The Omnicon

Omnicon

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ACM: ArcWay Construction module. These are automated, semi-intelligent systems which travel from system to system, establishing and expanding the ArcWay network. It is not known how many were sent out by the ArcBuilders originally, but it is known that as long as the network is active, these vessels continue functioning and fulfilling their purpose. A single, non-functional example was discovered by the League of Worlds, and once its operation was divined, it was programmed to replicate itself several times. This fleet of ACM's was then used by the League to expand the network to specific stars. unlike the original ACM's, however, these examples were functional only when needed.

Amtech: Originally called American Technologies, Amtech was founded in 2021 CE with the express interest in procuring resources for world industries. Their immediate target was Lunar resources, but by 2028 CE had begun to look towards the more abundant asteroidal resources. By 2065 CE they had expanded their mining operations to the Asteroid Belt. In 2120 CE Amtech declared itself an independent state, following the ground-breaking example of Morris Laboratories, and shortly thereafter became one of the most influential powers of the Inner Solar System. In 2142 CE, in response to an ongoing cold war between itself and the other major powers of the Inner System, Amtech declared all space between 1.45 and 4.2 AU their exclusive territory. In 2155 CE Amtech entered into the Station Wars by illegally supplying the Stations with resources. This action revealed well the capabilities of Amtech's Red Fleet, and continued to do so until the founding of the Inner System Commonwealth in 2163 CE, of which Amtech was one of the core members. After this point, Amtech continued to expand their mining operations, reaching out into the Outer System, as well as heavily populating the Belt with settlements, outposts, and even full colonies. In 2320 CE, Amtech began to face a new crisis as the so-called Belt Pirates began to make a force of themselves, often operating directly under Amtech's noses. In 2361 CE, the pirates were found to be largely based on Mars, and as such the IMPF initiated a blockade of that planet. Amtech, outraged at this general punishment of their primary population center, withdrew from the Commonwealth. Tensions over this matter erupted in 2363 CE when a shooting war erupted between the IMPF and Amtech's Red Fleet, a development which began to rupture of the Commonwealth itself. By 2369 CE Amtech had been forced, as a government, into hiding within the Belt. After this point their power waned considerably, until finally they were absorbed into the New Church Ascendancy Hegemony in the late 2390's.

Assembly: The indigenous term used to describe the Big Blue Galactic Civilization.

beamrider network: A network utilizing arrays of mass beam projectors to magnetically accelerate dust micro-pellets to near-light speed and direct them towards a vessel equipped with a magnetic/plasma sail. These pellets vaporize upon impact, transferring their momentum to the craft and accelerating it to a significant proportion of the speed of light. Once at speed, the ship can coast to its destination star, where it is decelerated by a matching array. Many craft can travel at a time on a single circuit, and the network of arrays can span hundreds of light years and link thousands of stars.

Black, the: A term used to describe interstellar space within the local Neighborhood.

Cambay Valley: A region along the western coast of India that hosted a lush ecosystem, and which was the center of ArcBuilder, Sivata, and Lost Civilization society on Earth. Much of the Valley was flooded as ocean levels rose at the end of the last ice age, and the remainder of the region was inundated as a major earthquake sunk the region by up to twenty meters in 7500 BCE. The resulting tsunami effectively erased all signs of inhabitation by these ancient civilizations, and was likely the final breaking point of the already weakening and degraded Lost Civilization.

Climatic Red Line: A point which was reached on Earth in 2150 CE in which catastrophic melting of polar ice began, flooding the continental coasts and crippling even the super powers of the time. The Earth is literally cut-off from its off world concerns, and in the place of those nations the United Nations assumes near total control over CisLunar Space. The Red Line itself was the end result of over two centuries of global warming, caused by both Human interference and the natural fluctuation of the planet's global environment.

dayside: A term used in regards to Vesperian worlds, referring to the hemisphere of the planet which is perpetually turned towards its sun.

Diamondoid: Chemical structures or systems based on diamond derivatives and/or stiff carbon bonds.

Dyson Sphere: A structure made from disassembled planets and planetoids, constructed around a star with the primary purpose of capturing most of that star's energy for usage in the present civilization. In classic literature, a Dyson sphere is a solid body surrounding the star; however, this is an unstable configuration, and in reality such spheres consist of many independent structures in separate orbits. From a distance, the host star would be greatly dimmed in visible light, but would be very bright in infrared wavelengths.

