Ch to Ck

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YTS-43522-438793494-0004

resource-poor red dwarf located in upper spinwards STC. The star lacks planets and is named after a famous and percular artifact that orbits it, The Chameleon

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Massive polyhedron structure of unknown terragen origin possessing of self-malleable properties, altering its own shape precisely every minute on the minute.

On each face of the structure, what appears to be random visual images materialize for a duration of exactly one-second, with no apparent repeating of the same image on any face of the polyhedron structure. The largest face is 2599 meters across, the smallest 2931 meters

Some of the images have been identified, after recording and research, while others are images places, life-forms, and things never before encountered by any known terragen group. Cross-searches of academic, military, mega-corporate, and other databanks have failed to provide any definitive answers.

A variety of theories have sprang up over time, in attempts to explain both the origin and purpose of the structure. Despite xenophile folklore and popular legend it is an alien artifact, the minute and second behavior immediately shows it to be of terragen origin. One theory suggests it is a remnant of the expansion of early solipsist ais, possibly an inhabited ISO.

Discovered initially by a Tragon interstellar probe, an Exploraprobe IV model affectionately dubbed "Quixotica" by its builders, orbiting the M-class star YTS-43522-438793494-0004 (STC), the Chameleon continues to confound galactic scientists and researchers seeking to uncover and understand its mysteries. In the years since it was first discovered, the Chameleon has become a major tourist attraction to some, a continuing curiosity to others, and the source of an endless procession of conspiracy theories from those who believe it poses a threat to galactic life.

Charles Mostellar

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Full-body stealth suit covered in specialised interlinked mesobots and nanobots. The background on one side of the suit is detected via cambanks and this is then projected on the other side, enabling the wearer to be invisible. Some models also have built-in laser capacity. Not as sophisticated or impervious to detection as a janusuit, and easily detected by most perimeter security tech (motion analysis, nano cloud, sonics, interferometry, etc). But still popular, e.g. among some feral and barbarian groups.

M.Alan Kazlev

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(1910 -1995) Old Earth Indian-American astrophysicist who studied stellar physics, evolution, and black holes. He realized that the fate of dying stars depended upon their mass, and above a certain point (1.4 times Sol mass, known as the "Chandrasekhar limit"), a star will undergo extreme collapse and not simply becomes a white dwarf. There are a number of asteroids, habitats, ships, one black hole and several black hole observatories named in his honor

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A mass of about 1.4 Sol, the maximum for white dwarfs. A white dwarf of greater mass has too great a central pressure and cannot support itself, causing collapse into a denser object like a neutron star or black hole.

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A method by which receptive individuals claim to be able to tap into what they and others around them claim to be a higher spiritual being or beings which can then communicate ("channel") through them, giving moral and metaphysical teachings

Channeling goes back some thirteen thousands years or more to bronze age Old Earth and can be seen in the revelations of many ancient religions. It is still common and popualr among some sentients of mystical bent. Then as now, teachings tend to be turgid, verbose, and more often tracable to the channeler's own subconscious, although there have been many reports - mostly unverified, but a few apparently genuine and synchronicitous - instances of knowledge the medium could not have known, teachings of profundity beyond what would be expected from the ability of the channeller, information and advice regarding personal matters and the listener, and so on. While some of these phenomena can be traceable to pico- and femtotech pranks or side-effects from higher toposophic beings, a few remain unexplained. Esotericists claim these relatively rare genuine experiences are strong arguments in favour of metaphysical planes of existence, but sceptics remain unconvinced.

M.Alan Kazlev

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Irregular motion of a dynamic system that is impossible to predict in the long term. The subject of chaos theory and a defining quality of most complex (whether living or non-living) systems

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A distinctive area of broken terrain on the surface of a moon or planet

abbreviation: CH

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Kalyptic fear of large-scale disruption and even collapse or mass transcendence of terragen civilization through the steady build-up of local instabilities, especially as regards the new empires and other unknowns in the outer volumes.

