Wings of Light Glossary., You're going to need it. Options

[jack cloudy]

Alright, since I'm writing a science-fiction story with quite a few unknown terms, this thread might be usefull. Please do not post replies in this thread as the glossary will be expanded as the story progresses and I would like to keep this place solely focussed on the glossary. So expect edits whenever I update the main story. A link to this thread will be placed in my sig so you'll have no trouble finding it after a few months.


Wings of Light Glossary.

AMF-13:
The AMF-13 type is a large warship produced by the Terran Colonial Union. It features a large amount of firepower as well as incredible engine performance.This performance is largely thanks to the use of both an antimatter propulsion system and the more traditional fusion propulsion system.
The AMF-13 is based on the ill-fated AMF-12-01 TMS Black Hole. The AMF-13 and AMF-12 designs are virtually indistinguishable though the AMF-13 has an AM stability increase of 23%, as well as a passive containment feature which allows the ship to shut down its engines and contain the antimatter when the AI is incapacitated for some reason.

Currently, 46 AMF-13 vessels exist. Of those, 35 are at the Hydra border, 5 are patrolling throughout Terran space, another 5 are used as training vessels and the last one is stationed at the Eden system.

AMF-13:
Role: Fast response missile platform
Design date: 2516
Acceleration:
Front: 6g.
Rear : 3g.
Other :1.6g
Weaponry:
3 Spinal mount Neobellum MK33 Coil guns at the bow.
39 missile tubes. (12 each side, 5 underneath the bow, 4 on the front of each pylon. 4 on the stern.)
14 Bracket point-defence modules. (spread around the hull)

Armour:
70 cm multiple layered armour. Outer layer can be ejected to stop incoming projectiles away from the ship.

Crew: 165

AMF-13, click for a picture

Geno:
Genos are officially known as ‘humanoid artificial organisms’. Despite this, both civilian and military personnel refer to these sentient constructs as Geno, a somewhat humiliating term that originated from the downright insulting nickname ‘genetic manipulated freaks’.
The official definition of a Geno is: An artificially born organism with a functional organic structure, created and adapted for a distinct purpose which has a mental capacity equal or greater than that of an average human.

The definition is handled loosely. While a human child, sometimes with minor tweaks and modifications, born through artificial means would qualify as a Geno, it is still known as a human. Likewise, the now outlawed non-humanoid constructs would technically qualify as a Geno as well. A more elaborate and accurate definition that corresponds with the handling of the term would be the following: A Geno is an artificially born organism possessing a humanoid structure with all organs normally found within a human being. Said organism is created and adapted for a specific purpose and possesses a mental capacity equal or greater than that of an average human. A Geno is enrolled into military service by default and has no option of retirement.

The development of Genos goes all the way back to the beginning of human expansion into space. The earliest Genos were clones of frogs, sheep and other creatures. These were not sentient though and as such are not seen as true Genos. The first true Geno was known as Alpha, born in 2105. He died several months later after a botched test to analyze his immune system. While the first Geno was genderless, the second and third one were. These two were born four years later in the later months 2109. The twins were named Adam and Eve.

The twins would receive a more careful treatment and as such survived longer. Eventually, they would become the first interstellar travellers at which point they’d proven that passage through a wormhole had no noticeable effect on a sentient organism. Upon their return to earth, their life was ended through strangulation and their corpses went through an extensive autopsy to confirm the safety of wormhole travel.

Over the next decades, Geno development progressed and they even came into civilian life as servants to the rich. During these days, the call to grant Genos the same rights as humans grew. Tensions increased between those who saw Genos as equals and those who saw the constructs as nothing but a tool similar to a microwave oven. This period also marks the origin of their current name. In the year 2173, the tensions reached a critical level and violence ensued between the two groups which eventually resulted in the first worldwide civil war. Genos were forced to fight on both sides of the conflict. This war caused the death of over a billion people, due to the usage of Nuclear weapons on political centres. At the end though, the pro-Geno side was defeated and a harsh set of regulations was put into use. One of the most severe rulings was the destruction of all Genos who’d survived the conflict.

