Star Saga

Star Saga! Huzzah!

Characters and Goals

• Valentine Stewart (inky, red token): Stylish playboy with a ship and in some kind of trouble, looking for three cargo units of Super Slip
• Corin Stoneseeker (Ghogg, blue token): Seeking a stone
  • Can build Universal Translator with one each of Synthetic Genius, Computer, Culture, and Tools
• Jean G. Clerc (Jota, green token): Engineer looking for cool alien ship-upgrade technologies (specifically a tractor beam, photon torpedoes (got 'em!), and a ship shield generator)
  • can build a Technology Nullifier with one each of Particle Catalyst, Synthetic Genius, Fuel, Tools, Iron, Medicine
  • can build a ship shield generator with one of each phase steel, warp core, munitions, fluids, radioactives, fiber
• Laran Darkwatch (Matthew, purple token): In search of religious fulfillment and the final Sacred Text File (no, I'm serious)
• Professor Lee Dambroke (vimes, black token), xenobiologist seeking proof of alien life in the form of wacky abilities
  • can build a ship shield generator with one of each phase steel, warp core, munitions, fluids, radioactives, fiber
  • can build a tri-phase drive booster with one of each warp core, gradient filter, iron, crystals, fuel, flame jewel
• MJ Turner (josh_g, yellow token): ace pilot and all-around hotshot, sekritly hunting an infamous space pirate

Planets and Marketplaces

• Types of Commodity: Computers, Crystals, Culture, Fiber, Fluids, Food, Fuel, Iron, Medicine, Munitions, Radioactives, Tools

Central

• Nine Worlds - 114
  • Stopped by Patrol when trying to enter, but text implies one should be able to get past with stronger ship attack and defense

• Bugeye - 153
  • Market
    • 3 Fuel for 1 Culture
    • 3 Fuel for 1 Munitions
    • 2 Fuel for 1 Tools
    • 1 Fuel for 1 Food
  • Tavern bully (unknown what happens if he is defeated)
  • Includes scientific mission studying genetics of bugs - can get Primordial Soup (only once)

• Crater - 67
  • Market
    • 2 tools for 1 culture
    • 2 tools for 1 food
    • 1 tools for 1 fuel
    • 1 tools for 1 iron
    • 1 tools for 1 medicine
  • Shipyard
    • Entanglement mines: 1 food, 1 fiber
    • Warp winder: 1 culture, 1 fluids
    • Pulse inverter: 1 munitions, 1 fuel
    • Boarding robots: 1 radioactives, 1 medicine, 1 iron
  • Munitions
    • Stunner: 1 culture, 1 munitions
    • Hypnotic gas sprayer: 1 food, 1 crystal
    • Molecular disruptor: 1 iron, 1 medicine, 1 radioactives, 1 fuel
• Wellmet - 110
  • Wellmet Market
    • 1 Munitions for 1 Culture
    • 3 Munitions for 1 Fuel
    • 1 Munitions for 1 Iron
    • 1 Munitions for 1 Medicine
    • 3 Munitions for 1 Radioactives
  • Wellmet personal munitions:
    • Trade 1 Piercer - 1 Computer 1 Medicine
    • Trade 1 Exploder - 1 Munitions
    • Trade 1 Laser Reflector - 1 Fuel
    • Trade 1 Force Field - 1 Crystal 1 Culture 1 Fiber 1 Iron
  • Wellmet Torrence Family trading
    • Interested in Primordial Soup, Super Slip, Warp Core, Particle Catalyst, Phase Steel, Gradient Filter, or Synthetic Genius.
    • Give them one of the above and they will trade for any 3 of Computers, Crystals, Culture, Fiber, Fluids, Food, Fuel, Iron, Medicine, Munitions, Radioactives, and Tools.
  • Wellmet Slow Eddie Falstaff
    • There's a trade triangle. At the Ghost Worlds connection, haulers take bulk cargo (food and chemicals) out to the Ghost Worlds, and bring back rare cargo (wine, clothes, meat, glass, chips, ship parts). At the Space connection, prospectors go into space and bring back space stuff (alien stuff, alien materials, phase steel, anti-inertial) and sell it to the smugglers. At the Boundary connection, smugglers take alien stuff to the Nine Worlds and swap it for bulk cargo.

