—the third world of Palasian System; a gas giant with five major satellites and an extensive ring system. (Mean distance: 1.46 PAU; diameter: 100000 km; relative mass: 0.3; rings 135000–300000 km.)
Hetu System—a territory in the COE.
High Humans—or High Castes. Superior intelligences that have evolved (Transcended) from the mundane. Extremely long-lived and far-seeing, they concentrate on issues quite removed from the rest of the galaxy; indeed, due to their enormous scale, they are the only beings capable of comprehending the galaxy in its entirety. They generally leave mundanes alone, to let them progress (and, ultimately, to Transcend) in their own time. See Castes and Transcendence.
Hintubet—the primary of Palasian System; a greenish-yellow Main Sequence star supporting a large solar system consisting of seven gas giants, one rocky planet, one asteroid belt and several dark-body/cometary halos. (Surface temperature: 7800 degrees C; diameter: 1.8 million km; low sunspot activity, prominences, flares, etc.)
Hurn—an exotic Caste typified by ritual and complexity. In appearance they are lean and muscular, averaging greater than Pristine height. They are predisposed toward music and mathematics. Socially they prefer oligarchies with a baroque middle class.
hypershield—a barrier erected in hyperspace to deflect or inhibit the passage of anything traveling by that medium. Commonly used as a prophylactic against hyperspace weapons. Hypershields operate under a maximum volume constraint: i.e., they will only operate as intended under two thousand cubic kilometers.
hyperspace disrupters—a form of hypershield that actively combats incoming hyperspace weapons, such as flicker-bombs. Compare anchor points, which “weaken” space: disrupters do the opposite, making it more difficult for anything nearby to emerge from hyperspace.
Idil—an outrigger belonging to Long Span spine.
IDnet—see Information Dissemination Network.
IND—independent vessel identification prefix.
Information Dissemination Network—a communications network dedicated to the spread of data across the galaxy, although its reach thus far extends not much beyond the COE and its neighbors. It acts as a combined news service and medium for gossip. Also known as IDnet.
Intelligence—see COE Intelligence.
Interventionism—a movement among High Humans—and some mundanes—that advocates closer links between High and mundane Castes. See The Crescend.
irikeii—one of very few Olmahoi “sound-thoughts” that can be equated with audible words; often translated as “unnamed” or “unnameable.” (See Appendix.)
JA-32—the largest charted dark body in Mishra’s Stake, Palasian System; full name JA140732.
Jagabis—the second planet of Palasian System; a gas giant, it possesses an ageing ring system and six major moons, one being Aro, the largest solid body in Palasian System. (Mean distance: 1 PAU (460 million km); diameter: 133200 km; relative mass: 1.0; (2 million million million million tons); rings 156000–173000 km.)
Johak Corporation—original manufacturers of the device known as Asha’s Gauntlet; see Solar Envelope.
JW111101000—see Box, the.
K’mok ni Asha—late Kesh (Regional Variant #14) for “Asha’s Gauntlet”; see Solar Envelope.
Kajic, Uri—former captain, DBMP Ana Vereine, physically bonded to his ship.
Kesh—the most primal of the local Castes. The Kesh are typically warlike and predisposed to violence. In appearance, they tend to be larger than the Pristine average and have mottled, multicolored skin. Their social structure is heavily ritualized, with a strong tribal or family base. They are known for being highly racist.
Kesh Ideal—the epitome of the Kesh culture, a being comprising ideological and physical perfection, to which most Kesh, especially those in the military forces, aspire.
KM36—an inconstant ion flux tube connecting Kukumat and Murukan; known as “old thirty-sixer” in the vernacular.
Kukumat—one of a gas giant pair occupying the sixth planetary orbit around Palasian System; the pair shares a single moon, Mok. (Mean distance: 7.17 PAU; diameter: 45000 km / 43000 km; relative mass: 0.25/0.2; average separation: 2 million km.)
Kuresh—Kesh for “General.”
Long Span—an outrigger spine.
Low Castes—devolved mundane Humans. These animal-like creatures come in many forms and occupy many niches across the galaxy. Some evolve back up to mundane status, given time and isolation, while others become extinct as a result of the forces that led to their devolution in the first place.
