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Glossary Nexium
From FritzWiki
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The Chronicles from the Nexus are stories that take place long after the home world is lost and among the fading echoes of a transhuman civilization…
Below are listed terms and their definitions used in the Chronicles of the Nexus. Categories of terms that are closely related can be found clustered here. For all glossary entries with separate articles see Glossary Nexium Definition (category).
A[edit]
- Acronym for angular momentum.
- AU is an acronym for Anarchists' Union.
- Acronym for audio / visual.
- A personality construct used to hide the real personality and provide realistic behavior and thoughts. Also referred to as a personality overlay.
- Adamantium is another term for diamond, or a diamond-like composite that is formed using alchemy.
- Another name for the Dares Club.
- An airship operations and docking area.
- Post embodiment life, most commonly lived in the arkades.
- The Age of Revolution is a period of social upheavel during TE9.
- The alchemistry permeating an organism's tissue, both inter- and intra-cellular.
- A practitioner of alchemistry.
- Nanotechnology. Some forms of alchemistry are mediated by tech, other forms are meant to operate in the dimlands or during an interregnum and do not need the mediation of Monoliths.
- Alchemy is the process of alchemistry.
- The alpha form of neohumans that are (outwardly) the most similar to us (homo sapiens).
- A neohuman rad that is taller and more slender than alpha-humans that was originally engineered for lower gravity worlds.
- Short for angular momentum compensator.
- The Anarchists' Union, or AU, is a loose collection of cities, regions, and empyreans that have no government but operate as political unit. The largest and most significant of these loosely confederated units is Bedlam.
- Angst Gryphon is a jaishin Unterpaladin of Trang. Also known as the Archer because of his signature weapon, a compound pulley bow over seven feet tall. Angst Gryphon appears as the main character in the stories "Fortress of Wind and Glass" and "Death's Harp has One String", as well as being a secondary character in "His First Mistake" and Tactics of Transience.
- An angel is a defensive system, usually composed of a thousands or millions of micro-tech to nano-tech autonomous semi-sentient sub-systems. --(Source: Fritz Freiheit)
- Rotational energy.
- An AM compensator, or angular momentum compensator, is a mechanism for compensating or counteracting unintended angular momentum in a nulspace drive system.
- The annum is the primary form of currency in Spire. Roughly equivalent to one years life extension.
- Broken into deciannums (one tenth of an annum), centiannums (one hundredth of an annum), milliannums (one thousandth of annum).
- In Pelly's time, Argent Stormhaven is Lord Stormhaven. A member of the Mycroft Club, Lord Stormhaven is politically active (unlike Pelly) and engaged in a long-standing political feud with the members of the Shades.
- Someone who is doing an audit.
- A memory audit is to experience the sensoria stored in someone's codex.
B[edit]
- Bedlam is both the largest city in the Anarchists' Union as well as term frequently used synonymously with the Anarchists' Union.
- In Arbaris, 583 TE9 the majority of beta-jaishin revolted against the Shapers leading to the establishment of People's Republic of Edmee.
- A bio-keyed device or matrix has an automated control or lockout based on an individual's genetic code.
- The alchemical substance used in biotanks providing a source of materials for alchemical reactions and heat sink for the waste heat of those reactions.
- A cargo module for living biologicals. Commonly used to store and transport generics.
- A sub-sentient biological robot. Commonly created by Shaper's.
- Biological tech.
- The collection of biotics / biots that is the primary transportation and emergency response system in Arbaris.
- A run-away alchemical process, typically occurring in life support systems.
- Bolthole is a frontier town established near the Bolthole Monolith on the Sea of Glass on Mana. It is the primary setting for "Fortress of Wind and Glass".
- Those areas where the most sophisticated tech is available. As versus the dimlands. Another term for the areas of the Monoliths' influence.
- Slang for a thug or heavy.
- A bubble empyrean is an empyrean with surfaces exposed directly to nulspace. These surfaces are the fade boundary.
C[edit]
- A self-contained unit of cargo.
- CED is an acronym for Cohesive Energy Defense, effective against synclight weapons.
