by Rick Blackburn

1) CLASS M PLANET As the human race expanded into the local stellar neighborhood
right after the discovery of the Stutter Warp Drive in 2014, many different classes of
planetary bodies were discovered. In 2030, the Solar Alliance Exploration Directorate
issued a classification scheme in which Class M was Terra-norm. The criteria for a Class
M planet is mass = 1.15 to 0.85, radius 1.4 to 0.75, oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with a
surface air pressure of 1100 mb to 950 mb, abundant hydrosphere covering at least 35%
of the planet, surface temperature range = -30ß C to +30ß C.

2) TARSUS The only Class M planet in the 70 Ophiuchi star system. Tarsus is
identical to the earth in mass, radius, surface gravity, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.
Tarsus is remarkable only because it does not orbit 70 Ophiuchi directly, but the star's
brown dwarf companion (at 1.65 AU from the primary), and it does not receive as much
energy input from 70 Ophiuchi as Terra does from Sol. The climate on most of the land
area of Tarsus is semi-arctic, only because the brown dwarf, Awesome, is close enough to
Tarsus to supply the energy deficit by direct infra-red radiation and tidal heating. Because
of the intense tidal heating, Tarsus is very tectonically active.

3) 70 OPHIUCHI 17.1 light years away, this was one of the first star systems settled
by humans from Terra (c. 2057). It is a double star, the primary being a KO dwarf, and
its companion, separated by 38 AUs, is a faint M6 dwarf. From Terra, these stars appear
to be magnitude 6.0, barely at the edge of visibility.

4) AMERICAN ARM At the dawn of the Stellar Age, when only the Stutter Warp was
available to humanity, this drive's peculiarities mandated an exploration pattern of leaping
from one star to the next in a branching fashion. Although the discoveries of the
Hyperwave Warp and Transwarp Drives eliminated these restrictions, several dozen
worlds were already inhabited and three major exploration "arms" (the American, the
French, and the Chinese) already were firmly established in a trade-route configuration.
Because of this, the archaic "American Arm" is still used to describe the "path" of explored
and inhabited planets from Sol to Mu Hercules.

5) ION GUN (CANNON) A particle-beam weapon employing a dual-particle beam
array. The inner, or core, beam is composed of positively charged ions — normally iron
nuclei; while the outer (or "coaxial beam") is composed of neutral particles. The neutral
particles interfere with most designs of ship's defensive shields, while the inner beam of
charged particles is normally of sufficient energy to produce total destruction of most
targets with a single shot. (Author's note: Think of the Battlestar Galactica two-part
episode titled "Gun on Ice Planet Zero.")

6) PLANETARY DEFENSE SCREENS Most civilized worlds have some form of
planetary defense network. Among the best (and most expensive) are Defense Screens.
These are multi-layered force-fields similar to a starship's combat shields. But unlike a
starship, which has a limited amount of power available to pump into its shields, the
Planetary Defense Screens are powered off the planet's primary power distribution net.
Thus they are thousands of times more potent (and harder to break through) than a
starship's shields. Defense Screens are incompatible with matter, and any material object
coming into contact with them is instantly vaporized. On Tarsus, a PDS was deemed to be
too expensive, but a smaller version WAS installed in the capital city, Casa Alto.

7) ORBIT GUARD Performs the same function for a planet as the Coast Guard does for
the United States.

8) JET CAR A combination of a jet and a car, just like its name says. It is basically the
same size and shape as any 20th Century American car, except it has a more complex
wheel-skid arrangement for landings. It depends upon the use of electro-gravitic fields
for lift and a rather conventional turbojet engine for thrust. It can operate at altitudes
from inches off the ground to about 6,000 meters, with "normal" jetcar corridors in
metro areas like Casa Alto being 10 to 20 meters for east-west traffic and 40-50 meters
altitude for north-south traffic. The turbojet engine in a stock jet car can accelerate at
about 6 gees and reaches its maximum (controlled by a governor) velocity of 0.95 Mach in
about 20 seconds. Although it is illegal, the power plant/propulsion package on most
jetcars can be "souped up" substantially.

9) COMM-WEB A communications device combining video-phone, computer, fax, and
locator file in one piece of equipment about the size and shape of a standard phone (albeit
with a three- to seven-inch LCD video screen attached).

