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Le to Lh

League of Legitimate Businessbeings

Hyperturing crime syndicates

Started as a beamed power conglomerate in the Linnent and Terranovan colonies, the first singularity League of Legitimate Businessbeings expanded into meteoroid and asteroid control, and provided protection for spacecraft on interplanetary transfer orbits.

Absorbing and developing the memetic complexes associated with successful protection syndicates on several worlds, the League expanded into the Free zones of the NoCoZo after the Linnent worlds affiliated with Merrion in 3900.

This paralegal organisation is now found in many systems, operates its own security /police force and manages to avoid conflict with local hyperturing powers by using cost/benefit analysis and carefully applied extortion.

Steve Bowers

Lee Interorbital

Interplanetary age megacorp

One of the new breed of "tweak" superbabies, Marcus Alfonse Lee fulfilled the hopes and dreams of his successful software engineer single mother Victoria, and more. Chairman of the board at 12, he was quick to see the potential for venture capitalism in the buckyboard-driven space rush of the late 21st century. By 2130 the family business Lee Interorbital had a fleet of LEO shuttles, by 2150 they had established their own orbital habitat, - a combination of theme park, business hotel, and tax and data haven, officially called Elysium but more affectionately (and sometimes not so affectionately) known as Marcus World. This was to be the first of a number of "company biospheres" that were later to dot the asteroid belt and the surface of the half-terraformed Mars. Even after four successful rejuvenation treatments, Lee ruled the corporation with an iron hand, investing heavily in cutting edge biotech, asteroid mining, and even the new interstellar colonisation program, a stormy sea that had already sunk many lesser investors. By the start of the 24th century he seemed to be becoming increasingly rigid and inflexible in his decisions, a common problem among many of the early over-rejuved tweaks. A series of catastrophic business decisions saw stock plummeting and the company brought to its knees. A corporate takeover by the aggressive AI in charge of Hyperion Interplanetary saved the company but ousted Lee. Bitter and disillusioned, he defected to the Gengineer Republic, and his final fate has never been determined (most of the Genetekker records were lost in the wake of the nanoswarms).

M. Alan Kazlev

Leftbehind

Sometimes when a sophont ascends to a new toposophic level, it leaves behind or constructs or copies one or more representatives of its pre-ascended state. These leftbehinds may maintain a close connection with their Greater Self, serving as fully free proxavs. Or they may be released or encouraged to explore alternative (non-ascended) destinies. Sometimes Leftbehinds themselves eventually ascend, and in some these cases in turn leave their own leftbehinds.

One famous instance is that of Zar Daniel "Yochbin" Wellum, of Biyrhu-Neweden Hab, Jokram Orbital Bands, Jokram, Solar Dominion, also known as "Yochbin the Leftbehind", who is a Leftbehind of almost two hundred iterations. Eir original Exemplar is a third toposophic Perfect Philosomorpher called Ragyar Postyochbin

see also "comforter"

M.Alan Kazlev

legal spillover

Legal spillover occurs when rules and regulations from an advanced culture (including transcendent systems) are imitated by a less advanced culture, without fully understanding their reason. This can sometimes cause very strange loopholes, such as the Duktig cloning regulation that make both the original and a clone the same legal entity, with a legal age equal to the sum of their ages.

Anders Sandberg

legobot

modular meso- to micro-scale robot (generally, 0.1 to 1000 microns, although there are also versions up to several centimeters across) intended for space development, construction, foglet duties, etc. The legobots in a series or set basically follow the same design, but are capable of combining to form a near-infinite number of possible combinations

Lenticula

On a Europan Type world, surface features in the form of small (several kilometers) dark spots (pl. lenticulae)

abbreviation : LE

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Leonardo Old Earth Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, mathematician, scientist, and inventor, considered the ideal superior, and the supreme example of Renaissance genius.

He depicted in his drawings and detailed sketches, subjects ranging from flying machines to caricatures; he also executed intricate anatomical studies of people, animals, and plants. The richness and originality of intellect expressed in his notebooks reveal one of the greatest pre-singularity minds. Among his concepts were the helicopter, the parachute, the submarine, the armored car, the ballista (a giant crossbow), rapid-fire guns, the centrifugal pump (designed to drain marshes), ball bearings, the worm gear (a set of gears in which many teeth make contact at once, reducing the strain on the teeth, allowing more pressure to be put on the mechanism), and many other ideas that were centuries ahead of his time. His many artistic masterpieces include the Adoration of the Magi, the Mona Lisa (both renowned long before the outbreak of the "Renaissance nanite" in Florence, European Union, 2435), his famous fresco of the Last Supper (originally Milan, Old Earth - Although the original was destroyed even before the nanoswarms hit, a number of nanoscopically accurate reproductions can be found throughout the galaxy and are available as public domain), and a number of other great works.

