l Aberrant War, Second: From 2104-2125, a time of informal conflict during which Aberrants returned to attack Earth and its colony worlds, eventually being driven off by the Psi Orders and returning to deep space.
l Aberrant War, Third: A concerted, if disorganized, assault on humanity that lasted from 2256-2270, and ended with the Aberrants' defeat by the Psi Orders at the First Battle of Ruan's World.
l Aberrant War, Fourth (commonly abbreviated AbWar4): The most ruthless, organized and destructive attack of Aberrants upon humanity to date, lasting from 2608-2631. During the war, more than two hundred worlds -- including Earth and Ruan's World -- were either rendered uninhabitable or destroyed outright, the Psi Orders were crushed, and more than 68 billion humans and fifty million of their alien allies were slain. It ended with the Aberrants being driven from the galaxy with the help of the Edenite Novas.
l Aeon Institute: The successor to the Aeon Society, a group dedicated to the best interests of the Allied Races and the preservation and restoration of knowledge, culture, civilization and order to the Three Million.
l Alexandria Project: The Aeon Institute's plan, started in 2499, to gather as much of human and alien knowledge as possible in an archive, there to be preserved against the chaos of the Interregnum.
l Allied Races: Humanity, Qin, Chromatics, Phylans and Nautiloids. When humans use the term, though, they're usually referring to the non-humans in that list. With the exception of Nautiloids, all are available as player-characters.
l Ansible: The principle of FTL communications using entangled particles to transfer data instantly over interstellar gulfs. Ansible devices must be created together as sets, then one of the paired devices must be transported to its destination. Only slower-than-light or singularity ships (see also) can carry them, since 4DT or any form of teleportation breaks the entangled-particle link. (See EPIC, Arknet.)
l Aquilans: A non-carbon-based sentient life form that either is, or merely inhabits, complex piezoelectric crystalline matricies. They were invaded by, and easily repelled, Aberrant forces in 2392 and 2650. However, they refused humanity's request to help them in the Fourth Aberrant War.
l Ark: A massive, self-sufficient, self-mobile space colony originated by the Phylans (see). Types range from huge self-contained spaceships to conjoined clusters of ships to hollowed-out planetoids.
l Arknet: The ansible network linking Coalition (later Phylan) arks.
l Autoc: An independent government ruling a multi-system region of space. The term is derived from "autocracy," but does not imply anything about the particular form of the government. Plural is autox.
l Biorg: A genetically manipulated life form, whether sentient or not. Unlike biosynths, biorgs are derived from the genetic structures of pre-existing creatures and are usually, though not always, fertile. (Compare biosynth.)
l Biosynth: A synth composed of biotech materials; an artificial sentient being created through biotech methods and equipment. Biosynths' genetic material is designed from the ground up, unlike biorgs. They are most often nonfertile. (Compare teksynth, biorg.) Biosynths are available as player characters.
l Confed: Short for Confederation of Allied Worlds, the common term for what remains of the interstellar government that once ruled the Three Million, and now holds sway over a mere fraction of that number of planets.
l Divestiture, The: Common term for the section of the New Confederation Constitution (2694) that released the Spacefleets from direct federal control and gave them authority to derive their own support from their client worlds.
l Domain: A multi-system region of space ruled by an Autoc. Specifically, the advanced, heavily-populated ones lying close to the heart of the old Confed.
l Doyen: The psionically active alien race that gave humanity the Prometheus Chambers that unlocked its psionic abilities back in the early 22nd century. Today, the Prometheus Chambers and the Doyen have likewise been destroyed.
l Earth: Third planet of the Sol system, 4.3 light-years from Khantze Lu Ge. Birthplace and former home of humanity, rendered uninhabitable during the Fourth Aberrant War.
l Edenites: Inhabitants of planet Eden, home to the remaining Novas, quantum-powered beings (like Aberrants) who had not become corrupted or mutated by Taint (unlike Aberrants) and helped drive the Aberrants out of the Three Million at the end of the Fourth Aberrant War. After this act, the Eden star system and all its inhabitants were Warped out of the galaxy, destination unknown.
l EPIC: Entangled Particle Instant Communications. The network of ansible links that join(ed) many of the larger worlds of the Three Million. Its hub-and-spoke organizational system allowed it to expand quickly, but made it vulnerable to a few well-placed Aberrant attacks during AbWar4. Today, few working branches still exist, mainly in the Domains with the resources to restore their links after the war.
l Eridani Prefecture: The largest, richest and most powerful of the Domains, comprising more than 30,000 worlds and surpassed only by the remains of the Confed.
l Fleet: See Spacefleet.
l Fourth Dimensional Tension ("4DT"): A method of reactionless FTL travel that works by sheathing a spaceship in a zero-thickness layer of other-dimensional space. It is the method of FTL travel used most commonly by Chromatics.
l Fringe, The: The lesser-populated (and generally less civilized) edges of the Three Million; particularly, the human regions bordering the Verge and the Purge Zone.
l Interregnum: The 300-year period of revolution, anarchy, barbarism and lawlessness that ensued upon the collapse of the Confed.
l Kani: A crustacean-like, hexapedal alien species about which little is known. Initial contact between Kani and humanity resulted in a state of war, which, due to the collapse of the Confed, has never formally been concluded.
l Khantze Lu Ge: One of humanity's oldest interstellar colonies and capital world of the Confederation of Worlds.
l Lle-lle: "House of Houses," the collective coordinating body of the Qin.
l Local day: A unit of time based on the rotation of a particular planet; differs from world to world. (Compare standard day.)
