#### 3V
A video display technology
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Admiral Yamamoto and the Sleeping Giants
Reference to Earth's World War Two era commander and the situation he was facing.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### AI
Artificial Intelligence
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### AI net
A network of AI's who all communicate with one another, mostly sharing navigational and flight performance data, but occasionally other things as well.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Altair Protocols
Mentioned but not explained.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Annular
Ring-shaped.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Anti Matter Drive
A drive often used for spaceships
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Applique Armor
Additional armoring for critical points, added to the Dragonet during Van’s first visit to Anvil Dark.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Bads
Illicit materials. Perry refuses to call them "goods" as you would for any other material. These were gained by the murder of nearly an entire sentient species.
#### Barycenter
The center of mass of two objects that orbit around each other. (ex: earth and the moon, or the dual star system of the Matterforge)
**First Appearance:** #book6
#### BeneCast
BeneStar version of Scrip, often called Casts
#### Big Bang Theory
A television show from Earth
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Bodendorfer
A grand piano, taken from Earth and present on Echo, in the music school
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Bond
Interstellar standard unit of money. Bonds have no digital format. They are physical tokens, that have to be exchanged like good old U.S. dollar bills, British pound notes, or any other Earthly currency in pre-internet times. Sometimes referred to as Certi-chips.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Borderlands, Call of Duty
Earth video games where the player is the shooter, aka FPS
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Braiding
Some technique that Dohlennz thought “may solve the degradation cascade”. This turns out to be a literal enslavement of two or more other minds to handle the lower brain functions of a body, while the mind in control handles all the higher level functions. The enslaved minds are still aware of what has happened to them, at least on some level. It is an abhorrent process, by which several beings are combined into one. They are combined physically, portions of their bodies being harvested and merged into a new body. And they are combined mentally, creating the lower-order brain functionality we discussed before.”
#### Californium: Element 252 on the Periodic Table
Has to be synthesized because it doesn't occur naturally. Cost to synthesize one gram on Earth, about twenty-seven million us dollars, enough to achieve criticality (less than three kilos) would be around seventy-three billion dollars. Used as the fissionable material in the SAND bomb.
#### Cannae (Battle of Cannae)
Major battle of the second punic war, in which the army of Carthage defeated a larger army of the Roman republic.
**First Appearance:** #book5
#### Case 78659-16-BT
Currency imprint plates, quantity four, Origin Falaxis, value 250,000 bonds per plate. Falaxian ID 18975-A-T.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Cecil
A roughly humanoid AI-controlled bot that assists with running the Crossroads Peacemaker module. There are two others, never named.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Celestial Fog
A drink ordered for a Cetan, by Torina. This is code for "I need to see the Boss" at a specific bar.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Certi-Chips
AKA Bonds. Money.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### ChanceBarge
A type of ship used as a casino gaming facility
#### Chipped, chipped person
The term for a person's personality being downloaded into a computer chip, then their body killed and disposed of . These chipped persons are used as slave-AI's, to run machinery systems where an actual AI would otherwise be used, but the owners are too cheap to shell out for one.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Circle of Law
Aa meeting where a will is read? On Fren home planet
#### Comm
Short for "communications", refers to the communication method used throughout the universe
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Comm Device
Ostensibly able to connect to the Puloquir.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### Concordance
The Helso equivalent of pair-bonding, engagement, marriage.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Cracklefruit
An apple-like fruit that cracks and drips sweet fluid as it ripens. Native to Helso, and made into wine frequently.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### Crastul
A Wu'tzur beast similar to a cross between a cow and a big hunting cat.
#### Crimes Against Life
Murder, murders perpetrated for some profit-oriented goal, like making torture and death porn, genocide, forced genetic and other sorts of medical experimentation, development of bioweapons and pathogens, and a dreary handful of others.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Crimes Against Order
Includes things like genocide, use of certain agents against populations and biospheres, nano-plagues, etc.
**First Appearance:** #book5
#### Saetsu Cultural Artifact
A suite of clay tablets said to contain some of the oldest known Saetsu poetry, in a precursor language even they can’t quite translate.