Leonardo has often been held up as the perfect su, even before the first Homo superior; and a number of su clades sort to emulate and even surpass him long before a reasonable facsimile of his genome was cloned by Historical Perfection Corporation in the early Empires period. Today, perfect replicas of all of Leonardo's surviving works are kept at Medici Orbital Ring, Alexandria (Negentropy Alliance), and free templates are available for download.

Although Leonardo is often identified with the syndrome that bears his name, in fact many su that do not possess any da Vinci genome also suffer from LDVS

Leonardo Da Vinci Syndrome, LDVS

A chronic problem among many su, and even some moderately augmented nearbaselines, who find themselves getting ideas and visions faster than they can implement them, making them unable to complete a project before rushing off to the next. Hence, Leodvis - one who is so afflicted

(after Leonardo da Vinci)

from Transhuman Terminology

Lepidoptera

Butterflies and moths, an important order of terragen insects. Includes several prominent provolved species

lepton

subatomic particle that is susceptible to the weak nuclear force but not the strong force (the force that binds an atomic nucleus together). There are six leptons: the electron, muon, tau, electron neutrino, muon neutrino, and tau neutrino

Lepusan

Lepusanthropus genetekensis. Hu-rabbit splice developed by GeneTEK during the middle interplanetary period.

Although there had been many splices and manimals, including human-lagomorph hybrids, the Lepusan, or "Bunny", was an unusually successful breed, sturdy and docile, and often employed in the sex trade. Many had moldie or moldie analogue genomic or bioborg augmentations. They proved remarkably popular in the Belt and on some of the outer colonies, where life was harsh and brothels tended to the needs of riggers and spacejacks

During the nanoswarm period, the adaptable lepusans managed to survive in a number of blue goo shielded habitats, and there were colonies co-habiting with kupierists and haloists, where they fitted in with the splice, provolve, tweak and hider cultures that flourished in their isolated habitats during this time. Even before the rise of the first federation, the original Lepus stock had given rise to a number of new species and subspecies, both through natural genetic drift and bioaugmentation. Some of these joined the Federation along with their parent habitats; others preferred to remain isolated and independent

While some lepusans migrated to Dionysos, especially at the height of the Erotocracy, and other clades and "Warrens" (Lepus Clans and Houses) eventually joined the Zoeific Biopolity or the Utopia Sphere, most have remained affiliated with their local polity or habitat. They are a gentle, placid race, occasionally taken advantage of and cruelly treated (the "Bunny-Baiting" of Atlantis was notorious for several thousand years until the ISO Good Earth entered the system in 6921, accompanied by an escort of biowars, and forced the locals to ban the practice). Today Lepusans are found throughout much of the civilized galaxy, although their greatest population centers are in some of the big Utopia Sphere Bishop Rings like Bunnihaven and Rojjerabbit. Other lepusan dominated polities like Plaebuni and The Lepus Federation, although non-affiliated, have a flourishing tourist and sex trade and the protection of local posterotoginics.

In build the average Lepusan is fairly short, about 1.5 to 1.6 meters, with a sturdy build and muscular legs. Although their eyesight tends to be poor, the other senses are highly developed. The body is covered in a short thick usually greyish fur, and the ears are quite large and floppy. The breasts in the females are often hypertrophied and the waist unusually slim, although these conditions has been rectified in many lepusan warrens. Lecherousness, nymphomania, and satyriasis tends to be a problem. Whilst these conditions can be easily treated, many warrens retain them as marks of individuality. The immune system is augmented with symbiotic bionano, giving good disease resistance, and reproduction in some warrens can be excessive (in extreme cases population blooms are followed by starvation or enforced celibacy or sterilisation). The number of Lepusans of all species and subspecies in the galaxy today is estimated at some 10 trillion.

M. Alan Kazlev

Greater and Lesser Machtet

MPA techno-religious artistic styles

Lesser Machtet was a techno-religious style developed during the 9300's in MPA, as a reaction to the megascale organicism that had dominated mesoscale art in central MPA for the last four centuries. Lesser Machtet sought to bring about Greater Machtet, an imaginary artistic style not realized in this universe, but imagined to be the attractor of true Lesser Machtet as the artists shape the universal unfolding according to its principles. This form of Platonist-Materialist aesthetic teleology was extremely distasteful to the until then dominant bilatists, who dubbed it technobylatism.

Lesser Machtet was centered on the vision of the universe/godhead as a grand machine, with a single unified function. This was a return to ancient ideas of rigid mechanisms (pre information technology) with single purposes; part of this was a reaction to the extreme flexibility of bilatism, part was due to the massive influence of Honemane K05's sculptures. Structures should be joyously functional, exposing the intricate top-down abilities of their creators.

Lesser Machtet lost importance in the 9500's as the homogeneity of techno-religious styles in the MPA broke up due to the influence of re-connected societies in the Serpens region and influences from the Negentropy Alliance, Keter and STC. After the subversion attempts of Honemane K05 the last supporters of the movement disbanded.