Lucence-2—COE Armada escort and assault craft.
Lud—an outrigger belonging to Long Span spine.
Maii—Surin epsense adept.
Marauder—an experimental class of warship developed by the Dato Bloc. See DBMP Ana Vereine.
Marines—see COE Armada.
Mattar Belt—Palasian System’s asteroid belt. (Radius: 0.38–0.76 PAU; various gaps and groupings known; largest 750 km across.)
Mavalhin, Myer—ex-COE Intelligence trainee, now a pilot for Linegar Rufo.
Mbata—(Mbatan, adj. & sing. n.)—a well-regarded Caste known for its peace-loving and familial ways. In appearance they resemble the ursine species, larger and stronger than the Pristine. Their culture is egalitarian and open to trade.
Midnight, COEA—COE Retriever-class frigate.
Military Presidium—see Dato Bloc.
Mishra’s Stake—the vernacular name for the second dark-body halo of Palasian System. (Radius: 7.6–11.1 PAU; largest known: JA140732, diameter: 1500 km.)
Mok—the moon shared by Kukumat and Murukan with a highly irregular, chaotic orbit. (Relative mass: unknown; diameter: 1050 km; surface g: unknown; max. surface temperature: –125 degrees C.) It houses a small xenoarchaeological base, now abandoned.
Montaban—the homeworld of Ameidio Haid.
mundane Castes—Castes of Humanity that are essentially similar to the Pristine in terms of size, mental capacity, world-view, etc. Naturally there is a spectrum of types across the mundane Caste—from the highly evolved (some might say near-Transcendent) Olmahoi, through the socially complex Surin and Hurn Castes, to the Eckandar and Pristine Castes with their societies based on trade and empire-building, and beyond, via the earthy Mbata, to the relatively primal Kesh. Mundanes are typically short-lived (a century or so, when allowed to age naturally) and build empires up to four or five thousand systems in size. There is a ceiling of complexity above which mundanes rarely go without Transcending. See High Humans and Batelin Limit.
Murukan—one of a gas giant pair occupying the sixth planetary orbit around Palasian System (see Kukumat).
n-body—the epsense “counterpart” to the physical body.
N’kor Republic—a Kesh government neighboring the COE. Although the relationship between these two nations is officially friendly, there have been frequent border clashes.
n-space—a word used by epsense theorists to describe an environment completely empty of thought.
Narm Protectorate—a part of the COE.
Nezhina Caste—a mundane Caste located on the other side of the galaxy from the COE.
Nirr—the neutral homeworld of the Kesh Caste.
Noma Araku—an extinct species of biped distantly related to the modern Olmahoi.
Objective Reference Calendar—a system of date-keeping established by the A-14 Higher Collaboration Network.
old thirty-sixer—see KM36.
Olmahi Republic—an independent government of the Nezhina Caste.
Olmahoi—an Exotic Caste that communicates entirely by epsense. Physically they are of similar size to Pristines, but are much stronger; their skin is black and they possess little in the way of distinguishing features, apart from the epsense organ which dangles like a tentacle from the back of the skull. Their social structure is too complex to explore in detail here. They are renowned fighters, capable of feats of great skill, yet also possess a capacity for peace far in excess of any other local Caste. (See Appendix.)
Olmahoi retribution units—renowned fighters able to combine perfectly their physical and epsense abilities. Also known as grayboots.
Outer Arms—the low stellar-density regions of the galaxy between the Middle and Far Reaches.
outrigger—a unique type of miner/explorer found in sparsely populated systems; living within all-suits that double as mobile homes, outriggers typically scout uncharted dark-body halos and asteroid belts looking for viable mineral sources, which they then either mine or report to a centralized authority (if any) for a modest fee. Outriggers are notoriously self-sufficient, avoiding even other outriggers as much as possible, and have been known to exist for years without contact with another being. Spending much of their lives drifting in hibernation between dark and cometary bodies, some live longer than three centuries. Few outriggers have family names, coming as they do from such small communities that single given names are usually enough.
Palasian System—a system of the COE recently quarantined by the COE Armada as a result of an enemy outbreak. Due to its lack of habitable or easily terraformable planets, it has never been extensively colonized, but is the home to several Armada bases and a small commercial mining operation: total population, five hundred thousand people.
