| Sabar Effer’wyck = ascetic mogul of the powerful star nation Effer’wyck and grandfather of Margot Effer’wyck. Sandur = Lt. Commander C. A. Sandur, I.F., normally an employee of IGL Space Lines, he is part of the permanent crew of I.F.S. Prosperous. Sante’ Eremite = An ancient Imperial poet. Savoin = A huge gravity fountain near the entrance to Courtland Plaza in Avalon City, Avalon-Avalon Schneidler = Schneidler 98, a long-nosed League Disruptor. Schwanndor = Schwanndor 137-mmi, rapid-firing disruptors Sealants = Organic and non-organic compounds used to seal starship hulls. Seasonals = As Atalantans recon time, an Imperial Standard Year is composed of 14 Seasonals. SGR-1820 = Antiquated Drive crystal systems used on ED-4 Starships. Shelgar = Commander A. G. Shelgar, I.F., Puvis Amherst’s cousin. Sherraine = I.F.S. Princess Sherraine, a veteran Imperial Battlecruiser. Sherrington = Sherrington HyperSpace Works, prior to the Second Great War, a minor but highly reputed starship manufacturer that, toward the end of the First Great War, had shown keen interest in developing small attack ships. Highly famous for creation of the HyperSpace racers that secured the Mitchell Trophy as well as manufacturer of the celebrated Starfury series of astroplanes. Siddoth = a City on 3-Godthaab supporting a once-great starship manufacturing yard. Sheldon = (1) Sheldon’s Great Constant, a mathematical constant integral to the famous LightSpeed equations derived by the great Mathematician Travis Sheldon, (2) Sheldon Drive Crystals “grown” from celecoid Quartz Kernels. Slua = An ancient, three-eyed deity of the Gradgroat-Norchelite church. Sodeskaya = Domain of the Bears. A sprawling star kingdom that subsumes half the Home Galaxy. Sodeskayan = Of Sodeskaya. Sodeskayan Toast = “To Ice, to Snow, to Sodeskaya we go!” Note: glasses are held up-side and drained before toast. Softpack = Light-duty luggage. Spaceframe = The frame around which most starships are constructed. Spaceways = Established routes through space. Spaceworthiness = The condition of being ready to travel in space. Spevil = A virus inoculated into specially prepared soil making it possible to grow the potent narcotic TimeWeed: Spevil virus beds. Spinward = Another term for “Lightward.” Sponsons = Short, wing like protrusions from the hull of a vehicle, usually paired. Squarish = More or less square in shape. Staffer = A person who works in a staff position. Starbase = An operations base for starships. StarBlaze = A huge, famous gemstone owned (and worn on special occasions) by Princess Margot Effer’wyck. Starbase = A port (usually military) for starships. Starfleet = A fleet of Starships. Starflight = The act of navigating among the stars. Starfury = graceful, 66-iral-long killer ships that could top 400 LightSpeed, or 400 Light Years per Standard Metacycle. With a cruising range of 660 light years (1,300 light years in the PR X model) they could tangle with anything the Galaxy could throw at them. They were reduced in size by nearly half from the Mark 1C Starfury “pocket Battle cruisers” that were their immediate ancestors, yet they retained the identical main battery of twelve 406-mmi disruptor cannon and required a crew of only fifteen. In their intended role as short-range interceptors, they were renowned – and feared – throughout the galaxy. Starlines = Commercial starship transportation organizations. Starliner = A (usually large) commercial starship. Starman = One of the enlisted ranks in the Imperial Fleet below Petty officer. Starmotive = Referring to Starship propulsion systems. Starport = A port (usually civilian) for starships StarSailor = Anyone associated with the actual navigation of Starships. Starscape = A field of stars. Starwharf = A series of wharves for tending starships, usually located on the surface of a planet. Stoneweight = See Units of measurement (other), below. Sturdee = Vice Admiral I.F. (the Hon.) Jacob Sturdee whose flagship during the first battle of Atalanta was the mighty battleship I.F.S. Conqueror Sublieutenant, see Ranks. Subatomics = Slang for subatomic particles. |