- A codex is a atomic-level data storage matrix that all neohumans have. A codex's primary function is store a complete record of every sensory input (i.e. their entire sensoriae) and brain state of its host. Most adult neohumans have a codex at the base of their brain, and is about the size of a marble and composed of adamantium.
- Recovery of a codex is necessary when resurrecting someone who has died in the dimlands.
- A defensive system counteracting cohesive energy attacks.
- Another term for link.
D[edit]
- Pelly's club. A Spirean social club occasionally referred to as the Adventurers Club.
- Another term for interregnum.
- Another term for interregnum keep.
- Another term for inimicore.
- A demesne (rhymes with "domain"), less commonly referred to as Monolith influence, is the area where tech is functional (at least during an Echo).
- Those areas where the most sophisticated tech is not available. As versus the brightlands. Another term for the areas outside of the Monolith's influence.
- A screen used to hide when people jack into or out of an off-space to maintain the social illusion that off-space is just like on-space.
- A sort of personal obscuration / cloaking field.
- An imp that duplicates or acts as someone else in off-space, or physical duplicate of someone in real-space that is fully acting the original person.
- The brand name of a transparent form of adamantium.
E[edit]
- An Echo is a period during which Monoliths are active and tech works. The periods between Echoes are Interregnums. All the Chronicles of the Nexus stories to date take place during the 9th Echo (TE9).
- The Shaper dominated government of Edmee prior to the beta-jaishin revolt.
- The jaishin dominated government.
- An empyrean is a bubble of real space stabilized out of nulspace. There are two primary forms of empyreans: bubble empyreans and klein empyreans.
- A bubble empyrean is an empyrean with surfaces exposed directly to nulspace. These surfaces are the fade boundary.
- An empyrean that has no surface exposed to nulspace. All locations in a klein empyrean can be accessed (eventually) from any other location.
- A matrix that extracts and stores many forms of energy including kinetic, sonic, heat and background radiation.
- An evolutionary branch, either naturally occurring (i.e. natural selection) or intentionally induced (i.e. genetically engineered).
F[edit]
- The fade is another term for nulspace. Used by majority of the population. The term nulspace is used by nulnauts / nulship personal.
- The fade boundary is the region in a bubble empyrean between the stability of real-space and nulspace.
- The effect of exposure to nulspace. This results in an "evaporation" or "dissolution" of matter smoothing and simplifying, the longer the exposure, the more severe, until nothing is left.
- A name marker used in jaishin culture for "noble" families.
- The mother of Trinette Fé Apisterra.
- The daughter of Shaper Fé Apisterra and the main character of "The Shaper's Daughter".
- TreeYllana Fé Lunnoir is one of the main characters of Tactics of Transience. She prefers TreeYllana over Count Fé Lunnoir.
- A plasma based weapon with a characteristic "guttering roar" and intense orange beam.
- A flexi-wheel is a wheel constructed of multiple spokes each terminating with a gripping or padded tip. It has no tire/tyre, each spoke capable of adjusting it's length and absorbing impacts.
- A disposable paper-like substance.
- An indication of energy flow.
- TreeYllana Fé Lunnoir's yacht.
- The creation of a mental clone of an individual.
- Most cultures of the Nexus ban forking, which leads to the second slang usage of the word fork as a general epithet.
G[edit]
- A generic, or template is a human (or other) body ready for recorporialization. Generics are hairless, mid-brown skin coloration and may or may not have any sexual characteristics, with the most basic generics not having sexual characteristics. Generics are designed to automatically transform (over time) into the 'expected body shape' of the imprinted mind.
- A species of tree common in the dimlands of the Nexus. It is a product of gene-tech and was developed originally to provide neohumans with food, medicine, and other products that are difficult or impossible to manufacture without an advanced technological or industrial base during the darkages between Echoes.
- Symbols, text and other visual overlays. A visual component of augmented reality.
- A slang term for beta-humans.
H[edit]
- A flier which is not much more than a seat on a thrust-shaft. Only usable in a Monolith's demesne. --(Source: Fritz Freiheit)
I[edit]
- An imp is a sub-sentient autonomous 'program' (as in computer program) and a form of tech. Imps can only operate within the influence of a Monolith and thus are restricted to the brightlands.
- There are a number imp subclasses, including demons, doppelgangers, oracles, and sprites.