Dyson Tree: A genetically engineered plant or series of plants adapted to survive and grow on the nucleus of a comet. Such plants are capable of producing oxygen atmospheres within subsurface spaces in the comet, or even within the plant matrix itself, while utilizing solar energy and organic materials within the comet itself. Typically, Dyson trees are composed of several main trunks which radially branch out from the comet's surface, and which intertwine and form a spherical structure, often dozens of kilometers in diameter. The surface of the plant is a non-permeable layer, often impregnated with carbonaceous material for solar environment protection, and to prevent water and gas loss.

Enemy, the: A generic, collective term for the entities which inhabit the ArcWay network, and which attack beings in the physical world by literally downloading themselves into the intellect of those who pass through an ArcWay. While their goal has never been clear, it does seem to revovle around escape from the network, implying that they are native to that dimension. Beings which are overtaken by the Enemy have their intellects completely erased, effectively killing the being, though the body remains alive and maintained by the brain's autonomic functions. However, most beings possessed by the Enemy are subject to physical degridation over various spans of time, possibly caused by the Enemy mind unconsciously attempting to send autonomic signals to the body, a body that cannot interpret those signals properly. The end goal of the Enemy may be to utilize an entire species' technological resources to construct proper, if artificial, bodies for themselves, in order for them to exist beyond the apparently timeless confines of the ArcWays.

Exploration Society: First founded in 2065, the Exploration Society was founded as the premier front of scientific exploration of the Earth, Mankind, and the Universe at large. Over the centuries, the Exploration Society has grown into one of the most powerful non-governmental organizations in the League of Worlds.

faunaform: Biota which are primarily motile autotrophic, and usually psudoheterotrophic, or heterotrophic ingestive feeders or sessile primarily heterotrophic sessile ingestive feeders or some symbiotic association of these or primarily resulting an one of the former. Sometimes the sessile faunaform biota are considered psudofloraform biota, due to similarity of appearance to true floraform biota. courtesy Neal Aaron

floraform: Biota which are either sessile primarily autotrophic, and usually photoautrophic multicellular organisms, sessile primarily heterotrophic saprophytic feeders or some symbiotic association of both or primarily resulting in either. Some autotrophic forms may be psudoheterotrophic (In this case psudoheterotrophic would be any organism that would "eat" other organisms or the tissues of other organisms for sustenance but not as their primary source of carbon, as is the case with carnivorous plants on earth) depending on the abundance and availability of nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus or even sulfur. courtesy Neal Aaron

Frontier, the: A general region of space extending some 50 light years beyond the general boundaries of the Local Neighborhood. These regions are known through astronomical observations and unmanned probes, although there have been limited programs of both manned exploration and colonization.

Galactic Heritage Site: This is a League-protected site that has been determined to hold information and-or relics which aid in our knowledge of the inhabited past of the Milky Way. Such sites may be single locations on a planet, or they may be entire planetary bodies.

geolivore: Organisms that consume and metabolize minerals as a source of nutrition. Bodily energy is derived from these materials via chemosynthesis.

Gruy-koi: The indigenous name of the Magni, the dominant species of the Big Blue Civilization.

homeworld: A term used, typically, to describe the home of a specific species, especially one that is capable of interstellar travel. To a lesser extent, it is used by citizens of a unified planet to refer to the world of their birth, especially when they commonly travel throughout their native solar system.

International Military Police Force (IMPF): An international organization, chartered by the United Nations in 2124 CE, for the purpose of maintaining law and order on the Stations. The IMPF began to be a true international force on Earth as well in 2150 CE following the climatic red line. In 2159 CE, following the nuclear conflict, the IMPF becomes an independent government and claims control over much of the devastated Earth. In 2163 CE the IMPF abdicated its independent status and became a strictly military power under the direct control of the Inner System Commonwealth. In 2368 CE, however, the Commonwealth Congress dissolved in the face of international war, and the IMPF once again became an independent force, this time heavy handed in an attempt to end the war by any means possible. By 2369 CE, though, New Church attacks on the IMPF fracture the organization, and disparate cells scatter to various parts of the Solar System. In 2372 CE these various factions begin to be absorbed into the New Church Ascendancy Hegemony and its own elite military.

Jupiter Brain: An artificial intelligence node of extremely high intelligence and size. The term originated with the belief that nanomachines could be used to turn the mass of gas giants into vast, self-upgrading computers.

Korrema: The ancestral species to the Magni, having risen to biological dominance on their homeworld of Naklemis some 51 million years ago.

Lazarus Ceiling: The apparent age limit in regards to maintaining a healthy, Human body. Scientifically described in 2300 CE, this is the approximate point where the Human body simply fails to respond to any further transplants or rejuvenation therapies. While a rare few individuals might live to 203 or even 205, the average age will actually be closer to 170 to 180.