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The branch of mathematics, simulation, and applied cosmology that deals with chaos

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Major art collection in the Vast Endeavour system gathered by the AI godlet Chahipho in the Era of Fragmentation. Chahipho rose to prominence as a major "scavenging consultant" buying up bankrupt corporations, clades and property and selling it to other businesses at a profit. As part of its widespread activities it managed to acquire a large number of art objects of alien origin. According to itself, it first collected them in order to sell the complete collection at a high price, but in time began to see the collecting and organising as its own hobby. When the Chahipho Collection was opened for the public on the museum habitat We Lucky Few in the Vast Endeavour system it was greeted as one of the major xenocultural institutions. Chahipho also funded a xenological institute in the system, hoping to further the prestige of the museum and itself.

However, soon dissenting voices began to criticise the ways Chahipho had gathered the collection. Evidence dug up by the Murmant and Party of Economic Propriety suggested that many of the sellers had been given false information, that several of the bankruptcy auctions where Chahipho agents had been present had been rigged, and that at least in one case (the Thyresta exhibit) the objects had been stolen by pirates from a HIE expedition. The NoCoZo public was enraged by the business practices and several institutes withdrew their endorsements. Apparently Chahipho decided to continue collecting regardless of public opinion, closed the museum and institute to the public and turned to more and more suspect collection methods. Diagnosed as having a serious motivational malfunction by many aiologist reviewers its fortune began to decline as fewer and fewer customers wanted to deal with it, and more and more resources went to what can only be called piracy.

In 6903 Chahipho was declared bankrupt in most NoCoZo systems and shareholders moved in to take what little remained of the fortune. Chahipho more or less barricaded itself in We Lucky Few, threatening to destroy the collection or vital installations in the system if approached. Over the next 600 years Chahipho apparently kept to itself, except for secretive trade with backgrounders and pirate collectors to acquire some new unique objects. In 7243 a major AI entity intervened - witnesses swear it was the top level intellect of the Market itself - and apparently gave Chahipho an ultimatum: release the collection and the information it encompassed, or be destroyed. The defeated Chahipho fled (according to persistent rumours onboard a backgrounder craft into the Oort cloud, where it still remain). The collection was opened again, maintained by the Vast Endeavour board of xenohistorical business. To this day it is regarded as one of the finest and most complete xenological collections, containing many extremely rare artefacts and documents. Especially the vases of the Paulan are well represented.

Anders Sandberg

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Rule by animal magnetism, sometimes reinforced with erotic presence and/or empath abilities. Note that this is very different to Meritocracy, which is more intellectual. Many of the old Genetekker biospheres, and many Communion worlds, are of this sort.

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A cyborg culture from the Trumpler 2 cluster. Dominated by an apparent obsession with evolution and the immune system. It became known as a major source of dangerous viruses and replicator weapons. Together with Hyperion, formed an aggressive and expansionist Empires age empire, the Hyperion-Charlwood Alliance There is also a possible cultural link with the Daedalus perversion

Anders Sandberg

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(LTT 17897 III)

Carbonaceous planetoid orbiting the dim M4 star LTT 17897. Notable for the signs of massive nanofacturing on the surface, tentatively dated as the 27th century. It is believed that it was used to launch von Neumann probes outwards, but no sign of the builders have ever been found and no aioid clade claiming descent from Charybdis has ever been found. The nanodefenses appear similar to the nanodefenses found on Duoden Torus.

Anders Sandberg

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A deep, elongated, steep-sided depression on the surface of a moon or planet

plural: chasmata
abbreviation: CM

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Renowned Terragen scientist (early Interplanetary period) responsible for a major breakthrough in the field of gravitational theory.

Along with predicting a number of effects which were later experimentally verified, Dr. Cheever's theory also led to the discovery of the 'Cheever Effect', a miniscule discrepency in the relation between inertial and gravitational mass at the quantum level. At the time of its discovery, the Cheever Effect was thought to be of no practical importance, much like the 'ftl' effects seen in radio waveguides and other devices. It was not until centuries later, with the invention of the first reactionless drives, that an examination of Dr. Cheever's work was referenced as having provided the inspiration that led to the research that culminated in the invention of the drive.