**First Appearance:** #book9
#### Delta V
The change in speed over time, expressible in many ways, from mph, kph, etc
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Disguise Device
Hangs around the neck and changes the facial appearance of any being wearing it.
#### DLC
Downloadable content.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Ear Bug
Translator worn in the ear.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Echee
A fruity fizzy dring served on Helso. Also a native fruit resembling a pineapple.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### EVA
Extra-vehicular activities, ie, spacewalks and the like.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Extended-Duration Fuel Cells
Fuel storage for the dragonet.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Festival of Declaration
On Helso, the premier social event of the year, where everyone who is going to do so, formally announces their Declaration, and for whom they are declaring. This is similar to an Engagement, though they call it a Concordance, union, or pair-bonding.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Flesh Merchants
Those who specialize in constructing biologicals, normally replacement limbs and skin-grafts. They use a complex combination of 3d printing, genetic engineering, and cellular regeneration technologies. They are based on Spindrift.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Fleshies
The nickname held by AI's for creatures of flesh and bone.
#### Flower insignia for the Bulwark
Adapted from the Oda Clan symbol of ancient Japan.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### FPS
A video game where the players job is to shoot other players directly, with a first-person viewpoint.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Free Trade Zone
Just what it sounds like, a place with no rules, where folks come to buy/sell/barter their goods.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Fultica
Aapproximately a kilogram.
#### Fusion Core
A type of powerplant for spaceships.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Geskarntu
The asking and answering. Each suitor may ask a single question.
#### Glyphosate
Aa chemical defoliant.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### Goblurmut
A flavor from the Wu'tzur, used on floss, tastes like mint, duh.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### Goldilocks Zone
The zone around a star that yields habitable conditions, usually the 3rd planet out is in the goldilocks zone, unless the star differs significanty from Sol.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Gross satellite
An artifact found on a case, a hybrid of living and mechanical parts, super stealthy and super efficient in using its own heat for fuel. No idea who made it or that this was even possible.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Ground Pig
A nickname used by Hosurc'a in reference to Perry. He means groundhog but chooses to use ground pig.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Helium-3
A rare and valuable substance used as fuel or fuel components.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Higgs-Bosun
An elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the fields in particle physics theory. (Definition courtesy of Wikipedia.)
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Huro'nt'cha-ken
Basically a bull-fighting type sport, fought against Huro’nt.
**First Appearance:** #book5
#### Ik-gen-Huro'nt
The practitioners of the sport of fighting Huro'nt.
**First Appearance:** #book5
#### Illuminati
A supposedly all powerful group that runs everything from behind the scenes, a conspiracy theory from Earth.
**First Appearance:** #book4
#### Induction
The process of taking a being and making them a soldier, or a member of an organization.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Inertia Limiters
Technology put in place to protect fragile bodies from the inertia encountered in space travel. Keeps people from turning to goo under excess gravitational forces.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Infosphere
Galactic news/entertainment network.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Innsu
A martial practice, the goal of which is to get as close to inflicting harm on your opponent as possible without actually doing it. Once one reaches the level of Most Deliberate Learner one sheds their surname and takes Innsu in its place.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Intersystem Commercial Charter
A transportation service mentioned during the inspection of the Dust Mote.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Invigilator
An office of the Vibariyun, the person travels among their colonies.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### Ka'ja
A vessel embodying a being’s soul, as believed by the Srall race.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Kalusian Thrash Metal
Very loud music played by kalusians, sounds like spaceship parts being fed into a reclamation grinder.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### Kastinu’kol
A traditional tea, served in a single ceramic bowl. Everyone took a drink and passed the bowl along.
#### Kill Switch
Switch for all benestar ships, a spoken command from Helem Gauss. Reputed to be “cease operation in accordance with ultimate command.”
#### La Vie en Rose
Song in French by Edith Piaf
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Laktos
Alien word roughly translating to "dead runt of the litter."