- Imped defenses are defensive systems that are controlled by one or more imps.
- Imperial Phoenix Empire, or IPE, is one of the dominate empires of the Nexus.
- The police force for the the Imperial Phoenix Empire. Headquartered in the IPE capitol Spire.
- Imperitas is a measure of societal weight or importance. It can be used to influence imps that would otherwise not respond to anyone but their 'owners'. For example, a policeman might use imperitas to order an imp to unlock a door in the course of the investigation of a crime.
- An inimicore is a sentient or semi-sentient core with a purpose of subverting and ultimately destroying the remnants of the Transhumans. The origins of inimicores are obscure, some dating back to before the first Echo.
- A group of players organized by the Night Whippoorwill to fight for freedom.
- Acronym for Imperial Police.
- Slang for Imperial Policeman.
- Slang for the Imperial Police.
J[edit]
- The after affects of jumping. Typically dizziness and disorientation.
- Slang for bodyguard.
- A jump shunt is a jump redirection field.
K[edit]
- A matrix that converts other forms of energy into kinetic energy.
- An empyrean that has no surface exposed to nulspace. All locations in a klein empyrean can be accessed (eventually) from any other location.
- Kregar the Dimlander, so called because he grew up in the dimlands, is a jaishin best known for leading the cursor revolts during the Era of Revolution. He is the main character in the short stories "Stealing a Seed of the Giving-Tree" and "Lair of the Feathered Termites".
L[edit]
League of the Seven Cities of the Sea of Light, the
- An alliance of cities on Mana. The capitol rotates among the member cities.
- The navigational "channel" between two Monoliths. Ley lines are extremely important for navigation in nulspace. Without them, it is extremely easy to get lost. To travel off of a ley line requires the nulship to have a micro-Monolith.
- A life certificate is a social contract indicating that the holder can be resurrected.
- Slang for linear accelerator.
- The neohuman ability to communicate directly with another neohuman. Linking is similar to telepathy, but is not psionic like telepathy, rather it is tech integrated into the brain.
- Link fix is a mechanism for 'fixing', i.e. establishing, a link to someone not directly known by the linker. This is typically a picture (animated or not) of the individual to be linked with.
- A lognomic ability is the ability to control biological processes voluntarily, particularly for involuntary process in humans. One of the primary distinctions between precursor humans and neohumans. One of the most common lognomic abilities encountered in the Chronicles from the Nexus is the ability to suppress or shunt pain.
M[edit]
- Mana is part of the Core Cluster and home of the League of the Seven Cities of Light.
- A martian is a soldier on a airship or nulship.
- A general replacement for the term "marine", shifting the focus from water/maritime to martial/military.
- Note that the term "martian" is not capitalized as it has nothing to do with the planet or god Mars, as both have been lost.
- A maxwell pump is a microscopic form of tech that efficiently pumps gasses or fluids across a barrier. Frequently used to isolate specific compounds out of a mixture or create high quality vacuums such as in zeppelin lift cells.
- mesa archipelago
- See archipelago (mesa).
- The city within a city, hollowed out within the Wall and generally inhabited by 'undesirable elements'.
- A (nonhuman) cyborg.
- Meduse (or the plural medusae) are biological blimp / aeroship / biot developed by the Shapers. Medusae resemble huge aerial egg-shaped jellyfish with a variety of tentacles and other fleshy parts dangling from their underside.
- A mental duplicate.
- A telepathic or psionic forced reading of at mind. Usually performed to verify the targets identity.
- A physical modification (of an organism).
- To have a mod, to be physical changed.
- To mod.
- A slang word meaning something like 'cool', 'awesome', or 'wow'. It is a derived from the term Monolith
- Monoliths are massive artifacts left by the transhumans. The single most important feature supporting tech and the brightlands culture of the Nexus.
- Monowire or shadow wire is a wire made from a single molecule (thus mono-molecular wire), typically adamantium.
- monowire grenade
- See snarl grenade.
N[edit]
- Alchemical protective or regenerative potion, typically infused throughout an organism.
- Neohumans are our descendants, genetically modified to one degree or another. Neohumans have been extensively engineered since our time. Many of the changes were introduced during the transhuman era, but significant modifications occurred during the transhuman echos.