• Supa - 218
  • 2 Food for 1 Crystals
  • 2 Food for 1 Fluids
  • 3 Food for 1 Fuel

• Moiran - 118
  • Market
    • 1 crystal for 1 fiber
    • 1 crystal for 1 tools
    • 2 crystals for 1 food
    • 3 crystals for 1 computer
  • Shipyard
    • Photon torpedos - 1 Munitions
    • Magnetic deflectors - 1 Food, 1 Iron
    • Auxiliary rockets - 1 Medicine, 1 Fiber
    • Turbo navigation - 1 Computer, 1 Munitions, 1 Radioactives, 1 Tools
  • Tony the Shark
    • (Warning, can meet mugger at place to buy weapons.)
    • Blaster - 1 Fluids, 1 Tools
    • Neuron whip - 1 Computers, 1 Munitions
    • Missile toes - 1 Fiber, 1 Radioactives
    • Disintegration gun - 1 Computers, 1 Culture, 1 Food, 1 Medicine
  • Phase Steel Factory
    • Phase steel - 2 Computers + 2 Food + 1 Fiber + 1 Tools

• Medsun - 63
  • 2 Culture for 1 Fiber
  • 1 Culture for 1 Fuel
  • 3 Culture for 1 Radioactives

• Cathedral - 288
  • Offers Fiber
  • Commodity Market
    • 2 Fiber for 1 Iron
    • 3 Fiber for 1 Fuel
    • 3 Fiber for 1 Tools

• Para-Para - 107
  • 1 Fuel for 1 Computers
  • 2 Fuel for 1 Munitions
  • 3 Fuel for 1 Crystals

• Gironde - 182
  • Market
    • 2 Computers for 1 Crystals
    • 3 Computers for 1 Culture
    • 1 Computers for 1 Fuel
    • 2 Computers for 1 Radioactives
  • They say they are kept on-planet by mysterious Supervisors who don't let them leave
    • Taking off results in being attacked.
      • A good way to escape is to shut down your ship.

North

• Ascension - 17
  • Earth-like. Contains intelligent mantis-like aliens who don't speak Earth Standard.
  • Can teach the "mental shield" ability
  • Taught Jean Clerc how to build a Technology Nullifier
  • Market
    • 1 Crystals for 1 Food
    • 2 Crystals for 1 Culture
    • 3 Crystals for 1 Fluids

• Gen - 12
  • Market
    • 2 Culture for 1 Computers
    • 2 Culture for 1 Fiber
    • 3 Culture for 1 Fluids
  • Temple where they inquire, "How does one know the way to truth?"
  • City of Markov which offers LARPing
    • Has teddy bear which you can fight - suggests some treasure if it's defeated

• Storage Station 7 - 1
  • DANGER - causes ship crash with less than 100 strength

• Ouabain - 26
  • They really like games. You may have to solve a puzzle to land. Landing pad C is the safe one.
  • They'll also give you Synthetic Genius if you successfully solve a puzzle. The correct door is NOT on the right. Picking the left door produced a success, unknown if repeatable. A universal translator would undoubtedly help here.
  • Also, they can teach Telekinesis.
  • Market
    • 2 Computers for 1 Fiber
    • 2 Computers for 1 Food
    • 2 Computers for 1 Medicine
    • (If you visit the market and are told to read Text 13, you'll need to get it from here instead, since the scan in the downloadable Passage Finder is wrong. The Passage Finder linked from the map tool has been updated with the correct passage)

