Abusers | Synthets with Implant rate (IR) above civilian limit of 65%. See also: implant rate
Academy, The | Military educational institution established in Ares in 103 AW. Most prestigious of its kind on Kyos.
Axis | A source of energy discovered during War (Pion scholars often speculate that Axis is a side effect of Conflagration, and did not exist in BW era). Axis powers up domes and machines which have Axis drives, and is used to generate electricity for other purposes.
Axis-rich grounds | Also: Axis grounds. Territories rich with underlying Axis, which provide objective reality without protection from Demons. See also: Axis, flux field
Aya | Home planet of sentient species of The Universe of Seven, the only known habitable planet in binary Logan-Hades star system. See also: Hades, Logan
Battle at the foot of Aegis [314 AW] | Final battle of March of the Damned, which ended Daniel’s advance and effectively put an end to demonspawn army. See also: March of the Damned
Beacon | Also: flux master. The one sustaining flux field or a large group of visitors to their subreality. See also: flux, flux field, subreality
Blue Box | Control unit of a large group of Bygones. See also: cell
Calm [212 AW] | A cataclysm which took place on Ilyon in 212 AW. Not much is known about the event itself, but Ilyonians were never seen again.
Cell | A self-sustaining group of Bygones, usually controlled by Blue Box. See also: Blue Box
Collapse [2 AW] | Failure of objective reality outside Axis domes on Kyos in the result of simultaneous activation of six of them.
Collective | Large group or cluster of Corrupted, e.g.: Flavia Collective.
Conflagration [Year 0] | Mass Manifest which happened in Norther Research Center several weeks after its lockdown. Also known as Awakening.
Crawlers | Lesser Corrupted.
Daisy | A synthet (usually with high IR) who goes to great lengths to conceal their augmentations, particularly by avoiding any apparent face implants.
Doctors | Research personnel at NRF. Often referred to as “Good Doctors”.
Elder | Sept leader. See also: sept
Empyreans | Creatures existing outside corporeal plane, summoned by Heralds.
Explorer | Also: hunter (not to be confused with station hunters). Someone venturing Outside for personal benefit. See also: hunter
Felandrite | A source of energy which was considered an alternative to Axis. Felandrite was first obtained in 502 AW by a joint effort of several corporations from Nova, Ares and Mira DCs in a region later called Gambler’s Fallacy. However, mining it proved difficult and unprofitable, as keeping flux fields stable was a difficult task in that part of Kyos. The site was abandoned only three years after its launch.
Firstborn | Esper who manifested during Conflagration.
Flux | A device used to move between subjective realities. Commonly used as verb: to flux.
Flux field | AOE flux which can be sustained by its beacon for prolonged periods of time with flux field generator (ff-generator). See also: Axis-rich grounds, beacon, flux
Gemas | Precious gems; common alternative to lot on black market and backdoor deals. See also: lot
Grasp | A lifespan allowed by society to an android, determined by its cognitive capacity, which is in turn governed by number of its limiters and their settings (patterns). Also known as TTD, “time to deactivation”, or as overdue androids say, “time to die”.
Hades | Red dwarf that Aya circles twice a day, lesser of two stars of its binary star system. See also: Aya, Logan
High Council and its wings [312 BW-Year 0] | High council was established as advisory body by Elara Bates in 312 BW, but its presiding families took full power in 152 BW, after Ortis Long refused his claims to Tetrian throne. See also: Ivy Oligarchy, Tetra
Hopper | An android which acts against the will of his master or authority, or hops over it.
Hunter | Portable or stationery device used to detect espers through sigils. Most commonly put to use at train stations. May also refer to explorer.
Hysteria [146 AW] | Riots in Soma DC which resulted in hundreds of casualties and thousands of damaged or destroyed androids. When Arthur Soma returned from his expedition to The Conduit, he claimed (despite never having reached it) that agents from Ilyon were directly supervising NRC. Whether Arthur was pursuing his own agenda, or made valid assumptions based on documents he uncovered is unknown, but his announcement sparked shattering civil unrest. It took Somas almost three month to set crowd at rest; they had to bargain with their people, and limitations on import and production of Axis drives they introduced back then stayed in effect until 523 AW.