10) AUTOVON (network) A dedicated sub-space communications network reserved
for the military. It can be used both for official traffic and for "personal" messages to help
boost morale on isolated military bases or starships on patrol.

11) The TEST The coming of age ritual that Nomads go through as they leave childhood
behind and embark on their adult lives. The TEST is a
psychological/mental/physical/psychic experience, which has its closest analog in some of
the Amerind tribes of the West and South West. In these tribes a boy who wished to become
a man purified his spirit by fasting for a period and then was left in the wilderness to
experience a "vision." In the Nomad version, sensitive psionic amplifiers and sentient
computers are used to delve into the TESTee's unconscious and create a "vision." The
results of each TEST are confidential, unless the TESTee chooses to reveal the details. It is
a draining experience, both physically and mentally, and only by the possession of a
superior mind can one "pass" the TEST. The age at which an individual takes the TEST
varies greatly, with girls tending to qualify in the pre-screening a little earlier than boys
(as with puberty). The average for girls is 12, while for boys it is 14. A person who
does not pass the TEST on the first try can try again, as many times as he can pass the
pre-screen qualifications. Those who are unable to pass the pre-screen qualifications
never take the TEST and hence are never full citizens. Although the Government attempts
to squelch discrimination against those who are unable to pass the TEST, those people have
a status similar to the victims of mental retardation in the mid-20th century on Terra.

12) VIPER An interplanetary interceptor carried on a mothership, similar to the way
fighters are carried on aircraft carriers. These are single-seat fighters, mounting two
pulsed phaser cannons and capable of carrying external ordnance such as rocket bombs and
guided missiles. The Viper's home environment is the vacuum of deep space, where it can
accelerate at up to 12 gravities with combat thrusters and achieve relative velocities in
excess of 1,500 km sec-1. Vipers can also operate in planetary atmospheres, where they
can attain speeds in excess of Mach 3.

13) PHASER A class of energy weapon widely used in the United Federation of Planets.
It can be as small as a book of matches or as large as a conventional artillery piece.
PHASER stands for PHased Array laSER. Its operational beam consists of two components, a
visible beam of charged particles which gives the phaser its characteristic cyan-blue
beam and an X-ray laser component which does the actual damage to the target. Phaser
energy can either shock into unconsciousness, thermally fry, or disintegrate a material
target, depending upon the power level and frequency of the X-ray laser. At maximum
output, the phaser generates a beam of closely focused X-rays with a wavelength of 175 è;
while in the stun setting, the X-ray laser portion of the beam is disabled and only the
particle beam is used, producing a taser-like electric shock to any organic material.

14) TRI-D (Tri-dee) The 24 Century descendent of TV, it is used both as a
three-dimensional form of recreation and as a method of displaying data in military,
business, or commercial applications. The display unit is usually a globe-shaped unit
from 10 centimeters to 3 meters in diameter, but it can be displayed with semi-3D from a
flat LCD display.

15) SAURIAN A reptilian race of 45 Delta Aquillae, sometimes also referred to as
"Dracs." They are the technical and military equal of the Terran Empire, and some say the
philosophical betters because of their complex and logically grounded philosophical work.
The United Federation fought a war with the Saurians in the 22nd Century, and after nearly
a decade of undecisive battle a peace treaty was finally signed. The Dracs have been staunch
supporters of the Federation's ideals since then, but have remained the commercial and
economic rivals of the Terrans in several sectors of the Federation, especially in the
Federation Outer Territories. It is unknown why they choose to align themselves with the
self-styled King of Perseus.

16) TARMARAK The Tarmarak tree is native to the home world of the Pentapods
(DM+43ß 1953); it is tough, nearly indestructible, and is used in the Pentapod "organic"
starships as the outer hull and for radiation shielding. It is a tenacious plant and can
survive in a wide variety of environments, from glacial to subtropical. Because of its
hardiness and extreme utility, it is the "cash" crop of more than one frontier planet.