• Cordethar - 33
  • Artificial system containing a black hole and a computer that's monitoring all activity to send back to its Owners.
  • Infodump planet! Lots of crunchy lot-related goodness. Jean typed it all up and transmitted it to you guys via subspace radio, in the form of texts 75, 607, 16. If you have a Universal Translator or understand High Darscian, then you might get more information out of the colonial period than this.
  • Lost the ability to talk to its Owners thousands of years ago; is gradually getting its abilities back as dual phase interphase levels are recovering

South

• Baphi - 247
  • Green and hospitable world, no apparent civilization
  • Abandoned colony
  • Wreckage may include an alien exercise machine granting enhanced speed
  • Can (possibly) harvest one Fluid for 4 phases

• Jaquar - 241
  • Darscian world - need to learn High Darscian (as above)
  • Market
    • 1 crystals for 1 iron
    • 2 crystals for 1 fuel
    • 3 crystals for 1 radioactives
  • 3-bay cargo drone ship available for 2 iron + 1 fuel
  • investigating inertial tech will get you a personal Mass & Inertial Control Belt

• Hootenaller - 359
  • Uninhabited, hospitable, no intelligent life
  • Free food if you take some time to collect it, it seems
  • Some weird stuff about spatial geometry in the area being messed up; dream sequence after resting here about Hootenaller being a "hole" in the barrier between normal space and "dual space", but that wall is disintegrating (and stuff about dual space being dangerous but powerful whatever blah blah)

• Fiyar - 351
  • Gas giant–type planet; uninhabitable except for... uh... pyramid ball players?
  • Mine for fuel (2 phases)
  • Search for warp core, a substance used in hyperdrives (3 phases)

• Koursh - 311
  • Crash landing when first arriving - takes a full turn to complete repairs
  • After investigating aliens (which is another full turn), you can leave safely and mine
  • Mine radioactives (3 phases, available after stuff above)
  • Unsure if the solution used to leave planet will let you safely land on returning later

East

• Hemidore - 163
  • Inhabited, planet almost entirely covered by water
  • Ships use special maneuverability technology
  • Increase your ship's maneuverability (4 phases)
  • Install a tractor beam (6 phases)

• Firthe - 226
  • Inhabited, old underwater cities
  • Translation machine can translate to and from Firthian; technology comes from Tralis
  • Super Space Suit Recipe
    • 1 Primordial Soup
    • 1 Super Slip
    • 1 Food
    • 1 Medicine
    • 1 Fiber
    • 1 Fluids
  • Purchase Particle Catalyst
    • 2 Computers, 2 Fiber, 1 Crystal, 1 Tools

West

• Alkon - 268
  • Must either learn Alkonese (7/14 phases) or hire an interpreter (2 phases, 1 unit of commodities)
  • Jungle world, apparently use lots of Fibers

• Darscold - 125
  • Darscian world
  • Market
    • 3 Culture for 1 Fluids
    • 3 Culture for 1 Radioactives
  • Can teach Serene Contemplation
  • Institute of Extra-Corporeal Sentience: 1 Synthetic Genius for: 2 Fluids, 2 Radioactives, 1 Fiber, 1 Crystals

• Fiara - 145
  • Darscian world - need to learn High Darscian (7 turns with telepathy or universal translator, otherwise 14)
  • Given technology and secret of space flight by "The Mentors" tens of thousands of years ago
  • Market
    • 3 Fiber for 1 Computers
    • 1 Fiber for 1 Crystals
    • 2 Fiber for 1 Medicine
  • Reaching anti-gravity facility requires crawling through high-gravity section, moving quickly required (?)

• Gnarsh - 91
  • At war. Attempting to land leads to ship-to-ship combat.