Anders Sandberg

Admiral Tka Lett-Vorek

Version War hu folk hero One of the most extraordinary figures of the Version War was Admiral Tka Lett-Vorek, the commander of the Interplanetary Combined Fleet. In 4520 the neutral system of Peta Dromanis was attacked by Metasoft autowars pursuing a damaged and fleeing a Dominion corvette, the Whittikar, that had been granted temporary sanctuary in the system, with the loss of twenty millions lives. The previous disparate world-states united under the local superpowers of the Idao Orbital Band, the Thomasborogh Hegemony, and House Valinder-Laton to avenge the atrocity, and protect their borders from further incursion. After some squabbling over who should lead the expeditionary force, in 4605 the controversial but popular Admiral Tka Lett-Vorek was placed in charge.

Lett-Vorek led his small but capable relativistic fleet deep into Metasoft territory, only to be surrounded by vastly superior forces and cut off from supplies. However, he was a master of out-guessing 'grunt' AIs in charge of enemy autowars by using less-than-optimal tactics, constantly surprising them and supplying his fleet by piracy. Lett-Vorek attacked deeper and deeper into enemy space, charging into systems not expecting enemy action (and therefore less than fully prepared) and then destroying resupply depots, cutting off his own means of escape. Although seemingly a kamikaze strategy, Lett-Vorek actually was using a very circular route through the wormhole networks to emerge into friendly space again, after ravaging the enemy's far sectors and 'living off the land' (however, only 9% of his original force actually made it back). He was one of the few genuine war heroes of the chaotic time. Much later, after the war had ended, he was to be mythologised by Anthropist hagiographers as "the man who opposed the aioid might". Ironically, Lett-Vorek was always a supporter of biont-aioid harmony, and among his crew was proud to count several capable vecs, including his trusted Assistant Executive Officer, Commander "Jack" (this fact being conveniently excluded from the Anthropist accounts).

Aaron Hamilton

Level 4 Agent Interoperability

Early AI disagreement over standards

The most bitter AI political fight in the period 2200-2500 was how to define the new standards for level 4 agent interoperability ontologies - human standards organisations, operating systems, corporations, personal loyalties - everything was fair game as the co-dependency, hierarchical and object oriented paradigms clashed

Anders Sandberg

leviathan

Very large sea-going animal native to New Poseidon

Approx. 100 meters in length, 20 meters diameter. The leviathan fills the same ecological niche on its world as whales do on Earth. The body consists of a huge tube of flesh open at both ends. Muscle contractions force water through the creature and propel it thru the water. Thousands of small tendrils on the inner wall of the body strain the water for micro-organisms for food. Half a dozen relatively small, paddle-like fins circle the outside of the body in two bands of three. Each band is offset from the other. These fins are used to help the creature steer. A dozen eyes are dotted around the body, but the creature relies primarily on sonar to sense the world around it. Leviathans travel in small family groups of 3-7 animals. When a group becomes too large, some members will split off and form a new grouping or two large groups may mix and then split into 2-3 new families with members of the two starter groups mixed together.

Todd Drashner

Leviathan Class

These MPA capital ships were the largest warships of the Version War, and the largest vessels to see combat in the Inner Sphere.

As would be expected, the MPA military hyperturings were quite enamoured with their giant dreadnoughts, which replaced the earlier Gigantor Class. The first Leviathan Class vessel was constructed during the middle of the Version War, to provide fire support for the MPA Autowars. Learning from the mistakes of the earlier Goliath Dreadnoughts, which, without their protective screen of autowars were easily disabled by the much smaller but more manoeuverable and adaptable Negentropist and Dominion vessels, the new vessels were provided with enhanced toposophic intelligence, more adaptable piconanotech morphing, and a more powerful set of diametric drive engines. Even so, problems remained. The Djed (the Leviathan, like the Goliaths before them, were all named after MPA Sectors, the Djed was the third vessel of that name) was a slender cylinder some 180 kilometers in length but only three and a half kilometers in diameter when in optimal relativistic mode, but required two weeks to morph to broad ovoid for close range combat. For this reason, the Leviathans were used as mobile fortresses, for defensive fire support, or to attack besieged forces.

Although condemned by critics as unnecessarily wasteful on resources (the fact that so many resources were put into the Gigantors, Leviathons and Brobdingnags, rather than on the much more adaptable and resource efficient autowars, has often been cited by military historians as the reason why the MPA lost so much territory to the Revisionists during the war), the later MPA dreadnoughts, especially the Juggernaut Class and the upgraded Leviathan III and Gigantor VIII and IX, proved so devastating in combat that they were never beaten. After the war, some of these noble vessels were honourably discharged, and given large tracts of space to settle along the MPA periphery. Others remained in the service of the empire, and they became the MPA's equivalent of the Empire Ship.

M. Alan Kazlev

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