l Mosaic, The: The collective Chromatic government.
l Nautiloids: A human-assigned term for a species of sentient mollusklike aliens who were attacked by Aberrants in 2542, rescued by Spacefleet in 2544 and joined the Confederation in 2545.
l Octant: One of the nine astrographical and formerly administrative regions of the Three Million. Each octant, except the Sixth, has its own Fleet.
l Operant: The most powerful and versatile category of psi-active humans.
l Outer Arm: The largely unexplored edge of the Milky Way galaxy, thought to be the refuge of Aberrants driven out of the Three Million by Edenite Novas in the Fourth Aberrant War.
l Outer Worlds: The regions of the Three Million outside the Confed, Domains and Protectorates; roughly, the human regions more than approximately 2,500 light-years from Khantze Lu Ge. Includes the Fringe.
l Phenotype: Meta-game term. A "package" purchased during character building to represent the various character types -- Talent, Savant, Operant, Chromatic, Phyle, Qin and Synth.
l Phyle Union: The loose, cooperative government of the Phylans.
l Phyle Wars: The slow-burn revolution during which the Coalition, with human help, threw off the rule of the Breeders and their Aberrant allies.
l Phyles: The post-Phyle Wars term for the Coalition. Individuals are called "Phylans."
l Pilgrims: A relatively small Phylan population that has separated from a larger ark or colony.
l Pilgrim convoy: A collection of spacecraft that travels together and is home to a pilgrim group. Compare ark.
l Project Rebirth: The Aeon Institute's plan to return the knowledge archived in the Alexandria Project to the galaxy and assist in returning order and stability to the Three Million.
l Protectorates: Areas of the Three Million under direct control of a non-human race; i.e., Qin, Chromatic, Phylan and Nautiloid space.
l Psy: A psi-active human; a term replacing "psion."
l Psychomorph: A human who came by psionic powers naturally, as opposed to going through a Prometheus Chamber. A term known only to academics, since the Chambers have been destroyed for centuries and tank-dunked Psions are unknown in the present day.
l Purge, The: Aberrant forces' attempt to contain humanity to its own pocket of the galaxy by destroying planets in order to disrupt starfall routes, and corrupting space with Taint to prevent psionic teleportation through the zone. It ended when Aberrants encountered the Aquilans for a second time and were again defeated.
l Purge Zone: The region of space where Aberrants succeeded in disrupting starfall routes and tainting space to prevent jump ships from crossing the area. Also known as the Wall, the Gap, the Scar, Dead Zone.
l QIC ("Quick"): Quantum Intelligence Construct. A hardtech true synthetic sentience. Term is often used interchangably with Teksynth (see also), though QICs also run spaceships, colonies, cities, orbital stations and the like.
l Radio Tunneling (RT, Tunnelcom): A communication system using starfall points to bypass normal space. Synchronized satellites are stationed at both ends of the starfall route; at predetermined intervals, the satellites open both fallpoints, transmit data bidirectionally, then close. RT has been used by the chromatics/Mosaic for interstellar communications since the destruction of the EPIC network (see), but is uncommon through the rest of known space because the satellites prevent normal starfall traffic.
l Repository, The: Headquarters of the Aeon Institute, also the world where it is located. Location of the Alexandria Project archives. Its location is unknown outside Aeon, and even its existence is thought by many to be mere rumor.
l Sap: Slang. A sapient/sentient being.
l Savant: A human with a moderate level of psi power, approximately the same level as a Trinity-era psion.
l Singularity Drive: A method of FTL travel that uses the gravitic energies of a captive black hole to contract the space in front of a spaceship and expand the space behind it. This is teh method of FTL travel used most often by Phylan ships.
l Spacefleet: The former spacefaring military arm of the Confed. When the Confed collapsed in the late 2600s, the nine Fleets were turned loose to fend for themselves.
l Standard Day: A time unit based on the circadian rhythms of the human body, adopted as a standard measure of time for the CIS and later the Confederation, but today in use mainly in the human sections of the Three Million. Equal to 1.05 Earth rotations (25.2 Earth hours). (Compare local day.)
l Starfall: A hardtech method of spaceship teleportation. It only works along certain routes ("starfall lanes" or "starfall routes") accessed by opening temporary wormholes at specific locations in the gravity wells of star systems ("starfall points" or simply "fallpoints"). It is the method of FTL travel most commonly used by humans.
l Sundering, The: The breaking away of hundreds of thousands of worlds from the Confederation, starting in 2657, that led to the collapse of the Old Confed and the start of the Interregnum.
l Synth: Originally a slang term, now generally accepted. Derived from "synthetic intelligence"; a true sentience of artificial origin.
l Talent: A human with a limited psi ability, generally one predetermined effect only.
l Teksynth: A synth composed entirely of hardtech materials; a QIC in an ambulatory frame or body. Teksynths are available as player characters. (Compare biosynth.)
l Themis: The fourth division of the Aeon Institute (along with Neptune, Triton and Proteus). Named for the Titaness of knowledge and justice, it is in charge of the Alexandria Project and Project Rebirth.
l Three Million, The: The area of the Milky Way explored and mapped by humanity and its allied species. Derived from the approximate number of star systems it contains, though only about one in ten of those systems was ever colonized. Covers approximately one-fifth of the Milky Way.
l Tribes: Roving groups of sapient beings, either extended families or otherwise closely associated, with both psi-active members and access to some form of interstellar travel. Most commonly found out on the Fringe.
l Verge, The: The near-starless void separating the explored and populated Perseus Arm of the Milky Way from the largely unexplored Outer Arm.
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