• Feldo - 44
  • "Planetary-sized non-motile sentience"
  • First human Feldo met was Vanessa Chang
  • Market
    • Not visited yet
  • Can purchase Primordial Soup (unknown price)
  • Can learn Internal Reorganization
  • Can trade for (unknown) equipment
  • Can trade for expanded (aft) cargo bay for 1 food, 1 radioactives

• Withal - 137
  • Market in orbiting space station, doing anything on planet requires teaching Withelians Earth Standard (7 turns)
  • 2 Computer + 1 Fiber + 1 Medicine -> 4-space cargo drone, will warp to markets anywhere you've visited, only takes one turn no matter how far away
  • Market
    • 1 Iron for 1 Crystals
    • 3 Iron for 1 Food
    • 2 Iron for 1 Medicine

• Corbis - 191
  • Abandoned world, non-sentient cat-like beings
  • Can harvest Fluids
  • Can harvest Super Slip (investigate city, then follow rivulet to source)

• FLN-1 - 133
  • Can mine for radioactives
  • Repeating alien message
  • Hatch requires ship weapons to destroy

• Yrebe - 82
  • Iron planetoid, can mine for iron
  • Used to be creatures now living in the sun, wise and benevolent race allowed transformation to occur
  • Investigating day side causes ship damage (and no useful information)

Unknown or general information

• Rialla - ???
  • Can trade for Computers

• Darscian worlds
  • Darscold (original planet), Golden Age, trades Culture
  • Fiara, high gravity with anti-gravity technology, trades Fiber
  • Gazan, unstable with planet-quakes, trades Iron
  • Ioreth, poisonous, trades Medicine
  • Jaquar, strewn across cluster of asteroids, trades Crystals

• Organu - ???
  • Offers Munitions

Mysteries and Backstory

Dual Space

• Apparently, there's some sort of dual space thing which might be like subspace or hyperspace maybe?
• Sometimes the connection to it is weaker or stronger; right now, we're becoming more connected to it (or the wall between us and it is weakening)
• There's a hole between normal space and dual space at Hootenholler
• Cordethar (the Monitoring computer planet that's been recording everything for thousands of years) will be able to contact its Owners again soon because of dual space interphase levels recovering

Vanessa Chang

• From Glossary: Vanessa Chang (2435-2505) - Last of the great space explorers, and perhaps the most famous of all. In her expeditions, Chang discovered more than forty inhabited planets, and was the first human being to travel in the Galactic Arm. She returned from space during the years of the Space Plague and helped set up the Boundry to protect humanity from the dangers of unrestricted exploration. Thus, ironically, she held bring the age of the Great Expansion, in which she played such an important role, to an end. A tragic by strangely fitting afternote is that in the political and social chaos of the time, her maps were somehow lost. Despite the efforts of three centuries of historians, they have never been found.
• A legendary explorer from centuries past. It's her maps that we've been given (by a mysterious guy in a bar) to help us explore the galaxy.
• Used to keep a stash of stuff on Cordethar, including flame jewels where she got from the Galactic Arm (on the other side of the Barrier)
• Everyone who had a tri-axis drive bought their jewels from her
• Eventually encountered something so scary out there that she gathered everyone with a tri-axis together on a planet called Outpost to convince them to stop traveling past the Barrier anymore
  • Laran is looking for the Outpost because (a) that's supposedly where his forbears met the Gods, and (b) that's where he can find the seventh and final sacred text of his religion, the one that explains everything.
  • And the Archangel's crew were also freaked out by whatever was out there; they planned the Outpost trip together with Vanessa
  • Also, Vanessa took all of her flame jewels with her when they left
  • From Glossary: Flame Jewel - A unique and exquisitely beautiful red and orange crystalline artifact, brought to the Nine Worlds by Vanessa Chang from her space explorations in the late 25th century. In her will, Vanessa Chang gave her Flame Jewel to the Chang Museum on Earth. Although the Jewel has been postulated by scientists to have a numbre of unique physical attributes, its importance in social terms far transcends any scientific usefulness. It is seen as a symbol for Humanity's resurgence after the Space Plague, and as a beacon for the future development of civilization on the Nine Worlds.
• On February 28, 2493, Chang crash-landed a shuttlecraft in the Fiaran desert. When the Darscians rescued her, they found her and her crew in desparate straits with no fuel, no food, and practically no working equipment. Chang borrowed a subspace radio and successfully contacted some humans closer to home, hearing about the Space Plague. At this point the humans pleaded with the Darscians for a new spaceship to take them to Cordethar (no indication why). New ship (two-axis) Chang attained she called the Lockerbait, and went to Cordethar.
  • Alien shuttlecraft was a primitive system requiring suspended animation due to length of flight; apparently the shuttlecraft belonged to a "rugged, warlike" race because there lots of places for weapons. She abandoned it in the desert.
  • Crew member died on way to Fiara, buried on Koursh (code B8YH9A).
    • Tried this option, got the message: "Unfortunately, you're going to have to find the place where Vanessa Chang's ship crashed before you can start digging for a buried body. Digging where you are now is not very productive." Does that mean anything to anyone?—Matthew