PAU—the abbreviation of Palasian Astronomical Unit, the mean distance from Jagabis to Hintubet, that being 460 million kilometers.
Perez radiation—a side effect of a crudely tuned hyperspace jump.
Plenary—full outrigger meeting, convened only in extraordinary situations. The individual members are rarely in the same physical location, however.
Primordial Castes—precede the earliest confirmed records, half a million years ago. Little is known about them, except that they existed; ruins of several unique types are to be found throughout the galaxy. They are called Castes A, B, C, and D, for even their names are unknown.
Pristine Caste—the form of Humanity which most closely resembles the original race that evolved an unknown time ago on an unknown planet somewhere in the galaxy. The Pristine Human genome, handed down from antiquity and regarded with near veneration, is stored in innumerable places among the civilized worlds. Pristines themselves, however, are accorded no special status.
prowling mines—known also as prowlers. These are mobile, semiautonomous mining installations, typically found in the dark-body halos of sparsely populated systems and are usually corporate owned.
Queale, Linn—author of the Galactic Reference Book, a popular all-purpose travel guide and almanac.
Quick, Alemdar—a duelist on the COE fighting circuit.
Quolmann—COE Intelligence code word.
quorum—the outrigger decision-making body; flexible in both number and identity of members.
Ramage, General—commander in chief of the COE Armada.
reave—see epsense.
Riem-Perez Horizon—the technical name for the boundary cast by a hypershield.
Roche, Morgan—former commander, COE Intelligence.
Roptio ur-music—music performed by a Low Human Caste known for its lack of sophistication.
Rufo, Linegar—renowned xenoarchaeologist; see Galine Four.
Sciacca’s World—the only habitable world of the Hutton-Luu System; once an agricultural planet of the Dominion, now a desert penal colony of the COE (Sciacca Penal Colony). Its ring of moonlets—the Soul—is owned and mined by DAOC Inc.
Scion War—the war in which the Sol Apotheosis Movement met its downfall at the hands of the Dominion, the Ataman Theocracy, and the COE, among others. The war was brought to an end in the 37th Millennium (‘577 EN) when the leader of the combined military forces ordered an attack on the headquarters of the Movement, provoking their explosive suicide. See Sol Apotheosis Movement.
scutter—a small, swift spacegoing vessel with many uses, both military and civilian.
Sebettu—Dictatrix who, in ‘173 EN, briefly unified the Kesh Caste.
Sebettu, SRF—Kesh destroyer.
Shadow Place—the temple-like quarters in which the Olmahoi irikeii is housed.
Shak’ni, Field Officer—a Kesh officer subordinate to General Darkan.
slow-jump—a common alternative to the anchor drive that utilizes similar technology. Most ships with an anchor drive can slow-jump if necessary. It is essentially a jump through hyperspace from any point in real space. A certain degree of kinetic energy is required before translation can be achieved, so ships must accelerate for some time beforehand. Even then, the hyperspace jump is short-lived, and the vessel emerges soon after (typically less than a light-year away from its departure point) with significantly less kinetic energy. The process must be repeated from scratch if another slow-jump is required. As a means of crossing interstellar space, it is inefficient and time-consuming, hence its name. Slow-jumping becomes increasingly nonviable closer to a gravity well, but more efficient as mass (of the traveling object) decreases.
Sol Apotheosis Movement—a quasi-religious organization devoted to the pursuit of Transcendence via genetic manipulation and biomodification that reached its peak and was destroyed in the 37th Millennium. Its fanatical followers were a source of unrest for decades, until an alliance was formed among their neighbors dedicated to putting a stop to them. In ‘577 EN, at the climax of the Scion War, a flotilla of allied forces encircled their base, which the Movement destroyed in order to prevent its capture. The resulting explosion annihilated them as well, of course, but also decimated the flotilla. Of the four stations involved in the battle, only one survived, and that was severely damaged. So embarrassed was the alliance that the leaders of the day ordered the event stricken from history. They even closed the anchor point leading to the system to keep anyone from learning what occurred there. Nothing survived of the base, and the rest of the system is an unsalvageable ruin.