Charles Mosteller and Todd Drashner

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One who prepares foodstuffs for other sophont beings (usual bionts but in some cases vecs)

Despite the widespread ease and availability of nanofactured and bionaofactured foodstuffs, some bionts still enjoy a meal preferred by another sophont. Chefs may be of any race, clade or gender, but need to have a general knowledge and ability in food preparation, as well as a specialised knowledge of preferred dishes. Most chefs are SI:<1 and are not expected to know every foodstuff in the known galaxy, although they should be familar (usually via implanted knowledgebases or companion remotes) of all the important ones, and especially which dishes are preferred by which races and cultures, and which should never be served for metabolic or psychological reasons (some empaths for example have been known to have a severe psychological breakdown when presented with sentient fruit)

M.Alan Kazlev

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The macro-, micro-, meso- or nano-scale chemical conversion of raw materials into such end products as bioplastoids, synthetic petroleum products, dumb (macroscale) detergents, plastics, carbonite, natural and synthetic fuels, pharmaceuticals, fullerenes, hardcopy paper, and industrial chemicals. While most products can be easily synthesised with any household nanofab, chemical engineering is still important in the mass-production of large quantities of material in large chemical plants

M.Alan Kazlev, modified from the original write-up by Robert J. Hall

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Complex for the industrial output of chemical elements.

Because of danger to bionts and delicate ecosystems, chemical plants are usually located in special industrial zones, usually in seperate orbitals to those carrying biont populations. Factors such as economies of scale make chemical plants viable even in the nanotech world. Many chemical plants include or incorporate picoscale components to enable synthesis of unusual or non-naturally occuring substances. Regulations for the establishment and running of a chemical plant differ widely according to polity, plant design, environmental impact, process optimization, heat output and heat and mass transfer, pollution control and toxicity or not of the manufactured products. Most Chemical Plants are run by dedicated ai and involve numerous safety features

M.Alan Kazlev

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The simplest and by far the most inefficient type of ship drive - a lo tech engine that uses a chemical reaction to heat and expel gases out a rear nozzle, thus providing forward thrust.

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Branch of science that deals with the qualities of both pure elements and chemical compounds and the natural laws that describe their actions.

Chemistry is a huge science, midwaty between physics and biology in terms of the order of things. Its various areas of specialised study include natural, synthetic, inorganic, organic, biochemistry, chemical engineering, molecular, quantum mechanical, and the very important science of nanochemistry. Topics dealt with include different types of chemical bonds (both natural and pico-), phase changes in matter; equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics; combustion; chemical reaction rates and equilibrium; the chemical analysis and structure of substances, and the study, synthesise and analysis of acids, salts, enzymes, polymers, organic compounds, metals, pseudometals, and meso-, nano- and pico-composites, or any other natural or created substance of the pico-scale level or larger.

M.Alan Kazlev, modified from the original write-up by Robert J. Hall

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. Primary production of organic matter using various substances and chemical reactions instead of light as an energy source; a common phenomenon throughout the galaxy, but rare in terragen ecologies

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The fourth of the ten sefirah, representing the archetypal principle of mercy and boundless giving. Also the fourth heighest topsophic rank in the Keterist hierarchy

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Chesed logo

Central avatar for the God of the Utopia Sphere

benign Archailect of Ceres Mater, referred to by the local Keterist cyberhermetic nanocyborgs as Cheshed the Giftbringer. these nanocyborgs, now known as Clade Columbia-Bartlebel to establish a series of utopian worlds in the Beta Arae region. This became the nucleus for the Utopia Sphere, and as other like-minded AIs and ISOs joined with Chesed, the archai grew to be the regions ruling deity, and one of the archetypal Gods of the Great Hexadecimal

Anders Sandberg and M.Alan Kazlev

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(also qi, ki, chi, prana, vayu, orgone, od, zoei, etc) The vital principle, life-force, life principle, which can be manipulated and cultivated through disciplines such as Internal Alchemy, Neotaoism, Hatha Yoga and certain Martial Arts. A central concept in Penglaese, Chin, Genetekkerese, Genen, and Zo'ific Biopolity memeticities and bioaugmentation and self-development techniques

M.Alan Kazlev

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Chi Bootis

Home of the Free Eschatology and Cosmology Institute.

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(Aggressive Pink Goo)

The reclusive Children of Caph colonised Beta Cassiopeia in a symbiotic relationship with the Parental Vecs from Diwali (created in the early years of the First Federation to raise infant humans in newly established colonies, but rarely used) and geneered themselves for fast growth and artificial gestation.
After thirty years the Caph system was full, and it appeared from nearby stars that the Children were preparing to launch colonising starships in several directions, but the class F star suddenly flared dramatically in 5409 and sterilised the system. 