**First Appearance:** #book6
#### Lewis Carroll
Earth writer mentioned in passing.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#popcultureref
#### Logic unit
Controlling module in a robot.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Luchat
A sweet syrup used on Volask.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Mach 3
1029 m/s. Very, very fast.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Mens Rea
The legal concept of a guilty mind.
#### MMA
Mixed Martial Arts, a form of fighting practiced on Earth. Mixes the various forms of martial arts (fighting) together into a free-for-all style.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Module
An area of a space station, sometimes owned or restricted to specific groups or companies.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Monatomic
Single atom of thickness, ie, very sharp.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Moretini Bugs
An expensive delicacy (food).
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Mutacide
Genocide via genetic mutation.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### N Drive
Normal space drive
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### NASA/Space-X, ESA, Chinese
Refers to earth-based space exploration and development organizations.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### No Fleet Junction
A battle where everyone died, almost to the last ship.
#### Old Lady
AKA wife or girlfriend, AKA squeeze.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### Oort Cloud
A spherical shell of cometary bodies believed to surround the sun or other stars far beyond the orbits of the outermost planets and from which some are dislodged when perturbed to fall toward the sun.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Open World
A world with no restrictions, anyone can visit.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Orkanavul
A sort of fermented sludge, from Faalax, expensive, like 1000 bonds or more per serving.
#### OS
Operating System, the set of instructions which makes a computer work
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Osmium
A specific element needed to make the AI chips. Very rare. Element 76 on the Periodic Table of Elements.
**First Appearance:** #book4
#### Parlay
A meeting, usually an effort to settle a dispute
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Peloponnesian War
A war on Earth among ancient city-states in Greece.
**First Appearance:** #book6
#### Permade
The thing that BeneStar wants from Adayluh Creel. It looks much like Wheat, but grows at nearly three times the rate of wheat, in almost all soils, and in conditions that range from as low as ten degrees below the freezing point of water at standard atmospheric pressure, as measured on the Celsius scale, to as much as 50 degrees above it. Each grain contains almost 50% more nutritional value, and its biochemistry is such that it is digestible and nutritious by essentially any species that lives in an oxidizing atmosphere.
#### Piraxian War
Fought nearly 500 years ago between the Piraxians and another race who seems to not exist any more.
**First Appearance:** #book6
#### Pitbull
A rapper from Earth whose music is mentioned in passing.
#popcultureref
#### Platinum Bars
The standard on which much galactic currency is based.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Plinkiv
A drink from Ajax, made by the Daren-thal, moves from smooth to acrid to sweet in the span of a few sips. Plinkiv means "simple brew" in Daren-thali.
**First Appearance:** #book5
#### Plova
The Helso equivalent of whiskey, which has a cloying fruity taste.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Plustinarek
The Wu’tzur equivalent of baby food.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Pods
A grouping of Trinduk/Sorcerers
#### Pop culture references - other
Che Guevara, George Bailey, Mister Potter, etc. It’s a Wonderful Life, Undershaft (a war profiteer playing both sides)
#popcultureref
#### Preservation Order
If sentient life is known to exist, or reasonably believed to exist, then until a formal first contact protocol has been enacted, no development is allowed. This is classed in the Crimes Against Order category.
**First Appearance:** #book6
#### Psychomechanical
A new branch of science dealing with the body/mind connection.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Quick Reaction Force
QRF, Quick Reaction Force, a pool of corvettes and other ships kept by the guild for quick reaction to emerging threats, constitutes about 6 ships total.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Rads
Radiation, also a unit of measurement for radiation absorbed by bodies.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Refraction
The brand name of the beetle carapace skin pigmentation cream. One of the main manufacturers is the Enhancement Empire. It’s not a big line for them, but it’s apparently quite lucrative. Each one of those jars you saw that… man, woman, or whatever holding goes for three hundred bonds.”
#### Return/Returning
Bester’s people believe that when a being dies it returns to a single universal intelligence.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Saes-Utz
A ceremony performed by the Wu’tzur, when they have a female Bridging through a second puberty.
