Shadow of the Swan (Book Two of the Phoenix Legacy) (48 page)

CONTACT ALARM: (Phoenix) A warning sensor worn next to the skin; it produces a vibration that can be felt as a “buzzing” sensation.

CORSAIR: Usually designated Troop Carrier (or TC) Corsair, these are the largest of the three classifications of Confleet ships and serve as flagships of Confleet wings. Corsairs are staffed at optimum with a crew of seventy-five, act as battleline supply and medical stations, and can carry up to two hundred troops in excess of the crew.

CORVET: Second largest of the three classifications of Confleet ships, three times the size and weight of a Falcon, a tenth that of a TC Corsair, at optimum staffed with a crew of thirty. A Corvet and a complement of nineteen Falcons makes up a subunit, the Corvet serving as command ship.

COTILONNA
: A formal dance traditionally celebrating the betrothal of Elite couples in which the Promised couple and their parents join hands in a small circle within the larger circle(s) formed by guests attending the betrothal ball.

COURT OF LORDS: A governmental body, primarily advisory in capacity, consisting of the First Lords of the Houses of the Concord.

CP-ONE: (Phoenix) The highest Critical Potential rating given an individual, designating an extremely high potential as a socially disruptive factor.

CREST RING: A ring worn by a First Lord; the stone is always the House stone incised with the House crest. It is a symbol of authority passed down from one generation to the next, from each First Lord to his first born upon the former’s death.

DAGGER OF WILL: A symbol sacred to the Order of Gamaliel. Actual daggers are usually made of jade, sometimes of other minerals, but never of wood or metal. They are always exactly twenty-one centimeters in length with the symbol of the Wheel of Destiny carved into the cruciform intersection of hilt and guard.

DANAE: Largest city on Perseus, one of the three Centauran Inner Planets, and site of the Home Estate of the House of Drakonis.

DARK SOUL: (Bond Religion) An evil spirit, escaped from Nether Dark, that infests living persons.

DEATH PLEDGE: Also “Death Boon.” A promise made to a dying person, generally considered an irrevocable pledge with deep moral and religious connotations.

DECADES OF DISASTER: A historical period, usually dated 2030 to 2060, marked by the dissolution and destruction of the Twentieth-Century civilization, culminating in the onset of the Second Dark Age.

DETENTION CENTER (DC): A Conpol or SSB prison.

DICTUM: (Bond Religion) A pronouncement attributed to a saint or holy man or woman. Dictums become part of the moral and religious code of adherents, and defiance of them is considered heresy.

DIPNOPTERA: An oviparous vertebrate native to southern equatorial areas of the Selamin Sea on Pollux. In its marine stage, it grows to a maximum length of thirty centimeters over a period of two Polluxian years. At maturity it undergoes a rapid metamorphosis, developing breathing sacs and membranous wings, after which it migrates in flocks numbering as many as half a million to breeding grounds in the forests of the Himalya, Comargian, or western Caucasias Mountains. After breeding, only gravid “females”—dipnoptera are actually androgynous—return to the sea, where they die after depositing their eggs to float and incubate in warm equatorial currents.

DIRECTORATE: The Directorate of the Concord of the Loyal Houses, a panel of ten First Lords by law elected by the Court of Lords or by the Directors themselves, although the positions are in practice hereditary. The Directorate is the ultimate governing body of the Concord.

DOC LOC #: Document locator number. A sequence of numbers used to call or locate a particular piece of information from a computer memfile system.

DOLCHETTA: (Music) A hollow-reed wind instrument with a range of three quarter-tone octaves characterized by a “straight” (without vibrato), slightly woody tone.

DOORCON: Door control. A small panel inset, beside a door, that controls its opening and closing, and may include voice-, print-, or lectrilock, and sec-system controls.

DOUBLE IDENT: (Phoenix) A member working outside Fina under an assumed identity.

DOUBLET: An Elite men’s sleeveless inner coat, close-fitting, sometimes belted at the waist, and usually decorated with brocade, which is often reinforced with strands of flexsteel to serve as light protective “armor”.

DRAKONIAN THEORY: A body of theory, formulated by the physicist Orabu Drakon (the first Lord Drakonis) and published in 3060, dealing with interrelationships of space and time, including principles Drakon called “chrono-spatial eversion” and “synchronal metathesis,” the applied principles in SynchShift and SynchCom.