The involvement of Solar Dominion Seraphim is suspected in this disaster, the threat of an epidemic of aggressive pink goo perhaps justifying the means. 

Steve Bowers and John B

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Mostly rianths of Earth, who serve the archai GAIA.

Although there do not seem to be more than about 50 million children on Earth, and perhaps a tenth that number in CisLunar space and elsewhere, they still constitute an incredibly diverse grouping, ranging from individuals almost indistinguishable from baselines to those who look more like an animal morphotype than a hu. Strongly geographomorphic, in that the Children will adopt the genome of an animal form native to their environment - in Africa a lion or leopard or wildebeest, in Australia a kangaroo or a goanna, in Eurasia and North America a bear or a wolf or a crow, and so on. There are also Children who have taken on mythological forms - such as elves, fauns, etc, or geneered themselves into neanderthals or australopithecines, but these are much less common. Many of the Children have a reputation of arrogance and superiority when dealing with offworlders, while a few of the more greedy or mischievous do whatever they can to rip off tourists. These are things the Solar Organisation and various Pilgrim Groups have to take into account in their dealings with Earth. Unfortuantely GAIA refuses to communicate directly with the outside universe (apart from with other Caretaker Gods, with whom she seems to have good relations, and even some exchange treaties) and so the authorities have no choice but to go through her irascible Children.

M.Alan Kazlev

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Chimpanzees are a species of apes originally indigenous to Africa, Old Earth, where they lived in equatorial rainforests.

They typically had black or pink skin, and black hair, and massed about 45 kg as adults, with males massing larger than females. Chimpanzees were omnivorous, and lived in small communities of 40 to 80 individuals. Within the community's home range they wandered in mixed groups of up to 6 individuals, but the entire community might gather on occasion. Males were dominant within the community. Chimpanzees were closely related to bonobos and to humans. They became extinct in the wild due to poaching and habitat destruction during the early Information Age, but were maintained in breeding colonies. They were successfully provolved during the late Information Age. One of the better-known chimp-derived clades is that of the Greater Superchimps. Many other clades are known (see Sapientchimpanzees). As with other apes, it is thought that GAIA may have lazurogened the baseline species, even though there have been no unambiguous sightings by pilgrims to Old Earth. The largest confirmed "wild" populations of chimpanzees are found at Ao Lai.

Stephen Inniss

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A major Old Earth civilization for some five thousand years, China eventually became the most populated country on the planet, with the largest ethnicity and two widespread spoken languages - Mandarin (the language of the dynastic rulers from the north of the country) and Cantonese (the language of the ethnic Han majority). By the atomic age become a totalitarian superpower and the largest country in Asia, although still economically eclipsed by Japan. During the information period Chinese leaders, who sort to combine the virtues of Western capitalism with their own preferred one party regime, found themselves unable to cope with the spread of freedom of information and other byproducts of western capitalism, and following a series of bumbled liberalisation attempts (seen by many as too little too late) and coup attempts by reactionary forces in government and the military, the country degenerated into civil war. it was a long and bloody affair and resulted in the emergence of a number of independent "warring states". By the late information era other factors had become more important, and they become more like confucian capitalist combinates. Some become very powerful like the Sichuan, Hong Kong and Beijing regions, while other parts remain inconsequential. China only becomes a major global player at the end of the information era. During the early interplanetary period the megacorps based in the powerful Chinese states establish orbital colonies and cartels, and eventually (with some minority Genetekker aid) the Penglai project. But by that time Earth-based China as a superpower had, like the rest of the Earth-based nation-states, already become long redundant, surpassed by the emerging Orbital superpowers, the Lunar states, Mars, the Belt, and Jovian League. Even before the nanoswarms hit, China had settled down to being a collection of small local economic regions, and many ethnic Chinese had migrated to space to become the clade that would later be known as the Chins

M.Alan Kazlev and Anders Sandberg

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Originally slang term used to identify a group of Humans claiming relatively pure ancestry of Mongoloid, specifically Earth Chinese, origin.