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| T-150 = Fast, maneuverable Gorn-Hoff League T-150 destroyers with big rapid-firing 137-mmi disruptors that could crumple a merchant ship’s hull by a hit anywhere near the Drive-chamber structures. They were 283 irals long with a diameter of 25 irals and a cruising range of 3,500 light years. One in good repair could make 30 LightSpeed at the price of drastically reduced range. Spaceworthiness was of secondary importance. Tandor-Ra = Capital city of Civilization Lixor, located on the planet Hagath 37/ Lixor, the only habitable planet among 12 satellites orbiting the binary red and green star of eclipsing separation 3.0°. Tarrott = Capital city of the league on the planet Dahlem orbiting trinary star Uadn’aps Telsa Tensil = A down-covered, pillow-sized lump Midway between the shoulders common to all adult A’zurnians. This protrusion (manifesting itself at puberty) covers an outgrowth of the reflexive nervous system that automatically coordinates the complex motions of feather and flesh necessary for flight. From each side of the tensil, great folded wings arch upward like golden cowls trailing long flight feathers in alabaster cascades that reach all the way to the floor. Tharshish = Tharshish of Josias, One-time Prime Minister of A’zurn. Thragglers, see Thraggling. (pejorative) Thraggling = An Avalonian word, usually considered obscene, sometimes used in the present participle as a meaningless intensive, as in “You’re thraggling right about that!” Tilsters = A cheese. TimeWeed = A disastrously habit-forming narcotic from the Spevil virus beds, frequent drafts of which are necessary for addicted members of the League’s dreaded Controller class and their rulers, expatriates from Triannic’s royal court in far-off Tarrott city. Tomers = Combinations of winning cards in the game Cre’el. Torond = A wealthy, independent star kingdom ruled by Honorotha LaKarn, Dowager Princess, mother of Baron Rogan LaKarn. The Torond provides more than half of the Empire’s Celecoid Quartz Kernels from which Drive Crystals are grown. TRANSpool = Transport Pool. Trax = See Altnag’gin. Trennels = Supports (archaic, timbers) holding an incomplete starship on its building ways. Trenning = An Imperial arms manufacturer, producer of highly regarded Trenning NT-53A blast pikes. Triad, see Asterious. Triannic = Self-proclaimed “Emperor,” Nergol Triannic is the dictator of the League of Dark Stars. Tricornered = Three-cornered. Trilon = A structure consisting of four faces: Three formed by the connected sides of (often equilateral) triangles and a fourth formed by the three triangle bases. Trinary = An entity made up of three elements, often applied to triple stars. Truculents = Crew members of I.F.S. Truculent. Tupfer-Schwandl = Rapid-firing, 37-mmi, League disruptor. Typro = A barren mining planet orbiting the trinary star Uadn’aps in the League of Dark Stars. |
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| Uadn’aps, see Tarrott. Umbilicals = Power and chemical connections to moored starships. These must be disconnected before the starship is flown. Unad See Dates, above. Uncollapse = The act of expanding, as in a collapsium resuming its natural atomic structure. Ursis = Nikolai Yanuarievich Ursis, Lieutenant, I.F., an observed from Sodeskaya. Known by friends as “Nik”, Ursis is actually Dean of the sprawling Dityasburg Academy near the city of Gromcow on the Sodeskayan planet Zhiv’ot orbiting the star Ostra. Utrillo, see Barbousse. |
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| Valemont, Claudia – a civilian Division Manager in the Atalanta Fleet Base, a startlingly beautiful young woman whom the term “something” didn’t even begin to describe. She was small and almost the perfect antithesis of Margot Effer’wyck. She wore her dark-brown hair to her waist in gently flowing waves that framed a countenance graced by wide-set brown eyes with long eyelashes, an almost, but not quite, pug nose, generous lips, and a strong chin. She was gorgeous! She also had an ample bust-neither emphasized nor obscured by the snug, fashionably short pelisse she wore that revealed a modest waist, perfect legs, and tiny feet in old-fashioned, high-heeled sandals. She is quite accustomed to having a sizable impact on men. Valentin = Kirsh Valentin, brilliant League Praefect/OverPraefect, commander of Varnhauser 1.88 = An obsolete, but still-capable disruptor. Vatthan = Along with Inguer, Vatthan is the largest star port on Hagath-37/Lixor Vcee = Vcee Shop, a shop in which people relax while drinking cvcesse. Verecker = A tree lined boulevard that follows the shore of Lake Mersin in Avalon City, Avalon-Avalon. Vergonian = Hailing from the Imperial province of Vergonia Vertrucht = the language spoken throughout the League and many of its allies. Voot = A legendary bearded individual with magic powers enabling him to appear at any location in the Known Universe before anyone else. Vothoor = A Fluvannian demigod who, according to certain legends, could see anywhere. |
