-
T/CT:
- Terrene/Contra-Terrene, a more accurate term for what is
often
called matter/anti-matter (since both are actually matter, simply in
different forms). The reaction between the two forms liberates all the
energy both contain, making it by far the most efficient and least
polluting energy source available. For this reason, T/CT is used almost
exclusively for planetary and large-craft energy needs.
-
TALENT:
- Psionic ability strong enough to be trained into a
reliable
skill. Always includes a mind screen (sometimes powerful enough to be
called a mind shield) and telepathy. It may also include telekinesis,
darlas, clairvoyance, rarely precognition, and (so far only in humans)
healing. On Irschcha, it has been
searched for and trained by the White
Order since circa 3000 BCE; the first human
so trained was Ranger James
Medart, in 2569.
Talent is uncommon among humans, only about half of one percent
having mind shields, though perhaps twice as many have the weaker
screens. Among Sandemans, Talent of
shield level is fifty percent,
ninety-five percent for warriors.
Very few Sandemans, however, are
willing to take Talent training, seeing it as a violation of privacy, so
there is no way of telling what other aspects they might have.
Exception: In the Sierra and Land Prime universes,
Talent training for Sandemans is almost universal.
-
TARLAC, Esteban:
- (2533-2568) Imperial Ranger, 2553-2568. His
first
solo mission was stopping the Nemran revolt. He was almost killed when
the rebels poisoned him with stingweed,
but he was rescued and kept
alive, until Imperial forces arrived with medical help, by 14-year old
David M. Scanlon, who was made a Life Duke for the feat.
Tarlac's greatest accomplishment, though, was his almost single-
handed ending of the Traiti War. He agreed to submit to
the Traiti
Ordeal of Honor and succeeded, returning to Terra with the Traiti
leaders, who claimed their rightful place (thanks to their Terran origin)
as Imperial citizens. Tarlac was assassinated during the ceremony, by a
Humanity First fanatic. The Traiti maintain, however, that he actually
died of his Scarring seconds after completing the Ordeal, and became the
last member of the Circle of Lords,
their gods; they revere him as the
Peacelord.
-
TARLAC, Subsector 6-G:
No. systems: 44 Sector: Scorpio
with 3 inhabited planets: 0 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 10
with 1 inhabited planet: 23
-
TEACHING TAPE:
- A standard reading tape (despite the name, it is
actually a data chip) "overprinted" with
electronic
impulses which can be played directly into a human brain to provide
instant memorization of facts. The recipient must still learn to work
with those facts (e.g., how to pronounce and otherwise use the words and
grammatical rules of a language), but is saved the considerable time à
would normally have wasted in rote memorization.
-
TEFNUT, Subsector 12-B:
No. systems: 82 Sector: Eridanus
with 3 inhabited planets: 4 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 8
with 1 inhabited planet: 26
-
TERRA:
Sector: 1, Orion Year: Standard (365 1/4 days)
Subsector: A, Sol Day: Standard (24 hrs)
System: Sol Gravity: Standard (980 cm/sec2)
Settled/established: N/A Axial tilt: 23.5o
By: N/A Oxygen: 21%
Satellites: 1 (Luna) % Water: 73
Ident code prefix: TER Continents: Phys. 4, polit. 7
Ruled by:
General: The world where humanity, Traiti, and cetaceans
evolved. It is
the Imperial capital world, centered on the Antarctic Palace Complex; it
is also the capital of Sector Orion and Subsector Sol.
It remains a world of many societies, though there is no longer much
friction between them.
The Traiti call it Truehome.
-
THAKUR (Sandeman):
-
One who has accepted total voluntary service
from
another, usually a Sandeman warrior.
-
THAKUR-NA (Sandeman):
-
One whose offer of total voluntary service
has been
accepted.
-
THARK:
- (ISCTK-2395-8016) High Adept of the White Order,
2540-2569.
Corina Losinj's teacher until she
discovered his planned revolt against
the Empire. His intent was to replace the unTalented (and therefore
unqualified, in his opinion) human rulers with the White Order. When he
discovered that Losinj had become a Ranger, and was forced to realize
that some humans did indeed have Talent, his reason for
revolt was
eliminated. The same honor that had motivated him to start the revolt
then required that he halt it, surrender leadership of the White Order,
and accept punishment. As part of that punishment, he destroyed his
soul-blade, which sent him into a
permanent state of psychic shock.
Since he had ended the rebellion himself and imposed a part of the
punishment on himself, he was not executed; instead, he was placed in the
custody and care of Clan Ch'kara of the new Traiti
Sector.
-
THEOS:
- The Omnist term used to
refer to or address one regarded
as a
god, since "Lord" already carries so many meanings and is subject to
misinterpretation in an Empire where most male nobles are titled
"Lord".
-
THOMPSON, Jase:
- The first Bloodmate to be recognized as such, in
2277.
He was in command of the Evaluation
Team sent in response to Archbishop
Klein's complaint about Narvonese
turning into blood-drinking monsters.
When blood tests taken on landing showed him to be extremely susceptible
to the nosferatu pseudo-virus
, Count Nilssun decided he would be an ideal
Imperial Liaison for the System if he became a Kin. When he rejected the
idea, she arranged for him to become infected, then be weakened enough
for the Change. To her disappointment, he did not appear to Change --
but that night, it became obvious that he literally had to feed a Kin at
daily intervals; in so feeding Narvon System's Chief of Detectives, Enna
Kaufman, he Bonded to her. When he was questioned by Count Nilssun, he
mentioned a dream of the Dragon
Prince, which led to the further
discovery that a number of others who had not appeared to Change had also
had such a dream, and were also able, but did not have, to supply a Kin's
daily needs.