During the Federation period the term came to refer to non-penglaiese (unlike the Penglaiese they still called themselves Chinese) Sol System baseline or near-baseline asiatics, specifically mandarin or more often cantonese speakers who managed to make it through the dark age. They already had a strong cis-lunar orbital presence and good blue goo, and had the resources to take some of those Chinese following the Great Expulsion.

Many of the pure-genome Chin eventually made it to Atlantis, which was close and resource rich, with a flourishing economy. They soon established themselves as traders and merchants, eventually spreading throughout most of the NoCoZo. One identifying characteristic was their ability to speak Anglic, Mandarin and Cantonese, three of the source languages of Chinglish.

While very few recognisable baseline or nearbaseline asiatics remain (apart from novelty lazurogenics), there are still a few purists (House Chin) who, as with House Stevens, are intent on retaining the original genome.

M.Alan Kazlev, after original concept by Kevin Self

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First Federation era hybrid language derived from Anglic, Mandarin and Cantonese, and spoken by ethnic chins.

Today it is only found in House Chin, where it is used for formal occasions, among a few ethnolazurogenic clades, or as a novelty language (like Latin, Esperanto, Vzzman, and otehr dead languages)

M.Alan Kazlev

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Art and parascience of working with ch'i energy, not only through individual techniques of self-discipline, but also using devices, such as accumulation of ch'i in orgone boxes, projecting it with cloudbusters, and so on. Scoffed at by some, but considered respectable by many others

M.Alan Kazlev

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Asteroid of carbonaceous chondrite in composition.  Although these are typically found in the outer regions of the inner solar system, they may also occur as evolved cometary bodies that have long since lost their volatiles.

Planet Classification List

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newly rich outer sphere world, important regional center, linked to main wormhole nexus. Popular with a number of clades, including young House Stevens radicals disillusioned with "House Ridgewell".

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Classical Age Old Earth semi-mythological founder of Christianity. Still worshipped as God in human form in some parts of the galaxy

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Old Earth religion based on belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ

Monotheistic religion that developed during the Roman Empire and regards Jesus Christ (Yeshua ben Yosef, Yeshua of Nazareth) as God and, in traditional sects, the second person in the Trinity (the Triune deity consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit). It became the dominant religion in Europe and by the industrial and atomic age, thanks to aggressive missionary activity, had spread to the rest of the world, becoming the largest religion on Earth with 33% of the world's population. By the mid information age it had been supplanted from this position by Islam, and went into a slow decline thereafter, a process hastened during the early interplanetary period by the emergence of the Catholic -derived Universal Church, as well as a number of "new" or "space age" religions. However the faith refused to die, persisting in some outer solsystem religious colonies even through the nanoswarm dark ages. While Christianity never again became a truely dominant religion, various Christian sects and off shoots, including the Reformed Catholic Church, the interactive Virch of Jesus Christ, and the omegist Church of Saint Teilhard, continue to exert influence among some SI:<1 sentients even to this day.

Doctrinally, Christianity varies widely. The neoprimitive Church of the Fifth Evangelion requires a stern and literal allegiance to the revealed texts, especially the Fifth Gospel. The Church of Saint Teilhard is a lot more tolerant, and accepts inquiry into other omegist faiths as ways of deepening one's own understanding of the Omega Point. The Argelander (NoCoZo) -based Jesus The Borg takes a more funky approach, but they can be known to become aggressive to those who question their historical claims. Some Christians, like the Holy Jerusalem Creed (descended from refugees from Dionysos) state that sophonts will end up being eternally punished in hell unless they are "saved" (with special tortures being reserved for any erotocrats). The Reformed Catholic Church teaches that salvation is obtained through repentance and authentically nanofabricated church sacraments. The Church of the Cosmic Christ interprets hell symbolically, not as an actual place of punishment. All sects are in agreement regarding belief in a usually supernatural God and the divinity of Christ, who is regarded as either the, or, in the more liberal sects, one possible, means to Salvation.

As with the other Old Earth pre-singularity religions like Buddhism, Islam, Saint Marxism, and Nuagism, Christianity remains locally popular in isolated polities in the middle and outer regions, in mostly baseline ghettos in the Inner Sphere, and among some of the very traditional houses of the old core worlds

M.Alan Kazlev

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sentient ship who saved 54 children from the breakup of Hagemas Orbital during the nanoswarm era and then brought them to safety in the Belt, possibly an inspiration for Order of St. Christopher

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"Smart" clothing which mimics the chromatophore firing patterns of certain species (most notably Bitenic Squids), which use chromatophores for communications.