#### Scaryvelous
A word Torina made up to describe the roller coaster called The Screamer, at Pirate's World.
#### Scrip
An alternative to money, often issued to employees in lieu of pay in legal tender, intended to keep employees indebted to the company
#### Sealing Foam
Combined sterilizer, antitoxin, and local anesthetic, built into the B Suits.
#### Slate
A fully functional portable computer, much like a tablet or Ipad today.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Socah
The Helso equivalent of coffee.
**First Appearance:** #book6
#### Source Mirror
Linked into the chipping scheme, Kent believes it's the Starsmiths.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### Speed of Light
Believed to be the fastest anything can travel, literally the speed at which light travels from the sun outward. 299,792,458 m/s.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Spinner
Resident of the orbital platform called Spindrift.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Spiralicon
A Conoku-specific neurological issue, an anxiety disorder that occurs when a Conoku is subjected to too many stimuli and too much information too quickly. It effectively paralyzes them. It’s actually rare among the Conoku, but it would appear that the conditions involved here have dramatically exacerbated the problem.”
#### Squid Pro Go
AKA quid pro quo.
#### Stavosia
A confection.
#### Stendhal Syndrome
A reaction to objects, artworks, or phenomena of great beauty and antiquity, often causing heart palpitations, dizziness, fainting, etc. it occurs frequently in tourists.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Syrupwood
A wood valuable for export from Damon/Helso.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### T & E Motors
Traverse and Elevate, motors that control and aim the missile launchers.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### Tandow
A gambling game played on Reticulum.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Terraforming
The act of changing a planet from uninhabitable to habitable, for whichever species it is intended. Generally requires huge sums of money and lots of time to achieve.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### THAC0 pronounced thacko
Stands for "to hit armor class zero" in dungeons and Dragons, an obscure term in an obscure game played on Earth.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### The Ancient's Call
Intangible, almost a song. The final broadcast of a dying race as they left the galaxy for reasons we will never understand. This broadcast originated over a thousand years ago, outside known space, somewhere toward the Perseus Arm. Who or what created it remains unknown. A dirge of cosmic loss.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### The Calamity
The name that everyone is using to refer to the digital plague inexorably spreading across known space. Only the Schegith were immune, their tech was very different from that used across known space and might actually share its origins with that of the alien virus itself. Of course, Earth computers are immune because they simply aren’t powerful enough to allow the virus to function.
#### The Clearings
A series of wars fought near the HIP 102152 system, between three races who have nothing to do with known space. Somehow the Seven Stars League got involved. So did the Peacemakers, they were called the Galactic Knights though.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### The Congress
A sort of shared mind-space used by the Schegith as a race.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### The Cusp
A headset-like device intended for allowing one to experience another's memories as if they are currently actually happening to the wearer of the device.
**First Appearance:** #book5
#### The Parade of Sir Archibald
The taxidermied head of a ferocious lizard, a scaldron, which was native to the S’rall homeworld. It had a knife driven into itd brain amid it’s triple-eye cluster. The brain was gone, replaced by a snuff box. Tradition holds that at the conclusion of the dinner everyone takes a pinch of snuff.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### The Screamer
A roller coaster located at Pirates World.
#### The Shade War
Mentioned in passing but not described.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### The Storm
A massive burst of intense radiation from Sirius, caused by huge mass-ejections from the corona, due to interactions with its white dwarf companion star. Happens every 12.4 years, and causes the residents of Spindrift to temporarily abandon ship. They return when the storm has passed.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### The Three Sisters
All cut from the same black ruby, discovered in a comet nearly three hundred years ago in the Bleakest Pool. They were commissioned by the Forixtun family of Gabroxos, one of the leading houses of that storied world until their fall in the Rebellion of Light. They were evacuated from Gabroxos—naturally, what with the unwashed masses demanding things like pay and food, the beasts—and passed into the hands of a private collector before coming into our possession. And now, they are here, utterly unique and almost supernaturally beautiful—the perfect gift for someone who has everything. I can assure you, they will have nothing like these treasures.” This, however, is a load of hooey, it's all a scam to market/sell these trinkets for a huge sum of money. Neither the Forixtun Family, nor Gabroxos, nor the Bleakest Pool actually exist, they are made up by Pinnacle Goods as a way to sell stuff. These names/places recurr in many of their locations.
