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Terminology
AI – A digital intelligence that has become self aware. AI’s are granted certain civil rights as independent entities.
Battlenet – A military grade quantum network. From simple voice to sensory experience in a simulated space, Battlenets offer secure, enhanced information transfer and rapid participation from physically separate members. Closest approximation is to telepathy.
Beamworx – A line of portable military lasers favored by Special Forces.
Cocktails – Military slang for different drug families, usually numbered. Number 7 is used to steady militias, 9 is used for speed learning, 11 is a personalized mix of combat enhancers.
Combat Skins – (aka Skins or Exo) A custom fitted powered musculature using synthetic biology and nanotech materials. Strength and stamina are greatly enhanced. Combat models include a tightly woven mesh armor coating. Some modular add-ons are available. (See Electric Organ)
Dole – Welfare programs providing bare sustenance to the indigent.
Doppelganger – A disguise to imitate a specific person, usually involving gel masks, voice tuning and upload interrogations. Templars can use quantum implants and learning simulations to closely mimic their subject.
Electric Organ – An added component to Skins that generates high voltage fields, similar to an electric eel. Voltage is used for combat, sensory input or a variety of electrical tasks. Weapon regulated.
Fabricator – (fab; verb) A nano manufacturing plant that builds objects from template designs and raw stock at the molecular level. Various sizes and capabilities of fabrication are available.
Garda – The privatized Earth military, composed of individual units, licensed and subsidized by the world government of Earth. (see The Union) Overseen by the Judiciary and Citizen Oversight committees.
Graser – Tuned gamma ray laser, classified as a WMD for its effects at high power levels. A military line-of-sight energy weapon, favored for long range work against electronics or soft targets.
Happy Place – A private simulation space acting as an idiosyncratic retreat. Also used within distributed social networks. Both biological and upload minds can interact within shared Happy Places.
Hogdon C12 - A drum fed auto shotgun. Filled with a variety of rounds, it is extremely lethal within 100 meters. Suppressors can be added to muffle the firing signature.
Implant – A splinter of density matrix, entangled with a quantum computer and connected to the brain. Physically, Templars have the implant grown along the inside of the vertebra and connected through the spinal column to the brain. High density, secure communications are available with the entangled computer or any network it is connected to. (see Battlenet)
The Real – The material world. A qualifier becomes important as more minds are Uploaded to quantum workspaces. The validity of the quantum world is a source of debate in some cultures, but all can believe in the Real.
Kernel – Base coding for a digital intelligence containing communication protocols; the cognitive map of intelligent consciousness.
Also a collection of constructor nano and base coding to build a specific complex device or object.
Lifter – A general class of air transport using a lifting body shape and variable angle turbofans for vertical takeoff and landing.
Mimetics – A cloaking system transferring images from one side to active camouflage coverings on the other. A detailed, reactive image but distortion blurs the outline and is made more obvious with movement.
Simulator – An entertainment and educational capsule bed using direct brain connections and sensory encoding to completely immerse the participant. Special drugs can enhance the experience.
Splatgun – A pneumatic gun firing skin penetrative incapacitating drugs. It is similar in use to a powerful paintball gun.
Splinter – A purpose edited copy of an artificial intelligence. Once the purpose is fulfilled, the copy is converted to a data archive. Splinters have reduced civil rights and are not in succession for primacy if the original is lost.
Subgun – One of a family of submachine guns. Many are pneumatic using high pressure bottles. Some versions may still use cartridges. Effective range about 150 meters.
Templars – Garda special cultural agents for the Christian cultures.
The Union – The world government of Earth, representing all cultures and offworld colonies. The Senate is both a legislative and executive component appointed by members of the Representative House, which is an elected legislative body. Both are informed by Judiciary findings of the World Court. Military forces are licensed by the Senate but overseen by the Courts.
Transference – The process of imprinting a human upload to a manufactured body. Technically, the process requires an AI and an advanced molecular biology lab. Legally, the imprint must be a proven line of succession from a qualified person. The original must be deceased to complete succession to the new body. There can be only one Primary.
Upload – A digital capture of a biological intelligence. The upload can be run within a cybernetic system as an approximation of life or imprinted to a manufactured body. (see Transference.)
War Chest – A data repository used by Garda AI's. It contains all technical specifications and historical records related to the application of violence. The repository allows alternatives when diplomacy fails.