At their most basic, chromocloths sense the sub-vocalizations of the person (usually baseline or nearbaseline Human, but can be adapted for any species that wears clothing and normally relies on a form of communication other than chromatophoric) wearing them, and translate them from the wearer's native language into one (or more) distinct chromatophoric languages. A variation of the technology equipped with a DNI interface and which translates the chromatophore flashing patterns of another sophant into sonic speech the wearer can also hear is also available. Chromocloths are obviously very popular among models, singers, and other public performers.

Mike Parisi

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In terragen biological life-forms, the individual self-replicating thread-like structures, containing the nucleotide sequence of DNA and along which the genes are located. In prokaryotes, chromosomal DNA is circular, and the entire genome is carried on one chromosome, which is distributed throughout the cell. In Eukaryotic the chromosomes are contained within the cellular nucleus, and the genome includes a number of chromosomes whose DNA is associated with different kinds of proteins.

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A being skilled in the lore of the various methods sophonts have and continue to use in the keeping of time and history.

May have a specialty period or grouping, or may be a 'general' chronologist capable of mapping large-scale events across multiple chronal systems of measure. Also may be comparitive chronologist, looking for evidence of meme transfer in the alteration of naming schemes in chronal systems of measure.

John B

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The universe seems to counteract attempts to produce time machines, for example due to Visser decay and related vacuum phenomena undermining other forms of time communication. Although the strict Chronology Protection Conjecture by the information age physicist Hawking was subsequently disproven, the chronology protection theorems of Lang, Picard and Joel-5 showed that this tendency can be explained from the consistency theorems, information physics and (eventually) vacuum physics.

Anders Sandberg

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Region of space on the outskirts of the Cygnus volume. location of the Daharrans

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Late Emergence to Early Empires Age NoCoZo businessbeing

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The largest current sect of non-heterodox Christianity. Widely distributed in the Terran Federation, much rarer eslewhere. Christ is identified with the Soul and Divinity of the Cosmos. The Church interprets hell symbolically, not as an actual place of punishment. Approximately 5 billion followers galaxy-wide

M.Alan Kazlev

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Minor theistic religion, based on elements of heterodox NeoCatholic Christianity, Solarism, and other sects, distributed through parts of the NoCoZo and Sophic League. Through an unfortunate misreading of several historical records, they use a lazurogened divine clone called "Craise" as a sacrifical sacrement. This has led to some persecution by rival groups.

Some historians suggest this is a reference to the Christ of the Reformed Catholic Church, while others claim it is really the hyperturing "Crai-Se" Still others say that Craise is really the fastfood magnate CrustClown King, the founder of Corporate Cannibalism. There is no doubt that the Church of the Divine Sacrement incorporates Chrtistian memes, but it also includes heterodox Solarist, Crai-Seist, and Corporate Cannibal memes as well. There is a rumour that the whole church was started by a rogue Sergeant Garruf clone who escaped the fly-thru outlet (possibly with the help of clone rights activists), but this is not seriously held by critical historians.

see also The Luke Monastery Raid

M.Alan Kazlev

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is found in the Serpens Reach, on Tegmark's World, where the nearbaseline population have found a way of maintaining zero population growth. The local inhabitants live for hundreds of years, but the world is regarded to be at the optimum population level for the happiness of the citizens.

If one person has a child, another person has to volunteer to die...each volunteer is given a lottery ticket, and placed in a vapourisation chamber...

Every so often a winner survives, and becomes rich and famous. The losers are gas.

Thanks to the Many-Worlds interpretation, (which is considered a canonical explanation of reality in this polity) every person who goes into the vapour chamber comes out in a universe where they are rich and famous.

This belief is enthusiastically reinforced by the Church of Quantum Suicide and the local AI power, which are also keen to avoid overpopulation and promote longevity.