Tri-Axis Drive

• Can be made from a warp core, gradient filter, iron, crystals, fuel, flame jewel (if you know how) -- but flame jewels are extremely rare
• Can be used to pass the High Density Barrier
• A (maybe?-)relevant quote I came across while exploring the Archangel: "The standard Wamirian hyperdrive in use today is the two-axis drive, which suspends the warp core between two anentropic fields, one for each axis. Back in the flying days of the Archangel, the two-axis drive was only a theory, and all ships had but a single axis. This hull, though, seems to have been modified to mount a second and third anentropic field generator."

Mentors/Others/Etc.

• Various races of aliens have a story about a race of aliens who visited them at a point when their civilization was in trouble, who helped them find a new philosophy/way of life
• May or may not be related to Cordethar's Owners or the roughly contemporary Clathrans

Dreams and Mysterious Map-Giver

• Why were we given these maps, and by whom? Is someone hoping that we'll build a new tri-axis drive, penetrate the density barrier, and discover something in the galactic core?
• And were the dreams that many or all of us had in our bios a form of mind-control that caused us to set out on this mission in the first place? Was it caused by the same person or persons who gave us the maps?

Ship-to-ship items

• Attack
  • Combat
    • Boarding Robots - Computer-controlled attack robots that can occupy and overwhelm an opposing ship
    • Pressor Beam - A ship-to-ship weapon that repulses another ship away from you, with either a descrete "punch" or a steady "push".
  • Contact
    • Ram - A ship-to-ship weapon that allows one to attack an enemy ship by actually crashing into it. The ram is primitive in concept, but highly effective in aciton, particularly if the enemy is taken by surprise. The device itself is a large metal plow mounted on a ship's hull and structurally reinforced to withstand the impact of the collision.
    • Tractor Beam - A ship-to-ship weapon that attracts another ship towards you, with either a sharp "tug" or a steady "pull".
  • Projectile
    • Dimensional Eliminator - A ship-to-ship weapon that folds one of the spacial dimensions out of an enemy ship, causing the enemy ship to flatten out and disappear
    • Hyperbeam - A powerful weapon that shoots a beam of energy through hyperspace, bypassing all normal defenses
    • Nuclear Rockets - Guided missiles carrying gigaton-power nuclear warheads. Compared to more modern weapons, nuclear rockets are slow and inaccurate, but if they reach their target they are still very deadly.
    • Phase Cannon - A ship-to-ship weapon that shoots a steady, piercing energy beam across space.
    • Photon Torpedos - Small but powerful energy packets that travel at faster-than-light speeds across space and explode at a predetermined target.
    • Plasma Beam - A thin, very accurate, lower-powered energy beam useful in attacking small targets.
  • Special
    • Anti-Gravity Ray - A device used to counteract the effects of gravity
    • Black Cloud - A smokescreen of obscuring particles that blocks the functioning of an enemy ship's sensors in a region of space
    • Confuse Enemy Computers - The ability to control or misdirect an enemy ship's computer with transmissions from your own ship's computer
    • Entanglement Mines - Space buoys that, when triggered, project strong hypermagnetic forces, making it difficult for a spaceship to fly past
• Defense
  • Armor
    • Curvature Inductor - A device attached to a ship's hull that creates a curve in the fabric of space, causing matter and energy traveling towards the ship to change direction and veer away
    • Magnetic Deflectors - Powerful magnetic fields projected in front of a ship's hull to absorb energy attacks
    • Ship Shield Generator - An extremely useful device that projects a protective energy field around a ship to absorb both physical and energy attacks.
    • Stress Bulkheads - Extra supports for a spaceship's hull to help it absorb the impact of explosions, collisions, energy blasts, etc.
  • Mobility
    • Auxiliary Rockets - Extra thrusters that give a spaceship more speed and maneuverability
    • Turbo Navigation - Computer algorithms that enhance the speed and maneuverability of a spaceship by carefully coordinating the drive systems, power generator, directional controller, and other components.
    • Warp Winder - A device that dramatically increases a ship's speed for a short time, by initiating and controlling a feedback loop in the warp drive.
  • Special
    • Anti-Energy Field - An item that causes all energy within a region of space to be neutralized
    • E.C.M. - (Electronic Counter Measures) Jamming, interference, and other electronic mechanisms for disrupting the functioning of another ship's navigation, sensor, and computer systems
    • Pulse Inverter - A ship defense system that reverses the direction of incoming energy beams
    • Stealth System - Technology that electromagnetically camouflages a spaceship, making it difficult for enemy sensors to detect.
    • Stress Field - A weapon that creates powerful shock waves in space, alternately pressuring and depressuring an enemy ship's hull and internal supports.
    • Technology Nullifier - A device that prevents the operation of all electronic equipment in its area of effect.