Sol System—an uninhabited system in a nonaligned region near the Dato Bloc, one known for its antiquity. Former home of the Sol Apotheosis Movement.
Sol Wunderkind—genetically modified clone warriors designed and bred by the Sol Apotheosis Movement.
Solar Envelope—a device designed by the Johak Corporation in 38,138 EN, intended to provide a jump shield large enough to enclose an entire solar system. Two prototypes were built in ‘211 EN by an early Kesh Government, which held them in storage until the Great Embargo of ‘221 EN. Asha’s Gauntlet was used on one system at this time, with disastrous results: the system’s primary sun, modified to power the Envelope, was exhausted within two months; the entire system collapsed shortly thereafter, and is now known only as B’kan’s Folly. Of no use as a defensive weapon, and outlawed by the Convention on Extraordinary Weapons in ‘254 EN, the second Gauntlet has remained in the hands of the N’kor Republic since then.
spine—the collective noun used to describe a loosely linked group of outriggers; from their means of traveling between systems, on the back of a naked real-space drive known as the spine.
Starburst, COEA—COE frigate.
Surin—a relatively minor Caste found in the regions surrounding the COE. They exist in isolated clusters overseen by a governing body that guides rather than rules. They are social beings, yet are fond of isolation, giving them a reputation for occasional aloofness. They are technically accomplished, especially in the biological sciences. In stature, they tend to be slight and have hair covering much of their bodies. It is occasionally speculated that they have re-evolved from Low Caste status.
Surin Agora—the ruling body of the loosely knit Surin nation.
Synnett, Torr—security guard on Galine Four.
Temoriel—a COE Armada trainee port not far from Bodh Gaya.
Thin Trunk—an outrigger spine known to Long Span.
Tipper-Linke Conduit—a specialized form of chaos-lock, combining tuned circuits with quantum encryption: the chaos-locked signal is broadcast along a beam of polarized light, with digital data represented by 90-degree separations in polarization; without knowing which polarization angles to look for or which angle is 0 and which is 1, the signal will be garbled. By the uncertainty principle, any incorrect attempt to measure the polarization of the light will result in interference, which will alert the users of the Tipper-Linke Conduit, who can then change the angle of polarization, leaving the hackers exactly where they started.
Toma, Professor—a scholar based at the Cornilleau University of Antiquities.
Tongue, the—how the Kesh refer to their own language.
Transcend—to break free of the constraints of mundane Humanity. A being or Caste that has Transcended typically has an extremely long life span and spreads its consciousness across a number of primary containers—such as neural nets, quantum data vats, and the like. Transcended entities, singular or collective, are referred to as High Human and accorded the highest status.
Transcendence—the state of being Transcended. Usually achieved when consciousness research and computer technology overlap, allowing an organic mind to be downloaded into an electronic vessel, thereby gaining the potential for unlimited growth.
Tretamen—a region on the fringes of the COE.
Trinity—the world on which AIs are made in the region dominated by the COE. The AI factory was founded and is overseen by the High Human known as the Crescend.
Veden, Makil—an Eckandar Trade Axis citizen and Commerce Artel ex-delegate; deceased.
Vereine, Ataman Ana—the last leader of the Ataman Theocracy and founder of the Andermahr Experiment.
viridant—a reptilian creature found on Ascensio.
Void 34—a cyborg duelist on the COE fighting circuit.
Voloras—the eighth and outermost planet of Palasian System; a gas giant with three major satellites. (Mean distance: 13.0 PAU; diameter: 40,000 km; relative mass: 0.33.)
vukh—a hot alcoholic beverage enjoyed by members of the Kesh Caste.
Walan Third—a COE world leased to the Commerce Artel.
Warfare Protocol—the code by which war is conducted within and between those nations that trade with the Commerce Artel.
Warrior’s Right—the right of a Kesh to challenge by physical combat a superior’s decision.
Wide Berth—an outrigger spine.
Wight Station—the automated solar research station on Cartha’s Planet, Palasian System.
Xarodine—an epsense-inhibiting drug.
Yarrow—an outrigger belonging to Wide Berth spine.
Yul—an outrigger belonging to Long Span spine.