- Nerve wire is physical-augmentation tech that replaces or runs in parallel to normal biological nerves.
- A matrix, typically in the form of a collar, that filters nerve signals to the body blocking voluntary motor control.
- The Nexus (as versus a nexus) is a collection of nodes (mostly planets and empyreans) which are connected by Monoliths and their ley lines.
Night Whippoorwill, the (character)
- The Night Whippoorwill, a.k.a. the Alchemist of Liberty, is the leader of the Intrepids and responsible for the rescuing of many Shapers during the Age of Revolution.
- Night Whippoorwill, The (story)
- Template:The Night Whippoorwill (story)
- Someone who travels through nulspace.
- A nulship is a ship or vehicle capable of traveling through nulspace. Nulship personal are called nulnauts.
- Nulspace is the destabilized probability, transdimensional space that pervades the Nexus. Contrast with real-space and off-space.
- A device or mechanism for (safely) driving a nulship through nulspace. Components of a nulspace drive system includes an angular momentum compensator, a reality stabilizer, as well as a drive shaft.
O[edit]
- A term for virtual reality. As versus real-space.
- Another term for real-space. As versus off-space.
- An oracle path is a sequence of possible events generated by an oracle.
- The one and only continent on planet Opyl. It is dominated by a central plateau that rises two miles above the jungle choked coastal regions.
- Opyl is one of the central planets of the Nexus. Opyl has a single continent, also called Opyl, that is dominated by a central plateau that rises two miles above the jungle choked coastal regions.
- On Opyl there is a single continent, also called Opyl, dominated by the central Opyl Plateau which rises two miles above the jungle choked coastal regions. Opyl Plateau is the primary inhabited zone of Opyl, and almost entirely brightland.
P[edit]
- A champion or defender of a noble cause, or at least, what the adherents of the cause consider noble. --(Source: Fritz Freiheit)
- A couch used by people to leave their physical body while jacked into off-space.
- parker couch
- A couch used by people to leave their physical body while jacked into off-space.
- Pelly, an aristocratic, fluff-headed member of the Dares Club and his valet Winters have been a team since the events of "Winters' Unexpected Arrival".
- The government of Edmee during the Era of Revolution (TE9).
- Typically an individual who is on the far side of the transhuman line.
- Power armor is a full body armored suit that is environmentally sealed with motors that augment the wearer's strength and sometimes speed. A suit of powered armor can be thought of as a one-man man-shaped tank. Contrast with exoskeleton.
- PRF
- See pseudo-reality field.
- A rule built into tech. See The Proscriptions.
- The set of rules built into tech by the Transhumans.
- In nulspace a pseudo-reality field (or PRF) is generated around a nulship to permit long distance weapons, such as beam weapons, enough stability to operate. Cheaper and almost as effective as a reality field.
- Abbreviation or prefix for psionic.
- Abbreviation for psionic.
- Psionics refer to a group of powers derived from the mind, most notably from a minds interaction with a Monolith or a core. In some rare cases the psionic abilities do not require such an interaction and can manifest in the dimlands.(Source: Fritz Freiheit)
- The skill or talent for reading someones emotional (etc.) state from subtle and not so subtle physical clues. Includes be able to tell when someone is linking.
Q[edit]
- Quash is an alchemical substance used to suppress or neutralize other alchemical substances activity.
- A quash pit is a reservoir of quash kept on hand for emergency suppression of alchemical substances or artifacts.
R[edit]
- A slang term evolutionary radiation.
- Tech that shifts the highly unstable nature of nulspace in such a way as to create a bubble of stable real-space.
- The signature left by reality stabilization, typically from a nulship.
- To recorporialize is to resurrect in a new body, typically either in a clone or a generic.
- The uberzeppelin that the main action of the Tactics of Transience takes place.
- To bring back to life. There are two forms of resurrection, recorporialization and revivification
- To revivify is to resurrect using a repaired body rather than a new one (see recorporialize).
S[edit]
- Savage Mesa is the mesa that Trinette Fé Apisterra was born on. It is part of the northern Opyl mesa archipelago.
- A security analyst reviews mission info, constructs and interprets oracles, and generally tries to anticipate and advice on mission threats.
