Post by Narrator on May 16, 2010 1:06:12 GMT -5
__ THE LEXICON
terms used on the site
terms used on the site
- Aeropolis – Huge floating cities constructed to lift people up above the pollution choking the planet, the Aeropoli are the homes of the rich and famous. If somebody had built cities on aircraft carriers and launched those into the air, they might have looked something like these massive constructions. The Aeropoli consume massive amounts of power and resource and new launches are increasingly rare despite the Phalanx's promise to one day be able to lift the whole population into the clean air.
- Animals – Due to the many years of climate change and pollution, the planet's natural wildlife has undergone everything from declining populations to mass extinctions. Nowadays, most animals can only be seen in zoo's based on the Aeropoli. Livestock is a rare commodity, meat for the general populace is synthetic protein and a steak from an actual cow would cost a person a small fortune. An actual living cat or dog is now worth the price of what an expensive sports car used to be, and without a permit for one you could be in for some trouble.
- Architect – Architects are the engineers who design Sparrow models: where engineers and enginseers tend to work on general parts or on a single specific Sparrow, an Architect will design an entire Sparrow. Many are classified as genius. Some of the more famous include John Galt, who is still designing most of the machines for Galt Operating Company, Geert Jansink, the late ICARUS CEO, Talqudar's Anahera Ngaio, and ex-Pathkey Glasslyn Architect Judas Ruthven. See also Enginseer.
- Aspect – Mechanical animals of every shape and size (though they tend not to exceed a certain limit and stray into Sparrow territory), Aspects were in part the answer to the growing extinction of natural species, and as a means of workhorse. Since their creation, Aspects are made to be anything from pets to weapons, and expensive ones at that. While they cost less then an organic animal they are rare among the everyday people, and when one is decommissioned it is often stripped and pitted of it's armor and left to work on a Vertical Farm. Aspects are not self aware, but the more expensive they are the more advanced the Artificial Intelligence is, and some can even be upgraded with vocal mechanics and limited personality.
- Black Armistice – A period of tense peace enforced by the companies and the threat of their Sparrows; it was a turbulent time that didn't feature any state-directed wars but certainly saw its time of unrest and violence.
- Black Armsrace – A period of messy economic warfare, with the companies buying up other companies, governments, intellectual right, even people, vying for power and influence. Most of the companies were founded during this time.
- Credits [ ₢ ] – The global currency, introduced by the Companies to replace the dollar as the most and sometimes only recognized form of money throughout the world.
- Cursed Founding – The year both Pathkey and Maxim were founded; both were doomed to be destroyed.
- Enginseer – Enginseer is a conceptual rank above an engineer, usually indicating a specialization or leadership role. The term is sometimes interchangeable with Architect, but most Enginseers work as a project manager for a specific part or discipline, such as Johnny Bai's specialization in Gevurah. Their rank in some companies is more as a designer or inventor than practical or hands-on leader or engineer.
- FME – Fine Motor Emulation is a system related to Sparrow Plugsuits that allows the computer to translate fine motion performed by the pilot into commands for the Sparrow, meaning that the craft can undertake delicate procedures like reloading a weapon.
- Gevurah – A form of energy developed by Johnny Bai and Ain Soph Aur that is more high intensity and stable - in its theoretical finished form - than current nuclear power. Currently, ASA Sparrows can be converted to run on Gevurah, giving them much shorter periods of activity but much more effectiveness during that shorter time. It is currently unstable and disabling a Gevurah machine usually mean destroying its reactor, thereby ruining the chance for the Phalanx to research and attempt to copy the design.
- Global Disarmament War – A period of time during which most world governments sought to disarm everybody else and so attain peace and their own supremacy; it was a massive surge of violence and unrest and millions died. It was only stopped when the four Originals, the proto-Phalanx, introduced their Sparrows and said to now mostly weaponless countries stop.
- Knight – Many places are protected by Knights – mostly these are Sparrow pilots who have retired from active service into the job of making sure company holdings are held. Sometimes they double as governors, other times simply as landowning bullies. Often they fade away when their land is no longer under direct threat, Sparrow sold.
- Lullaby Epidemic – taking its name from the fainting spells it induced, the Lullaby Epidemic killed a huge number of people on the planet's surface some years ago. It caused massive internal bleeding by ruining the body's ability to absorb some nutrients, crystals of which weakened and tore open arteries and veins. The result meant fainting from bloodloss and vitamin deficiency, bruises people assumed were from the frequent falls but came from bleeding under the skin. It was spread through contaminated water in at least four locations and there are still rumours it was a biological attack - although the aggressor and target are unknown.
- Lyrimony – An addictive drug that is used by SPRW pilots to drastically increase their synchronization rates, but has numerous harmful side effects from prolonged use. Lyrimony comes in two forms; electric blue pills for day to day use, and a luminous blue liquid form that is used as an injection. The pills, while safer, take a longer time to take effect, while the injection gets directly into a pilots system, but with greater consequence from overuse. More information can be found here.
- Original, Original Four – Akhtar, GM, Galt and ICARUS, the first four companies of the Phalanx and those who first brought the Sparrows into existence.
- Phalanx – the current conglomerate of leading companies: Galt, Glasslyn, GM Hoshino Heavy Industries, Taluqdar, TIANLONG and Vulperion. These companies control all commerce; they own all the resources and smaller companies. They have more heft than most governments ever did and have replaced states as governing bodies.
- Plugsuit – Although it is possible to perform very basic functions without one, pilots must wear plugsuits to get the most out of their craft – and to prevent themselves from getting crushed by extreme g-force generated by the speed at which their Sparrows can move. A plugsuit requires, at its most basic, skin-tight gloves run through with FME micro-filaments, equipment to measure and regulate life support, ports for it to connect to the Sparrow mainframe, and respirators or rebreathing technology. More information.
- Sleepeater – slang translation of Spanish term Comedor Sueño coined to describe the insomniac symptoms of Lyrimony poisoning and withdrawal. It is also used colloquially to describe Lyrimony and people taking, or recovering from taking, the drug and suffering insomniac symptoms as a result.
- Sparrow – see SPRW
- SPRW – 25-40 foot manoeuvrable mechs, designed during the Disarmament War. They are highly customizable, hugely destructive machines that have replaced armies almost entirely. More information can be found here
- Trousers – Slang term used to mean the Sans-coulettes, who take their name from a French Revolution term meaning to lack an expensive legging or trouser favoured by the rich. Trouserless, pantsless, leggies and translations thereof are also common.
- Vertical Farm – In order to feed the massive numbers of people on the planet, agriculture has switched over to using vertical farming as it's main means of cultivation. Giant 'farmscrapers' built in urban areas house the crops and are grown using hydroponics. The vast majority of the populace works on these green skyscrapers, as it is the most common job to come by, maintained by the companies, who own most if not all of them. There is a significant difference between the ones on earth and the ones on the Aeropoli; in terms of production, variety and cleanliness, the farms on the Aeropoli are vastly superior.
- White Market – Black Markets renamed to avoid being connected to the Black Armistice or Armsrace, these are a purpose rather than places. They sell defective, left over or scavenged parts, weapons, Lyrimony, Aspects, forged papers and flesh-and-blood-pets; anything people on the surface are only allowed access to in Phalanx-controlled amounts. Unemployed pilots can buy entire Sparrows here, as the markets employ thousands of salvage teams and engineers that repair damaged parts.