Glossary of Imperial Terms
Air Lifter A near-transparent, enclosed riding device composed of glowworms.
Airshift An air column that moves people from one part of a habitat to another.
Animal Head An imperial citizen who displays eye-catching animal features as a political statement.
Antiaging Modification to the human genome that allows extended lifespan.
Bioid A programmed life-form simulacrum composed of glowworms, usually taking the form of a human or animal.
Brain-throne The traditional throne of the empire from the Seventy-Seventh Millennium.
Bureau The second branch of the imperial government, headed by the Circle of Experts.
Chronon-twister A facility that moves objects through time by directly altering their temporal dimension.
Circle of Experts A group of scientists who suposedly work with the emperor and imperial major in perfecting imperial laws and regulations.
Code War The war between Thermeon and the people of the Code.
Coder A followers of the Book of the Code, an ancient religious doctrine originating on the planet Ulona.
Contamination Being known to, and therefore subject to the control of, a mindsea.
Contamination Distance The distance from a mindsea that is considered far enough to avoid their mind-control.
Copy A substitute generated from a citizen's gene specs.
Copy Insurance Insurance that promises a citizen that a copy will be floated if they die. The copy will legally assume their identity.
Crystallization The degenerative process that impairs the brain-function of humans with antiaging. It usually doesn't occur before a thousand years of age, but is nearly inevitable by ten thousand.
Crystalloid A citizen who has lost all capacity for flexible action due to crystallization.
Deep A realm composed of superimposed alternate realities.
Deep-blind A person who cannot perceive deep-level phenomena.
Deep One, Deep Two, etc. Successive layers of the Deep, each one encompassing more possibilities.
Deep-level From or occurring in the Deep.
Downlevel To transit into a deeper level.
Dro A large domestic animal native to the planet Lal, similar to a camel, but feeding by sifting small Arthopoda from sand by means of nose-filters.
Expert A member of the Circle of Experts, considered the leader in their field of study.
Farfling Able to broadcast through the Deep.
Firefly A flying glowworm, usually illuminated.
Fissure The mind-duel between Quintillion and Thermeon and the rift it opened in the crust of the planet Lal.
Float A wonderdome session.
Flying Suit A special whaleskin worn by deep-level pilots.
Force-worm The deep-level equivalent of a glowworm.
Fuse To merge alternative possibilities so as to achieve deep-level characteristics.
Fusion Field An area surrounding a deep-level object that will cause more shallow objects to fuse to its level.
Genetic Algorithms A department within the bureacratic branch of imperial government that determines identities, regulates genomes, and assigns names to citizens and Torsa horses.
Ghost War A Hundred First Millennium conflict instigated by a dead mindsea.
Glowworm A programmed microscopic lifeform that is the basis for imperial home-level technology. Habitats, tools, vehicles, and clothing are composed of them.
Great War The war between Thermeon and his son Maxuas.
Head of the Circle Spokesperson for the Circle of Experts.
Heavy Floor A floor on a ship or spacestation that exerts a gravitational pull.
Highlals Midsummer day on the planet Lal.
Home Level The patternistic level on which humanity evolved.
Imperial Major The emperor's right-hand man, during some historical periods more powerful than the emperor.
Imperial Minor A member of the imperial armed forces under the command of the emperor and imperial major. They also serve as the imperial guard.
Imperial Oath The words an incoming emperor must speak while touching the Wall.
Incubator A small wonderdome in which imperial human babies are floated from conception until birth.
Internal A glowworm link in the brain.
Judgement Wall An edifice constructed by the empire's founder and regarded as the center of imperial authority.
Lal The planet of the imperial capital.
Lalian The official language of the empire.
Lesser War The war between Quintillion and his son Torm. It does not take place on all imperial timelines.
Luminary One of Thermeon's descendants with glowing white hair.
LZ Node A transmission station for deep-level messages. LZ stands for "all-zeroed."
Major The imperial major.
Mating Flight A horse race for reporductive rights.
Member of the Circle An acknowledged expert in a scientific field.
Minor An imperial minor.
Mindsea A person with the ability to remain active on deep levels. Usually telepathic.
Mindsea Academy A center of learning for skills helpful to mindseas.
Mindsize A person's capacity for deep-level action.
Mind-river A person with very limited telepathic ability.
Mind-river of Lal The thid most important post in the Palace Branch of the imperial government, traditionally in charge of communications between the Palace and the rest of the galaxy.
Moon-skipper A small spaceship capable of Deep One navigation only.
Nander A sub-human species recreated from ancient gene specs.
Newtonist A pre-imperial patternist.
Niche A person's role or job in imperial society.
Node A communications station.
Nook A place, usually formed from glowworms, where people can sit and relax. There are various shapes, depending on how many people are to be seated in them.
Nurr A Lalian carnivore enginnered by Imperial Major Horl using genes from lions, baboons, and humans.
Object-space An object along with its spatio-temporal coordinates.
Orphan School A famous school on the planet Mosalno where imperial elite send children they never wish to see again.
Pahmak A carnivorous sauropod native to the planet Ulona.
Palace The first branch of imperial government, headed by the emperor and the imperial major.
Patternistics The science that reduces the universe and its phenomena to their elementary patterns.
Patternist Someone who studies level-transformation.
Patternistic Integrity The quality that keeps something from unfusing.
Pentascoper A ship engineered to navigate Deep Five.
Prophecy of Brodan A warning given to Brodan by his father Kahee, predicting that an emperor named Spacetime-in-Ashes would destroy the empire.
Proposal An official statement made before the Wall outlining new laws or regulations that the speaker wants to see enacted. Proposals must be approved by both branches of government, or proposed by one branch and approved by the other, in order to take effect.
Queen Lala's Rainbow Land An imaginary place where everything is perfect. Named for the mythical Queen Lala of Lal.
Reenactment A visit to a historical time.
Refloat To restore the dead to life in a wonderdome.
Repro Rights Permission to reproduce granted by Genetic Algorithms.
Shallow A patternistic level consisting of impossibilities.
Shallow-level An object or characteristic of the Shallow.
Showing The annual ceremonal ride down the Way an emperor is supposed to take.
Six Sages The head instructors at the Orphan School of Mosalno.
Speaking An official appearance before the Wall by government official or members of public groups.
Soul-gem An artifact of Deep Six that guides communications and travel throughout the empire.
Splinter The piece of a broken soul-gem.
Supervelleity Non-temporal awareness.
System The empire's glowworm communications network.
Tenday Ten Lalian days.
Tenthyear Thirty Lalian days.
Tetrascoper A ship capable of navigating to Deep Four.
Three Heroes Brodan, Foske, and Valibor, who led the rebellion against Emperor Xublian in the Eighty-Sixth Millennium.
Torsa Horse A deep-level horse used for ceremonial occassions.
Tradition Master The leader of the imperial minors, anonymous to everyone but them.
Transaxis A trigger for downleveling.
Trans-gate A station that downlevels ships and transfers them to a receiving station (built by Quintillion).
Transway A station that downlevels ships and transfers them to a receiving station (built by Horl).
Uplevel To transit to a shallower patternistic level.
Unfuse To return to home level from the Deep in a random and destructive way.
Wall The Judgment Wall.
Way The main thoroughfare in the galactic capital.
Weatherdome A glowworm-created boundary that protects a habitat from harmful atmophspheric phenomena, while permitting light and healthful air to pass through.
Weatherscreen A personal weatherdome.
Whaleskin Clothing harvested from the Mednean whale, an alien deep-level creature.
Wonderdome A facility that contains a chemical pool that provides healing or metamorphosis for citizens.
Wondermaster The person who supervises a wonderdome.