The Dark Imbalance (41 page)

Ground Corps:
a military body referred to in ancient records.

Guild of Xenoarchaeologists: (GOX)
an ancient and highly regarded professional organization of xenoarchaeologists.

Guo Sodality:
an organization from the Middle Reaches dedicated to the study and training of epsense adepts.

Guidon Habitat:
sibling-habitat to Perdue Habitat.

H’si F’ta:
a Caste known to the IEPC.

Haid, Ameidio:
former transportee, Sciacca Penal Colony, and ex-mercenary.

Heidik, Jelena:
the name by which the clone warrior responsible for the destruction of Palasian System identified herself.

Heidik, Jelena:
in ancient times, a general and recipient of a Mars St. Selwyn Medal for valor against the enemy in Alpha Aurigae.

Hek’m:
the Olmahoi Caste homeworld.

Heresiarch:
Skehan Heterodox name for the commanding officer of a consistory vessel.

High Humans
(or
High Castes
): Superior intelligences that have evolved (Transcended) from the mundane. Enormously long-lived and farseeing, 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.

High Equity Court:
see
COE High Equity Court.

Hurn:
a 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.

Hutton-Luu System:
a much-disputed system of the COE near its border with the Dato Bloc. See
Sciacca’s World.

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 which actively combats incoming hyperspace weapons, such as flicker-bombs. Unlike anchor points, which “weaken” space, disrupters do the opposite, making it more difficult for anything nearby to emerge from hyperspace.

i-Hurn Uprising:
a civil dispute which broke out between two rival factions of the Hurn Caste.

IEPC: see Interim Emergency Pristine Council.

imaret:
a Surin single-passenger fighter.

Imi:
a system in which Ameidio Haid once worked.

IND:
independent vessel identification prefix.

Intelligence:
see COE
Intelligence.

Interim Emergency Pristine Council:
(IEPC) an organization that exists only in times of greatest duress for the Pristine Caste. With no fewer than thirty nations required to call it into being, it exists only so long as the threat remains.

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” which can be equated with audible words; often translated as
unnamed
or
unnamable.

Jans, Ehud:
Inderdeep Jans’s father and the previous administer of Perdue Habitat.

Jans, Eir:
biological daughter of Ehud Jans.

Jans, Inderdeep:
administer of Perdue Habitat.

Ju Mandate, Second:
a government represented by Assistant Vice Primate Rey Nemeth.

JW111101000:
see
Box, the.

Kajic, Uri:
former captain,
DBMP
Ana Vereine,
physically bonded to his ship.

Katajalin Serai:
a loose collection of trade and security vessels.

Ken’an:
a mercenary operating from the habitat
Dark Stressor.

Kesh:
the most primal of the local Castes. The Kesh are typically warlike and predisposed toward 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.

Kindling, IND:
the name given by Page De Bruyn to her stolen fighter, formerly registered as TBC-14 and owned by COE Intelligence.

Kukumat:
one of a gas giant pair occupying the sixth planetary orbit around Palasian System; the pair shares a single moon.

LaGoc:
a Caste that contributed a mobile barracks to the crisis in Sol System.

Lemmas:
A Hum reave employed by the Disciples of Evergence.

Lenz, Uyeno:
a mercenary frequently to be found on
Dark Stressor.

Lleshi, Sadoc:
captain, Ground Corps; recognized for excellence in battle against the enemy in ancient times.

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, COEA:
COE Armada Escort & Assault Craft.

M’taio System:
a system notable for its Caste Wars in recent times.

Maii:
Surin epsense adept.

Marauder:
an experimental class of warship developed by the Dato Bloc. See
DBMP
Ana Vereine.

Marines:
see
COE Armada.

Mars St. Selwyn Medal:
an honorific bestowed in ancient times.

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.

Middle Reaches:
the region of medium stellar density between the Outer Arms and the galactic core.

Midnight, COEA:
COE Retriever-class frigate.

Military Star:
an honorific bestowed in ancient times.

Military Presidium:
see
Dato Bloc.

minaret:
Skehan Heterodox term for the prow of a consistory vessel.

Multiple Genesis Theory:
a theory that the various Castes of Humanity evolved—or at least emerged into the greater galaxy—from several systems simultaneously.

mundane Castes:
Castes of Humanity that are essentially similar to the Pristine in terms of size, mental capacity, worldview, 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.

Murnane, Esko:
plenipotentiary envoy sent by the citizens of Pompili to stand on the IEPC.

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-space:
a word used by epsense theorists to describe an environment completely empty of thought.

Nemeth, Rey:
Assistant Vice Primate sent by the Second Ju Mandate to stand on the IEPC.

Noske:
a Caste not normally found in the COE region.

Nyberg:
the founder of school of epsense training regarded as second-rate by superior adepts.

Objective Reference Calendar:
a system of date-keeping established by the A-14 Higher Collaboration Network.

Old Earth Advance Guard:
a military body mentioned in ancient records.

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.

Olmahoi retribution squad:
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.

Out-of-Sol theory:
a theory suggesting that all the Castes of Humanity originated on one world.

outrigger:
a unique Caste 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 out of 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 usually suffice.

outsweep migrations:
brief, outward surges by expansionist empires. These usually occur in the crowded environment of the core or Middle Reaches, in the direction of the Outer Arms.

Pacecca:
an overseer of the docks of Perdue Habitat.

Palasian System:
a system of the COE quarantined by the COE Armada as a result of an enemy outbreak, then destroyed by an ancient Kesh device (see
Solar Envelope
).

Paraselene, COEA:
a COE cruiser stationed near Perdue Habitat.

Paz:
an educative device once owned by Morgan Roche.

Perdue Habitat:
a habitat populated by approximately
11,000
people, predominantly Vax Caste, stationed to Sol System during the crisis. Its administer, Inderdeep Jans, is known to have been reluctant to commit her resources to solving the crisis.

Phlegethon, SHCV:
a Skehan Heterodox consistory vessel from the far side of the galaxy.

Pompili:
a founding nation of the IEPC.

Primordial Castes:
precede the earliest confirmed records, half a million years ago. Little is known about them, except that they exist; 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. (See Appendix.)

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.

Quare, Oren:
assistant to Overseer Pacecca, Perdue Habitat.

Random Valence:
a habitat stationed close to Perdue Habitat.

reave:
see
epsense.

Rebuli:
a Caste antagonistic to the cause of the IEPC.

Rench:
dockmaster of Perdue Habitat.

Reshima System:
a system in which Ameidio Haid once worked.

Roche, Morgan:
former commander, COE Intelligence.

Rond-Spellor Outlook:
home of Hue Vischilglin.

Rufo, Linegar:
renowned xenoarchaeologist

Saa-hurod:
a Caste maintaining an outpost in Sol System during the crisis.

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.

scutter:
a small, swift spacegoing vessel with many uses, both military and civilian; also known as a singleship.

Sebettu, SRF:
Kesh destroyer.

Second Expansion:
an ancient outsweep known to have led from the Exordium Worlds into the greater galaxy.

Siriote:
a government antagonistic to the IEPC.

Skehan Heterodox:
a tolerant theocracy on the far side of the galaxy, significantly more advanced than the COE.

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 prevent anyone learning what occurred there. Nothing survived of the base, and the rest of the system is an unsalvageable ruin.