17) CROM The male half of the neo-pagan dual-deity Crom/Mitra. After the
Interregnum and the fall of the Theocracy on Earth, billions of people turned their backs on
Christianity, believing it to be "demon-inspired" with its puritanical credo of "If it gives
pleasure, it MUST be sinful." The worship of Crom/Mitra is the primary religion on the
Nomads' home worlds, and since it has many of the same tenets as Christianity, it was
eagerly accepted as a replacement for the discredited Christian religion. It should be noted
that although the term "Christian" is used here, it should rightfully be restricted to the
fundamentalist, evangelical "Believe MY way or I'll KILL ya!" type of Christian. That kind
of "Christian" will be in for a terrible shock when Judgment Day arrives.

18) MONO HYDROZINE Mono Hydrozine is an inflammable liquid used in rocket
propulsion. Mixed with liquid oxygen, this artificially created fuel yields a specific
impulse of over 9,000 seconds, thus rivaling the fission nuclear rocket but without the
radioactive contamination problems associated with fission drives.

19) LABYRINTH The Labyrinth which surrounds Casa Alto's Starport is among the
oldest parts of the city. The streets here are narrow and mostly wind back upon
themselves or lead to cul-de-sacs. The Labyrinth from the air resembles a giant maze
(thus the name) and is primarily composed of warehouses and light industry with
low-income housing and skid row hotels. Deals are negotiated here to import hundreds of
tons of exotic drugs, or to export prostitute/slaves of all ages — along with the more
mundane legal import/export business found around any starport.

20) TERRAN IMPERIAL MARINES The Marines trace their origin to a number of
pre-space Terran military organizations, including The United States Marine Corps, the
United States Army, the Red Army, the British Army of the Rhine, the French Foreign
Legion, and so on. The Imperial Marines are divided into two major commands, the Fleet
Marines, which are directly attached to Star Fleet ships and serve as security personnel
and weapons specialists/gunners, and the Line Marines, who inherit all the dirty little
jobs of war. They get very little glory and a lot of slogging through alien mud fields under
fire or attacking armored bunkers on some frozen asteroid in full vacuum armor. The Line
Marines also pull Starport Security. Under the Charter of the UFP, starports are
interstellar ports of call, they serve a specific planet, but like an embassy, the planet's
jurisdiction ends at the starport's gates. Inside a starport's perimeter, Imperial Law
exists, and is summarily enforced by the Marines. An attack on a starport is an attack on
the Federation and is severely dealt with.

21) ACK-ACKs (40mm) A medium anti-aircraft phaser cannon, with a 40mm
diameter bore. The most common arrangements are in batteries of two (pom-pom guns)
or in fours (Quad-40s). They are meant to be used as point defense guns from zero to 20
kilometer ranges. They can be either visually aimed by a gunner or connected to a
computerized Target Tracking Array. They are rated as 60% lethal to air targets in their
zone of conflict (0-20 km radius; 0-30,000 meter altitude).

22) PERMAPLAST A building material of the 24th Century. It is stored as a powdery
substance like normal plaster. When it is to be used, it is mixed with water and a fixative
and then sprayed onto a wire or wooden mold. When it dries (in 1 to 6 hours, depending on
the overall size of the structure) it is the consistency and density of obsidian. It is widely
used on the Frontier to build "temporary" buildings that are expected to remain temporary
for centuries.

23) PHOTON TORPEDOES A photon Torpedo is a starship's main offensive weapon.
Basically a tiny bit of antimatter which is compressed into a cigar-shaped projectile by
gravitic-magnetic force fields. These force fields keep the antimatter from detonating
until they have reached the indicated target. Once there, the force field dissolves and the
anti-matter (normally in the 1 to 10 gram range) causes an explosion equal to a 20 to
200 kiloton nuclear device. Other devices, dubbed "Planet busters" may have as much as a
ton (106 grams) of antimatter and produce a blast equivalent to a 200 megaton nuclear
device.

24) GRAND CENTRAL PARK Casa Alto was laid out in accordance with the Sierra
Club Urban planning program developed in the mid-1990s by the ecological group on
Earth called the Sierra Club. Its basic tenet was to "split up" vast megalopolises into
numerous suburban centers, each connected by wide belts of natural growth and land. Thus
on Tarsus, contractors must leave 5 square kilometers of "park" land for each square
kilometer developed.

25) AUTOWASH The autowash is a combination shower unit. It sprays half water and
half ultrasonic sound. In most models, a computerized auto-med facility also does a
medical scan of the person and adds water-soluble antibiotics, vitamins, etc., to the water
spray to be directly absorbed into the body while one washes.

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