Local Neighborhood: A commonly used term referring to the region of space around the Sol System, some 150 light years in radius, in which the majority of Human colonization has been confined. Because of a series of events leading back nearly 7 billion years, there has been much activity by intelligent species in the Local Neighborhood.

Magni: A League of Worlds term used for the dominant species of the Big Blue Galactic Civilization. It is derived from the Latin Magnus, a part of the species scientific name, which means "superior".

Matrioshka Brain: Dyson-sized computational nodes designed to perform at high efficiency processing output for energy input; in short, they are designed to maximize energy usage and computing efficiency.

Morris Technological Institute: Often called MTI, this is the central learning institute of Mercury in the Sol System. It began as an extension of the old Independent State of Hermes governmental research into antimatter production, but with the advent of the Hegemony became a major university. By the League, MTI remained one of the premiere centers of technological education in the Solar System.

Naklemis: The indigenous name for the homeworld of the Magni, the dominant species of the Big Blue Galactic Civilization.

nightside: A term used in regards to Vesperian worlds, referring to the hemisphere of the planet which is perpetually turned away from the sun.

Orion Arm: The galactic arm of the Milky Way which contains the Local Neighborhood.

paramale: A term often used when a species has three sexes, with the third being required for full fertilization of the female, but which is incapable of conceiving.

provolve: A term used to describe a species that has been genetically manipulated into a sapient state.

rebreather: A device of a long technological lineage, allowing largely free respiration in shirtsleeve environments. by the time of the League, rebreathers were typically quite compact, drawing in ambient atmospheric gases through the facial membrane, and turning them into a pre-programmed mix of oxygen and nitrogen.

Renewed Contact Program: A program initiated by the Hegemony in 2818 CE, in response to the discovery and decoding of the ArcWay network and the worlds connected through it. The primary purpose of this program was to use the ArcWay to contact previous Earth colonies, as well as to attempt to discover other Lost Colonies, as their presence was evidenced by the previous contact between Earth and the Lost Colony of Tsevorda, from the star system of 82 Eridani. The Program was ended in the late 2800's, but not before one of the final contacts with a Lost Civilization initiated the Unity War.

shirtsleeve environment: Any planetary or habitat environment that allows Humans to walk about the surface without the requirement of specialized or protective clothing.

Skytower: This is the generic term for the various forms of orbital towers, which reach from a planet's surface and into a geosynchronous orbital level. These towers literally open up space access for a planet, providing easy access for people and cargo, as well as a suitable launching point for various probes and vessels.

snowline: The point in a forming solar system where icy material becomes predominant, and allows for the rapid growth of Jovian planets due to its great abundance.

Sorenson Debates: Held in 2049, the Sorenson Debates were a major series of meetings between several national powers, various activist and Luddite groups, and the New Church Ascendancy, as represented by the then Archon Saul Sorenson, one of the Church's premiere negotiators and ambassadors. Centering on various volatile issues such as antimatter and nuclear fusion energy sources, nanotechnology, and genetic manipulation, the purpose of the debates was to present the world with the facts about these and other revolutionary issues, and to provide a forum for discussing them. The hope was to allay public fears, often typified by various reactionary groups. Archon Sorenson maintained the Church's position of soundly condemning these various groups, claiming that they worked only for the ignorance and crippling of mankind. The net result of the Debates was the discrediting of several such groups, and the major popularization of the New Church itself.

Stations: A collective term for the many nearly self-sufficient habitats that began to be built in CisLunar space and elsewhere in the Inner System during the late 21st Century. Often seen as a collective group, the Stations were actually highly varied in culture and sociology.

Strangelet: Strange matter consisting of a mixture of up, down, and strange quarks which catalyze the conversion of matter into more strange matter, typically resulting in the total destruction of an environment via supernova-like explosions.

Strangeplague: An infestation of strangelet matter which is self-replicating, and which can be nearly sapient. Such plagues, once unleashed, can devastate an entire solar system, and will continue to destroy other systems unless somehow destroyed. Typically, cures can only be achieved by specifically tailored femtotech methods, often involving a contradictory form of strangelet matter.

WayGate: The primary portion of a local ArcWay system. Constructed in the system's distant Kuiper region, the WayGate is a heavily modified Kuiper Object with a single opening typically some 1.3 kilometers in diameter, through which space vessels may pass from system to system. it is, essentially, a giant version of the planet-bound ArcWay.

Ways: A shortened term for WayGates.