Hand-to-hand items

• Attack
  • Contact
    • Stunner - A common hand weapon that delivers an electric shock when it touches your enemy
    • Piercer - A cheap and easily obtained hand-to-hand weapon that uses a powerful energy "blade" to cut through most materials
    • Kothan - A combat ability that allows one to strike at an enemy with great strength and accuracy
    • Molecular Disrupter - A hand-held weapon shaped like a walking staff, with a metallic tip capable of dissolving the molecular bonds in a living creature's cells
    • Poisoning - An ability which allows you to effectively poison your enemy during combat
  • Projectile
    • Blaster - A common hand-held weapon that shoots an energy beam over a short distance (good against a fierce animal)
    • Exploder - A common hand weapon that shoots chemical explosive charges. Less powerful and less accurate than a blaster, but also less vulnerable to anti-energy and anti-technology defenses (good against someone with a laser shield)
    • Disintegration Gun - A hand-held weapon that uses an ultra high frequency energy beam to cause an object to fade out of existence
    • Ninchuckle - A strangle shaped weapon that, for those with the skill to use it, can be thrown at an enemy, delivering a knockout blow
    • Pin Rifle - A simple projectile weapon that shoots various kinds of treated needles. The needles can be sharp, explosive, poisonous, blunted, or tranquilizing, depending on the effect desired
  • Special
    • Hypnotic Gas Sprayer - A device that sprays a potent brain-relaxing chemical, causing most living creatures to go into a hypnotic trance
    • Immobilizer - A hand-held weapon that generates a stasis field, freezing an enemy in place for a short time
    • Little Puce Alien - A small purplish creature who likes to float above your left shoulder
    • Neuron Whip - An electromagnetic wave designed to interfere with the normal transmission of neural signals between the brain and muscles of living creatures, causing intense pain
    • Telekinesis - The power to exert physical force with the mind alone, causing objects to move around just by thinking about it
• Defense
  • Armor
    • Laser Reflector - A protective shield, worn over the chest and torso, which deflects concentrated energy beams. A laser reflector is a useful defense against most energy weapons, such as blasters and ray guns
    • Skin Armor - Close fitting personal protective gear, designed to combine a high degree of defense with a near-normal freedom of motion
    • Force Field - A protective energy barrier that surrounds a person, creating an "invisible wall" that blocks both physical and energy attacks
    • Internal Reorganization - The ability to move one's internal organs around, making one less vulnerable to attack and speeding up healing
  • Mobility
    • Missile Toes - A colloquial merchandising name for rocket-assisted footwear, designed to give the wearer greater speed and agility in endeavors such as ballet, sports, and hand-to-hand combat (good indoors)
    • Rocket Pack - A rocket-propelled device strapped onto a person's back that enables one to fly short distances (good outdoors)
    • Darthan - A combat skill that enables a person to evade enemy blows with great speed and precision
    • Inertia Control Belt - A device that controls the effects of inertia and momentum on a person, allowing one to instantaneously change speed and direction
    • Superhuman Speed - The ability to run almost as fast as your favorite comic book hero
  • Special
    • Invisibility - The ability to sneak around unseen; especially useful in tiptoeing up behind your friends and yelling "Boo!!"
    • Levitation - The ability to elevate oneself off the floor just by thinking about it
    • Mental Shield - A mentally projected force which protects you from running into walls and keeps other things from running into you (such as bullets, rocks, and knives)
    • Phrmm - The ability to put a living creature in the mood to be peaceful and friendly
    • Serene Contemplation - The ability to meditate calmly under great stress, allowing one to think more clearly and react faster
    • Whurffle - The ability to see a few moments into the future, which comes in handy for dodging projectiles or evading ambushes