From this day forward, all Genos would be owned and developed by the military for military use, no exceptions. The giving of names to Genos was prohibited, only a number and type designation was allowed. Non-humanoid Genos were outlawed, and physically superior soldier-types were outlawed as well. All Genos received a visual identification mark in the form of their fully black eyes. In the end, just one of the pro-Geno group’s demands was accepted. The cloning and subsequent mass-production of identical Genos was no longer allowed. Now every Geno was to be unique, which basically meant that while they carried the same blueprint as all others of their type, they would be visually different.

With these rulings, Genos mostly vanished from public view. Three hundred years later, they’d attained almost mythical status and rumors floated around, some of them carefully cultivated by the military. The Genos were said to be infiltrators, spies. Some even believed that they were a biological weapon containing a horrible virus or that they could kill with their minds. In reality, most Genos are little more than walking calculators or administrators. While incredibly adapt at their field, they are completely clueless about how to deal with other activities. Most of them don’t even know how to eat.

The more expensive Genos though are virtually indistinguishable from humans with the exception of the aforementioned identification mark. Most notable among these are the new type-678 Genos, who all have an entirely unique personality that greatly differs from their brothers and sisters. It is also a type-678 who has become the first civilian Geno since the great war that razed so much of the earth centuries ago. Official comments regarding this Geno claims that he is ‘an experiment with the goal of analyzing a Geno’s ability to make decisions and follow certain objectives in an environment were the immediate advice of a superior officer is not available.’ Further inquiries regarding the nature of a Geno’s superior officer told that ‘no Geno has ever or will ever be given a leading role. This because of unpleasant experience gained during an incident some time ago’, most likely referring to the war again in 2173.

Jack Cloudy
Race: Geno (Type-678)
Gender: male
Age: 34
Skincolour: extremely pale
Eyecolour: fully black
Hair colour: white
Occupation: Freelance courier (ex-military)

Karl Forest
Race: human
Gender: male
Age: 24
Occupation: A-class Techhead onboard the TMS Crystal Star

Paul Anthony Detroit
Race: human
Gender: male
Age: 53
Occupation: Captain onboard the TMS Crystal Star

Soul/Lo
Race: NLO-type AI
Gender: female
Age: 19
Occupation: AI onboard the TMS Crystal Star


SS Hesphire:
The SS Hesphire is a civilian passenger liner for interstellar journeys to and from Eden system.

Techhead:
A former nickname used as a badge of honour that has been turned into an actual rank. A Techhead is usually charged with making sure that the hardware at his workplace functions properly. Techheads are ranked in classes, D being the lowest and A being the highest.

TMS Crystal Star:
The TMS Crystal Star is an AMF-13 type warship, officially registered as AMF-13-46. It is stationed in the Eden system. The ship is under the command of captain Paul Anthony Detroit and the installed AI is named Soul.


Wormhole:
While many theories exist regarding this phenomenon, its nature is still largely unknown. Its effects can be observed though.

A wormhole is simply a hole in space which provides a noticeable shortcut between two points. Or, as the most popular theory goes, it is a tunnel drilled through an alternate dimension which proves to be a shortcut with two stable entry points in our dimension. A common comparison of a wormhole is to that of a mountain. There are two villages at each side of the mountain. To get from one village to the next, one must take a long winding patch around the mountain. However, there is also a tunnel through the mountain which offers a direct path between the two villages. As a result, taking the tunnel is much faster than taking the mountain path.

The inside of the tunnel can be considered part of our dimension yet the outside cannot. In fact, the inner wall of a wormhole has never been breached so the outside surface of a wormhole has never been seen. The entry point of a wormhole is surprisingly influenced by gravity and as such orbits the nearest star if it happens to be inside a solar system.

The first discovered Wormhole was in 2103 in the Oort cloud beyond Pluto. The sudden disappearance of a comet alerted astronomers to its existence. The wormhole travelled little more than half a lightyear and ended in deep space. Only 5.6% of all wormholes actually end close to a star or close to a wormhole that does end at a star. The common method of discovery is by looking for areas of space where the background radiation does not match. Given the amount of space that must be searched and the small size of the wormholes, this process is a slow one. Currently, regular mapping expeditions are held to map all the wormholes and investigate their possibilities.

Wormholes are also important chokepoints in the Terran-Hydra war. Since a wormhole is less than a kilometre across, any object that tries to move through a wormhole on the Hydra border can expect a swarm of projectiles in its path. At the moment, there are three wormholes known to lead to Hydra space.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Feb 10 2007, 07:37 PM