DRENALINE: (Medical) A stimulant chemically similar to naturally produced adrenaline.

ELADANE: (Medical) A strong hallucinogenic drug listed as dangerous by Conpol, which makes its use and possession illegal. It can cause permanent psychosis and occasionally death by hyperallergenic reactions.

ELECTROHARP: (Music) A small, wood or plasteel, oval instrument, sixty centimeters in length, with twenty-four electronically amplified strings, played by plucking with the fingers.

ELITE: The term refers to the class or to individuals within it. The ruling class of the Concord. All Elite are related by blood to the First Lords of the Houses.

ENKEPHALINE: (Medical) An analgesic that functions by stimulating the production of enkephalin in the brain.

ENZYMATIC SOLUTIONS: (Medical) Solutions containing enzymes used in the treatment of injuries to dispose of necrotic tissue.

EPIGRA: A philosophical and/or moral thesis usually expressed in poetic form. The term is associated primarily with adherents of the Order of Gamaliel in reference to a body of Epigra attributed to Saint Gamaliel.

ESTRE: A religious holiday celebrating the Mezionic resurrection.

EX SEQ: Extrapolation sequence. A computer sequence extrapolating results of event interactions based on absolute data.

FACE-SCREEN: A small energy field screen that obscures the face by means of a light-diffusing field projected from a narrow, metallic ring worn around the neck.

FALCON: The smallest of the three classifications of Confleet ships, highly maneuverable even in planetary atmospheres. It is staffed at optimum with a crew of ten.

FER, FERRA: General masculine, feminine forms of address for Fesh, used when other titles—Master or Mistra, doctor, lector, etc.—are not applicable.

FESH: A term derived from the word “professional” applying to the middle class, which comprises approximately twenty-nine percent of the Concord’s population. Fesh provide the Concord’s skilled labor and technicians, as well as its scientists, scholars, and artists. It is the only one of the three officially recognized classes in which there is opportunity for professional and social advancement within the class.

FIRST LORD: The hereditary ruler of a House.

FIX: (Phoenix) A homing device used to accurately pinpoint transmission points for a matter transmitter.

’FLEETER: A popular term for a Confleet officer or enlistee.

FLEET OPERATIONS (FO): (Phoenix) The military branch of the Phoenix.

FLEXSTEEL: A steel alloy capable of being drawn into fine, flexible threads ranging in diameter from one to one-tenth of a millimeter.

FLOROPTERA: A photosynthetic organism native to Pollux, in general form strikingly similar to many Terran shrubs; notable for the ability of its large (up to twenty centimeters in diameter) blossoms to “fly.”

FRANCHISE: The exclusive right held by a House to manufacture, or produce, and distribute a specific product or type of product, or to provide a specific service.

GALININ RULE: A sanction against interference by any Concord agency in Bond religious practices and ceremonies except when they present a clear threat to life or property; formulated by the Chairman, Lord Benedic Daro Galinin, as part of the Civil Standards Code of 3065.

GAMALIEL, ORDER OF: A nonmonastic religious brotherhood whose primary philosophical tenet is absolute fatalism. It was founded by followers of Saint Gamaliel (ca. 2550 to 2610), one of Bishop Colona’s first disciples.

GAM CHI EXERCISES: A series of physical and mental exercises expounded by the Thirty-first Century Sinasian philosopher Gam Chi Roon.

GANISTAN CARPETS: Floor coverings woven in traditional designs and employing techniques used by Pre-Disasters cultures in northern Indasia.

GLASSGRASS: A photosynthetic organism native to the Paneast Desert of Pollux. It reproduces by a process analogous to fungal sporing, but is similar in appearance to Terran grasses, except that it is nearly transparent, and, due to its high crystalline silicon content, extremely refractive.

GROUNDCOMM: A combined form for Ground Command used in Confleet and Phoenix Fleet Operations.

GUILD: A Fesh organization made up of practitioners of a particular skill, craft, or profession, which maintains standards of competency and provides supplemental training. Fesh may or may not choose their professions, but once that decision is made, they are admitted into the appropriate Guild as “prentices.” Advancement in Guild ranks is by means of competency tests and/or demonstrations of achievement in the profession through three degrees, ultimately to the rank of GuildMaster (masculine) or GuildMaster (feminine). They are subsequently addressed as Master or Mistra unless a higher title, such as lector or doctor, pertains. Fesh Guild rankings usually have a direct bearing on salaries and advancement, in conjunction with tech grade ratings.