Miscellaneous Vocabulary

• Archangel
  • The spaceship used by the Founders of the Final Church of Man in their journey to discover the Perfect Truth about humanity.
• Arm
  • See "Galactic Arm."
• Atlantis
  • One of the Nine Worlds. Atlantis is lightly inhabited, mostly water-covered, and provides Food to most of the other Nine Worlds.
• Barratry
  • A breach of duty on the part of the captain or crew of a ship to the injury of the owner of the ship or cargo.
• Boundary
  • A border encircling the Nine Worlds. The Boundary was established in 2498 A.D. to protect the human planets within it. The Boundary Laws prohibit any spacecraft from entering the area enclosed by the Boundary. The Boundary is demarked by robot buoys that record the passage of any ship and alert the Space Patrol if anyone attempts to cross inside.
• Cargo Bay
  • The space on an interstellar ship used to transport a unit of cargo.
• Cargo Drone
  • An unmanned remote-controlled ship equipped with cargo bays and a jump engine, capable of instantaneously transporting cargo (but not people) from one place to another.
• Chang, Vanessa
  • (2435-2505 A.D.) Last of the great space explorers, and perhaps the most famous of all. In her expeditions, Change discovered more than forty inhabited planets, and was the first human being to travel in the Galactic Arm. She returned from space during the years of the Space Plague and helped set up the Boundary to protect humanity from the dangers of unrestricted exploration. Thus, ironically, she helped bring the age of the Great Expansion, in which she played such an important role, to an end. A tragic but strangely fitting afternote is that in the political and social chaos of the time, her maps were somehow lost. Despite the efforts of three centuries of historians, they have never been found.
• Commodity
  • Any one of the twelve common types of cargo that serve as the basis for interplanetary commerce: computers, crystals, culture, fiber, fluids, food, fuel, iron, medicine, munitions, radioactives, and tools.
• Computers
  • One of the twelve standard commodities that serve as the basis for interplanetary commerce. Computers are machines that emulate thought processes to perform useful tasks. (See also "ship's computer.")
• Core
  • See "Galactic Core."
• Core Stone
  • A mysterious and powerful artifact found by the explorer Soulsinger in the 25th century, and later stolen from him by an alien creature.
• Crystals
  • One of the twelve standard commodities that service as the basis for interplanetary commerce. Crystals are used to collect and control energy, and are used in power generators, spaceship hyperdrives, and navigation equipment.
• Culture
  • One of the twelve standard commodities that service as the basis for interplanetary commerce. Culture is generally equated with native artifacts or artwork, and may include music, videos, literature, and so on.
• Density Barrier
  • The dividing line between the Galactic Fringe and the Galactic Arm. On the outer (Fringe) side of the Density Barrier, the density of interstellar matter is low enough to allow faster-than-light travel with a dual-axis drive. On the inner (Arm) side of the Density Barrier, the density of interstellar matter is too high for a dual-axis drive, and a tri-axis drive is necessary in order to travel at super-light speeds.
• Drone
  • See "Cargo Drone."
• Dual-Axis Drive