- A large expanse of desert on Mana fused into glass at some point in the distant past.
- Spire Shadowside, or just plain Shadowside, is Spire's sister city, north of the the Wall and, consequently, perpetually in shadow.
- Prior to the Edmee beta revolt the elite alpha-jaishin ruling class of the Edmee. Known for their abilities in genetic engineering, biological sciences, and biotech.
- Wherein a young girl is confronted with her mother's past.
- Genetic and / or biological engineering.
- The political decision making body under the Shaper Radix.
- The 'root' or primary Shaper. The political focus point of political power among Shapers.
shock transfer impedance by force feedback armor
- Shunting pain is the lognomic ability among neohumans to turn off pain signals to the brain.
- Sigma is a measure of probability derived from the normal distribution. A sigma of value of 1 is approximately 68%, a sigma value of 2 is approximately 95%, and a sigma value of 3 is over 99%. As sigma grows, the closer to 100% the probability becomes.
- Abbreviation for simulation, typically associated with off-space simulations.
- A simulation tank used for navigation.
- A collection of ley lines that are interconnected and strongly related by the characteristics of the planets and empyreans connected to those ley lines.
- A grenade that contains a snarl of monowire. When triggered, the snarl of monowire rapidly expands, reducing everything it engulfs to a molecular slush. Also called a shadow grenade or monowire grenade.
- A gun that fires a monowire snarl. When fired, the snarl of monowire rapidly expands, reducing everything it engulfs to a molecular slush.
- A matrix that produces shadow wire / monowire.
- The city of Spire and its enclosing empyrean are both named after the Spire Monolith.
- The capitol city of the Imperial Phoenix Empire located in the Spire empyrean.
- The klein empyrean containing the city of Spire centered on the Spire monolith.
- The Monolith at the center of the city of Spire and its empyrean.
- Spire Shadowside, or just plain Shadowside, is Spire's sister city, north of the the Wall and, consequently, perpetually in shadow.
- Someone from Spire.
- A weapon that fires a napalm-like blob of burning gel. So called because of its characteristic spitting noise.
- A specialized imp for displaying information and/or interacting visually.
- Tech that reduces or eliminates the reality scrambling effects of nulspace.
- stabilizer, reality
- See stabilizer (null-space).
- StickTight is a brand name in the Nexus for a products, usually in the form of gloves or booties, that allows the user to cling to nearly any surface.
- Acronym for Shock Transfer Impedance by Force Feedback, also referred to as stiffy armor.
- A suppressor is tech that degrades or blocks the functioning of other tech.
- Synclight, or synchronized light is another term for lasers.
T[edit]
- A tactical commander, or TacCom, is a leader of a combat team or squad in charge of monitoring the team and providing tactical oversight. TacComs are usually not physically with the combat team and are jacked into an off-space equipped with a simtank. A TacCom can provide tactical glyphs, such as targeting, alerts and backup communications. Same as a tactical coordinator, but within a strict command hierarchy.
- Acronym for Transhuman Echo.
- Acronym for Transhuman Echo 9.
- Technology so sophisticated that it will only (fully) operate when supported by a Monolith.
- During the Era of Revolution, the period when the People's Republic of Edmee became a tyranny.
- Theseus Blacksail is a member of the Imperial Police and an unmodified. He appears in "The Unmodified Man" and, before joining the Imperial Police, in "Up in the Nightgaunts Gang" as Mouse (UitNG character). And yes, his named is derived from the ancient Greek Theseus. But that is another story.
- A transcension is the transition of an individual from embodied living in real-space to afterlife in an arkade.
- In the Nexus, transhumans are our descendants, forming a wide flung civilization. We are the distant ancestors of neohumans.
- The Transhuman civilization was the neohuman civilization of the Transhuman Era, a civilization of effective immortals that created the Monoliths, colonized nulspace, and discovered the Nexus.
- A period when tech is fully functional, which occurs (somewhat unpredictably) at intervals after the fall of the Transhumans. As versus Interregnum (or Darkage).
- The period when humanity made its greatest achievements, including the creation of the Monoliths and the establishment of the Nexus structures interconnected via nulspace ley lines.