> [!missing]
> Needs work ^^^
#### The Turing Test
A test to determine if a machine shows human intelligence. The test involves a human conversing with a computer; if the human cannot tell that the computer is not another human, then the computer has passed the test and is considered to have shown human intelligence.
**First Appearance:** #book5
#### The Ultimate Vessel
The name given to the theoretically perfect "body" that Dohlennz and Gauss are searching for, to house Gauss and make him immortal.
#### The Vault
A recurring auction, closed and by invitation only. Lots are just numbers with no descriptions.
**First Appearance:** #book2
#### Threat Status
Class range 1-100, none known above class 67. A way of ranking and comparing the relative firepower of various starships. A rock or a wreck is a class 1. The Dragonet is a class 8.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Thrice Moon
When all 3 of Helso’s moons are full at once, and the date when Van and Torina will get married.
#### Thryza
A species of food that grows on Torina’s homeworld, similar in growing habits to corn, tall, and easy to get lost in a field full of it.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### TL;DR
Too long; didn't read
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Transponder
Communication device that broadcasts a ships identity, ownership, and general business. Required in all parts of known space.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Treaty of Spica
Mentioned early in the book but not explained.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Twice-Spawned
Grandfather, one who is your progenitor by two generations.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Twist Drive/T Drive
A spaceship drive that allows the ship to fold space to jump to any location in known space.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Twist Porter
A transporter using twist technology to move anything from one place to another. Thought to be impossible, but was discovered on Dregs.
**First Appearance:** #book4
#### UDA, Universal Docking Adapter
Universal Docking Adapter, a standard docking ring required on all vessels under interstellar law.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### UFO
Unidentified flying object. Earth slang for alien spaceships.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Universal Decryptor
A device that breaks encryption codes. Strength of encryption is measured in grades called Cosmic, followed by a number to denote the difficulty of breaking such encryption. For example, Cosmic Four. Earth is almost at Cosmic Two. The device is a quantum computer designed specifically for breaking encryption codes.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Vambraces
Reinforced forearm pieces incorporated into Peacemaker armor.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Vanguard
The second artificial object the united states ever put into space. Also one of the first object put into space by humanity in general. One of three highly prized relics from Earth.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### Venera 12 Lander
Artifact from Earth’s Soviet Union. Sent to gather data about the surface and atmosphere of Venus.
**First Appearance:** #book3
#### Victory Supernal
A belief system ascribed to by the Tonaat, the Hus, and the Cotzei. Eugenics is often applied to cull the weak and prevent them from polluting the galactic body. The worship of asymmetrical power and exploitation, the more violent and egregious the better. originated by the Tonaat, the Hus,and the Cotzei together.
**First Appearance:** #book7
#### Volask
A dish served on Helso, composed of root vegetables, cheese, and sausage in a pie, drizzled with sweet luchat syrup.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Vox
Small transmitter built into the peacemaker uniform, allows Netty to participate in away-from-ship conversations
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Waldo
Mechanical construct with low-level AI, part of the Dragonette. Used for routine maintenance and on the spot repairs of the Dragonet.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Weed
Marijuana.
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### Whac-a-Mole
An american arcade game, based on an older Japanese game.
#### Xenophobic
Literally “fear of or dislike for those seen as other than oneself” ie. Aliens, people from other countries, etc.
**First Appearance:** #book1
#### Yeshika-stul
An old trade language phrase that roughly translates to "a crown of music."
#### Zamfo Cake
a P’nosk delicacy (P’nosk’un, ie, child) zamfo cake, like a chocolate cake
**First Appearance:** #book8
#### Zhigbrao
The large smelly hats worn by the Voculators. Danci gives one to Van while they are on Helso.
**First Appearance:** #book4