  • A spaceship propulsion system that allows a spaceship to travel faster than the speed of light. Invented by Dr. Anton Wamirian in 2257 A.D., the dual-axis drive made it practical for people to travel between stars, thus starting the period in history known as the Great Expansion. The dual-axis drive system works by collapsing two spacial dimensions into one along the path of the propelled ship.
• Earth
  • The home world of humanity, now one of the Nine Worlds. Before the Space Plague in 2490 A.D., Earth was the unchallenged center of all human activity. However, civilization on Earth was virtually wiped out by the Plague. Earth was later rebuilt, but few traces of its pre-2500 civilization remain. It is no longer more important than any other human planet, and it shares an equal status with the other eight of the Nine Worlds.
• Endaur
  • One of the Nine Human Worlds. Endaur is the seat of the Nine Worlds Government and supports a large administrative bureaucracy. It also serves as the headquarters of the Space Patrol, which owns an entire continent covered with military bases.
• Environmental Suit
  • A standard space suit, capable of resisting vacuum, cold and background radiation.
• Families
  • Powerful merchant clans, based on the planet Wellmet, who control almost all commerce in the Ghost-worlds. The Families are also rumored to operate a massive illegal smuggling trade across the Boundary.
• Fiber
  • One of the twelve standard commodities that service as the basis for interplanetary commerce. Fiber includes many kinds of generally useful synthetic and organic "soft" materials, such as plastic, rubber, and wood.
• Final Church of Man
  • The principal organized religion of the Nine Worlds, to which the majority of the populace belongs. The Church teaches that it is a sin for human beings to explore space, and that people must instead strive to improve themselves so they can attain perfect souls.
• Flame Jewel
  • A unique and exquisitely beautiful red and orange crystalline artifact, brought to the Nine Worlds by Vanessa Chang from her space explorations in the late 25th century. In her will, Vanessa Chang gave her Flame Jewel to the Chang Museum on Earth. Although the Jewel has been postulated by scientists to have a number of unique physical attributes, its importance in social terms far transcends any scientific usefulness. It is seen as a symbol for Humanity's resurgence after the Space Plague, and as a beacon for the future development of civilization on the Nine Worlds.
• Flexion Glove
  • A specially lined glove, used to safely handle objects emitting harmful radiation.
• Fluids
  • One of the twelve standard commodities that service as the basis for interplanetary commerce. Fluids consist of industrial chemicals of all kinds, including acids, lubricants, coolants, and others.
• Foods
  • One of the twelve standard commodities that service as the basis for interplanetary commerce. Foods can mean any sort of edible and nutritive compound, ranging from baked stuffed lobster to new mown hay.
• Founders
  • The group of people who were responsible for the establishment of the Final Church of Man.
• Fringe
  • See "Galactic Fringe."
• Frontier
  • One of the Nine Human Worlds. Frontier was the last of the Nine Worlds settled prior to the Plague and the establishment of the Boundary. Even today much of Frontier is undeveloped, with a small population clustered in a few large cities.
• Fuel
  • One of the twelve standard commodities that service as the basis for interplanetary commerce. Fuel refers to all energy-producing substances, most typically the refined plasma gases suitable for use in fusion generators, but also simple combustibles such as gas, oil, and coal.