- The transhuman civilization that is the progenitor of the civilizations in the Nexus. The exact circumstances behind the fall of the Transhumans is not known, but it is rumored that some of the Powers still living were alive during height of the Transhuman Civilization.
- A general term for the transhuman civilization that predates the civilization of the Nexus.
- See mod.
- TreeYllana Fé Lunnoir is one of the main characters of Tactics of Transience. She prefers TreeYllana over Count Fé Lunnoir.
U[edit]
- A very large zeppelin, such as the Reichgeist.
- Another term for jack out.
- An unmodified person is a someone in the Nexus who hasn't been exposed to alchemical alteration. This rare condition is sought after and protected by the Imperial Police (and other groups) as an unmodified has no "hooks" that an inimicore's alchemistry can exploit at a distance. See "The Unmodified Man".
- An unterpaladin is paladin of Trang who has not yet transcended to the arkades.
V[edit]
- The v- or velocity-shield is defensive tech which creates field in which the velocity or momentum of an object is converted into heat.
- The capital city of Vaggeistland on Opyl.
- Vaggeistland is the nation to the east of Edmee on Opyl, populated primarily by alpha-humans. Its capitol is Vaggeist.
- Additions to the visual field, such as glyphs.
W[edit]
- The Night Whippoorwill's zephyr class zeppelin nulship and personal yacht.
X[edit]
Y[edit]
- A beta-jaishin who came to power during the Era of Revolution in the People's Republic of Edmee.
Z[edit]
- A zeppelin is a lighter than air craft with a rigid adamantium structure containing the vacuum lift cells. As versus blimp or balloon.
- Zewt is a slang exclamation of disgust or sometimes excitement, meaning something like 'damn', 'shoot', or 'rats'. Zewt is milder than fork.
- Failure to jump or jack in (to an off-space), being thrown back to ones starting point, being forced to start over.
- A tech effect that introduces enough oxygen into unshielded objects to detonate explosives and other volatile substances.
- A zip grenade is a matrix that releases a brief zip field, which won't seriously injure or kill a human, but will ignite flammables or detonate explosives.
Sub-Glossaries
List of the Chronicles from the Nexus
- AoL - "The Alchemist of Liberty" -- a Night Whippoorwill and the Intrepids story
- DA - Death Angst -- an Angst Gryphon story
- DHhOS - "Death's Harp has One String" -- an Angst Gryphon story
- DDtWoM - "Drink Deep the Wine of Memory" -- a Chance story
- DRfF - "Death Rides for Free" -- a Night Whippoorwill and the Intrepids story
- FoWaG - "Fortress of Wind and Glass" -- an Angst Gryphon story
- LotFT - "Lair of the Feathered Termites" -- a Kregar the Dimlander story.
- SaPoT - "Seizing a Pearl of Time"
- SD - "The Shaper's Daughter" -- a Trinette story
- SaSotGT - "Stealing a Seed of the Giving-Tree" -- a Kregar the Dimlander story.
- SitS - "A Sword in the Spokes" -- a Pelly and Winters story
- ToT - Tactics of Transience -- a TreeYllana, Drey and Darrett story
- UitNG - "Up in the Nightgaunts Gang" -- a Nightguants gang story
- UM - "The Unmodified Man" -- a Theseus Blacksail story
- WUA - "Winters' Unexpected Arrival" -- a Pelly and Winters story
See Also
- A note on the use (or lack thereof) of capitalization in the Chronicles from the Nexus.
- List of sayings from the Nexus
- Category:Definition
- Category:Definition Clusters
- Category:Glossary Nexium Definition
- Category:Nexus Definition Clusters
- Category:Nexus Key Concept
- Glossary Nexium redirects
[[File:|right|thumbnail|50px]]
Categories[edit]
- CftN (category)
- Chronicles from the Nexus (category)
- Fritz's Fiction (category)
- GN (category)
- Glossary (category)
- Glossary Nexium (category)
- Has Data Table (category)
- Has FirstFloatRight (category)
- Has Layout (category)
- Has Layout Base (category)
- Has Navbox (category)
- Has Spoiler (category)
- Has Tags (category)
- List (category)
- Needs Definition (category)
- Needs Work (category)
- Nexus (category)
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- Source Fritz (category)