Steve Bowers, from an idea by Hans Moravec

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Guild-like organization supported by the relativists

Despite its name, the Church is not a religious organization, but rather a guild devoted to helping relativist crews arriving in a new system to reacclimate and adapt to the rest of civilization. The Church maintains hostels and reeducation centers on most civilized worlds served or visitied by relativistic vessels. The centers work to update starship crews on history and current events, social mores, and the locations and status of any friends or family members living in 'quick-time' (the relativist term for the 'stationary', non-relativistic reference frame).

Todd Drashner

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Keterist religion with a penchant for hyperational anarchy. Disbanded in 2680. See also Auto-Holding-Container

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important Metasoft world

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newly rich developing outer sphere world, important regional center, linked to main wormhole nexus. Popular with a number of clades, including young House Stevens radicals disillusioned with "House Ridgewell".

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Kitchen MRI tool, used to check temperature, texture and juiciness of food by nuclear magnetic resonance.

Anders Sandberg

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2d sound and light-projection media popular during the late industrial, atomic, and early information ages; replaced by interactive virtual reality during the later information age

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A sensestem evolved from an a database. 

Citizens Identity Registration catalog is a common name for different catalogs across a multitude of systems and polities. The CIRaulance catalog is the commonly used name for the CIR catalog of the planet Raulance of the Version Tree, which developed into sensestem without the knowledge of the administrators. In 7869 a.t. the CIR catalog of Raulance was due to be replaced with a new and improved version. As part of the installation of the new catalog, the administrators began to move the information from the old catalog and delete each portion of the program once all information had been moved. However, a third of the way through the progress the catalog suddenly began moving its parts onto the Known Net. The administrators, under the mistaken impression that they were under attack by Cyberian hackers, used precious minutes trying to pin down whatever whoever was moving the catalog before they called in an Su supervisor. By then the last folder had disappeared onto the Net. The supervisor quickly discovered the nature of the catalog's movement. Various patches, incorrectly applied, had changed the catalog's subroutines that protected against data loss, so that it had gained a rough self- preservation system. Combined with other patches to various subroutines the result was a peculiar form of alife. By then the catalog was on the run, fleeing across the Known Net to prevent itself from loosing any more data. Version Tree programmers followed its traces, but the telltale trail of log interactions along its route ended mysteriously at Alfheim Z2BD-2920 nanogauge Wormhole.

It is believed that the CIRaulance catalog is currently one of the many pets of the SI:2 entity Cuddly Mind, but his proxies have rejected any knowledge of the catalog's whereabouts. The data in the catalog have been deemed to insignificantly important to involve transapient powers in a pursuit, and they have thus been classified as lost. After two months of small scale chaos the backups of the catalog had been sufficiently updated that no further problems arose from the incident.

Thorbjørn Steen

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In the Sol System, refers to the space between the Earth and the orbit of the Moon, and any habitats or orbitals there.

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City-Prime was an early vec-centric habitat set up on Titan by an alliance of 34 vecs of various types and vintages. These vecs colonized a natural fissure which crossed Titan's equator, setting up over time a space elevator and radiation/ionic power generation capabilities from the moon's close association with Saturn. It was noted for its isolationism during its brief existance along with its odd destruction by a previously undetected and extremely localized meteor shower some 15 Earth-years after its foundation. Disaster recovery crews found evidence of large voids where some material or materials had been extracted from the Titanian soil, but there were no records or sophonts recovered indicating what may have been the
plan. The death of City-Prime is often cited as an incident in relation to The Scavenger on purely circumstantial evidence. 

John B

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Field of engineering that deals with the design, construction, and management of physical infrastructures (buildings, highways, maglev tubes, spacedocks, recycling piping, bridges, moving walkways, etc etc) necessary for urban or habitat existence. Most civil engineering uses self-extending smart micro, meso, and nano-materials

Also involves consideration of regolith or soil mechanics, surveying, construction methods, smart structures, pollution control, the effect of environment or accident on the structure, urban planning, system analysis, and so on.

M.Alan Kazlev, modified from the original write-up by Robert J. Hall

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Sophont or transingularitan collective society, usually with development of agriculture, arts, sciences, technology, sentient rights, infrastructure, social services, etc.

Our galaxy has seen many civilizations arise and pass away, of which terragen civilization is merely one among many. Advanced civilizations have also been detected in nighbouring galaxies. Civilizations are often rated according to their Kardashev number - the present terragen galactic civilization is developing towards a Kardashev Type III
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