Guilds may bring some pressure to bear on their Lords in behalf of members, but only in disputes with executive level (Fesh) superiors. Guild intervention against Elite level decisions, or mass protests or work stoppages, may be legally treated as acts of treason.

HABITAT SYSTEM: The collective mechanical systems—atmobubbles, water cyclers, energy systems, thermogenerators, etc.—necessary to maintain human habitation on planets and satellites where atmospheric or surface conditions are otherwise inimical to human life.

HEAT SHELL: (Medical) A miniature atmobubble used to maintain a controlled temperature around a supine patient.

HEAVENLY REALM: In Orthodox Mezionism, the abode of the All-God and Holy Mezion and, after death, of those deemed worthy.

HELEN: Largest city on Castor and site of the Home Estate of the House of Camine Eliseer.

HELION: A large, extremely bright artificial light source.

HEMUS: A Polluxian vinelike plant, with large (up to twelve centimeters in length) palmate leaves that grow into dense, impenetrable mats on forest floors in moist, temperate climates. Its pulverized “bud” tendrils are used as a topical anesthetic by practitioners of herbal medicine.

HOLOJECTOR: A mechanism for projecting holograms into a hologram chamber.

HOLY CONFEDERATION: An alliance (2585–2903) of all the feudal Hold-Masters and rulers of Conta Austrail; founded by Lord Even Pilgram.

HOLY WORDS: (Bond Religion) A verbal compendium of dogma, parable, moral codes, history, poetry, etc., analogous to the Holy Writ in Orthodox Mezionism, transmitted from one generation of Shepherds to the next solely by rote memory.

HOLY WRIT: A collection of writings and scriptures sacred to Mezionism, it includes parts of the Pre-Disasters Christian “Bible,” especially the so-called “New” Testament, and
The Revelations
of Bishop Colona.

HOUSE: A political-economic entity described as a “dynastic cartel,” ruled by a single family headed by a hereditary First Lord, and economically based on exclusive franchises for the production and/or manufacture and distribution of specific goods or services.

IMAGRAPH: A color image, appearing three-dimensional, printed on a vellam film.

INDEPENDENT FESH: An unofficial designation referring to Fesh whose lives and work are relatively independent of their House, Concord, or Church allegiances. Most Fesh in the University System are termed Independent, since many are there by virtue of temporary and even permanent allegiance grants from their Houses, the Concord, or the Church. Artists, authors, and performers are included under the broad umbrella of the University, although display, publication, and production of their work falls under House (DeKoven Woolf) franchises. Members of some professions, such as broadcasting and journalism, or artisans and designers in Houses based on “craft” franchises, are also considered Independent Fesh, as are individuals in the upper echelons of House, Concord, or Church administrative hierarchies.

INTERCONN: Interconnection; an intertie between two or more types of communication systems.

INTERPLANETARY TRANSYSTEMS: The interplanetary transport systems operated under franchise by the House of Badir Selasis, including all off-planet freight and passenger services. Selasid franchises also encompass the InterPlan port and terminal systems, as well as manufacture of all vessels used in any kind of off-planet transport, including Confleet ships.

IP PORT: Abbreviation for Interplanetary Transystems port.

IRIS LENSES: Small, plasex lenses, corrective and/or colored, that fit over the iris of the eye.

JAMBLER: A device for jamming and scrambling radio or vidicom transmissions.

JINNI: A mythical supernatural being of mischievous nature that can take animal or human form at will.

KAO-ROSSIC: Thirty-first-Century architech and designer whose work is typified by stringently simple lines and the successful mixture of woods and metals.

KARATT: A formalized style of hand-to-hand combat generally practiced as a sport only by Elite males.

KELP: A marine invertebrate native to Pollux where it inhabits temperate intertidal zones. It is “rooted” and much like true Terran kelp in appearance, but is usually classified as an animal, and in its adult phases is carnivorous.

KOYF: A woman’s headdress comprised of a close-fitting band framing the face, often brocaded, jeweled, or otherwise decorated, with an attached veil covering the hair and sometimes reaching waist, or even floor, length.