-
THOR, Subsector 12-G:
No. systems: 74 Sector: Eridanus
with 3 inhabited planets: 1 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 12
with 1 inhabited planet: 21
-
THOTH, Subsector 20-B:
No. systems: 158 Sector: Chameleon
with 3 inhabited planets: 4 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 8
with 1 inhabited planet: 24
-
THUNDERBIRD, Subsector 10-A:
No. systems: 55 Sector: Aquila
with 3 inhabited planets: 6 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 16
with 1 inhabited planet: 23
-
TIMELINES:
-
Alpha Prime
Alpha Nine
Land Prime
Sierra
Zeta Prime
-
TITANIA, Subsector 4-B:
No. systems: 72 Sector: Fornax
with 3 inhabited planets: 2 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 10
with 1 inhabited planet: 24
-
TOLI (Traiti):
- A Homeworld vine that often kills the trees
it
uses for
support. It also yields orange berries that, to quote Ranger Tarlac,
"look like jelly beans, smell like dirty socks, and taste fantastic."
-
TORRANCE, Clan (Sandeman):
- Clanhome is located on Quivira
Continent.
Although its specialties are boating and seamanship, like most clans it
raises most of its own food; because of Quivira's topography and
relatively cold climate, it has more land than the average clan. That
land includes most of the Cold Peak mountain range, which is popular with
tourists who can get the clan's permission to visit; the clan hunts
there, as well as harvesting ice-berries, most of which are exported as a
luxury item.
-
TORVA BUSH (Traiti):
- Actually a low-growing tree. Its
tough
inner bark
can be used as a substitute for rope or twine.
-
TRAVELER, Subsector 5-C:
No. systems: 93 Sector: Pegasus
with 3 inhabited planets: 1 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 11
with 1 inhabited planet: 28
-
TRAITI:
- A cousin-race to humanity, having evolved on Terra
from a
common
ancestor, and removed by the Others about 35,000 BCE to insure racial
survival. Although traces have been found on Terra, they were not
recognized as such until after contact was made; before that, such finds
were denounced as mistakes at best, frauds at worst.
Traiti males average about two meters in height and 250 kilos in
mass, with females somewhat smaller. They are heavily built but not fat,
due to greater tissue density. Their bodies are human-looking, as are
the hands (with the exception of semi-retractile claws instead of nails),
although their skin is medium gray in color and as tough as leather armor
despite its softness. Heads are their least human-looking feature, being
ovoid and having the long axis approximately parallel to the ground, with
bulges along the top and sides. The eyes are small; the nose is barely
noticeable except for slit nostrils, and the lipless mouth has
triangular, serrated teeth. There are no external ears.
Much of Traiti society is influenced by their sexual imbalance and
(on human terms) severely limited fertility. Only approximately
one-quarter of the Traiti race is female, leading to a custom (almost a
compulsion) requiring that females and younglings be protected. (Note
that because of this, all Traiti fighters are male.) Their
"family"
structure is by clans ranging from 10,000 members up, with all adult
members of a clan acting as parents to all its younglings.
Custom restricts sexual activity to within a given clan, which is
not, thanks to occasional adoptions and a very stable gene pool,
genetically harmful to the race. The general attitude is that sharing
bodies is a thing of goodness, between any two adult members of the clan.
Heterosex is preferable when available, because of the possibility
(however remote) of offspring, but because of the sexual imbalance, the
great majority of Traiti males are bisexual in orientation.
During peacetime, clans are led by the Ka'ruchaya consulting with the
senior fighter, always a Cor'naya; in combat, the senior Cor'naya takes
charge, consulting with the Ka'ruchaya. Although she is not in any
formal position of authority, both listen to the clan's Speaker for the
Circle of Lords, who is their religious leader. The race as a whole is
led by the male Supreme and the female First Speaker.
-
TRAITI, Sector 21:
Ruled by: Supreme & First Speaker, co-Dukes No. systems: 568
Subsectors: 6 Inhabited planets: 308
A. Homesun D. Kranath
B. Peacelord E. Carle
C. Davis F. Sepol
-
TREASURE-TUNNELS:
- Role-playing game derived from the
twentieth-century
fantasy role-playing games. It has a steady following in most of the
Empire,
especially in Subsector Sandeman, where it is a tactical training aid as
well as a game.
-
TRIBUNAL, IMPERIAL:
- A formal hearing by an Imperial officer
to
determine
the facts in a case, then order the appropriate punishment or
reward.
-
TRIQUINIA:
Sector: 17, Indus Year:
Subsector: A, Alph Day:
System: Ganges Gravity:
Settled/established: Axial tilt:
By: Oxygen:
Satellites: % Water:
Ident code prefix: TRQ Continents:
Ruled by:
General: The first Imperial contact with this world was made by Ranger
Caitlyn Macdonald, who discovered a planetary population of intelligent
four-legged creatures apparently engineered from Terran colonists' pets
and domestic animals. The humans had been subsequently wiped out by a
disease that did not affect the animals, and all Terran connections were
forgotten. (Cathy Whitehead)
-
TUONETAR, Subsector 15-C:
No. systems: 156 Sector: Auriga
with 3 inhabited planets: 3 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 9
with 1 inhabited planet: 23
-
TYR, Subsector 18-G:
No. systems: 42 Sector: Aries
with 3 inhabited planets: 6 Ruled by: Lester family
with 2 inhabited planets: 9
with 1 inhabited planet: 19