Ilyon | A continent to the south of Kyos, a land where penguins come from for their pilgrimages, and where technology for androids was first developed. See also: Calm
Implant rate | Percentage of augmented and artificial tissue (soft and hard implants) in relation to total body mass. Commonly abbreviated as IR.
Ivy Oligarchy [152 BW-Year 0] | Tetrian political setup during which High Council effectively ruled the country. See also: High Council, Tetra
Kate Wars [357 AW] | A short but intense conflict between Tali and Artas septs started by Kate Artas over expedition claiming artifacts from long abandoned Artas estate. The expedition was funded by Talis, but Kate demanded extradition of apparently valuable items; her request was refused, and several Ares PSF were hired by Artas to wage war. The conflict effectively came to a halt after a railway connecting two domes was destroyed in large battle later called Skirmish of the Steppe.
Kindling [Year 0] | A tragedy in what was once known as Northern Research Center (NRC), now The Conduit, which happened halfway through attempts of spiritualists to trigger a Manifest. Some accounts say that it was a massacre carried out by one of research subjects, while others speculate that first Demon was born back then, and nobody was ready for what came. Whatever really happened, the event allowed NRC personnel to initiate lockdown of the facility and intensify their research in the absence of surveillance, which eventually led from Kindling to Conflagration, or Awakening, and fueled War. See also: Conflagration, Manifest
Kyos | Land of demons and domes. D&D?
League | One of basic Kyosian units of length, good for measuring distance.
Leechers | Those who flux to participate in last minutes of conflict to claim its spoils. See also: flux
Logan | Large star in the center of Aya’s star system. See also: Aya, Hades
Logan’s Law [148 AW-ongoing] | A set of treaties between all seven septs of Kyos regulating various aspects of their interactions, including (but not limited to) trade, traffic and networking.
Lot | Universally accepted currency of Kyos. Plural is lots.
Magister | Chairman of the Council of Ares.
Manifest | The act of esper birthing his Demon into the world (manifesting).
March of the Damned [312-314 AW] | Advance of demonspawn army, led by Daniel the Shunned, from Western through Eastern plains towards city of Pion, made in effort to reclaim its newly built second dome, originally intended as their habitat, but annexed by main city upon completion. Daniel and a large group of demonspawn were just a couple hundred kiloleagues away when it happened; unfortunately for them, they were on the wrong end of Low Pass. Since going by Nova, the most well-armed city on Kyos at the time, was too dangerous, and many more demonspawn were scattered far and wide, Daniel decided to make a full circle, rallying more troops under his banner on Kyosian plains. He planned to take Mira and Tali on his way; he gathered enough to claim both cities, but met with unexpected resistance on the way. Both septs used large, mounted fluxes to fight outside objective reality, wearing demonspawn down until decisive battle in 314 AW, during which their relatively small, but well-organized joint force defeated Daniel’s army, killing him in the process.
Master Demon | A Demon more powerful, but less intelligent than others of their kind. Master Demons are often bound to their espers, and their names usually start with “Ki”.
Megaversity (of Pion) [est. 68 AW] | Scholarly grounds in Pion DC, largest and most reputable on Kyos.
Mesh | Also: Meshnet, MeshNet (someone just can’t get it right). Kyos-wide network of interconnected devices. Most of Meshnet’s servers are located on Mira Platform.
Nutcracker | A synthet who blazons their augmentations, preferring antique-looking ones at that.
Old Language | Elevated style of written language used by Tetrians before War. New era required fast and efficient communication, and Old Language, with its intricate weave and a complex set of rules, was mostly put out of use. It’s not forgotten: once a year someone digs up a new relic or a tome from The Library, and an expert is usually required. And since it carries strong symbolic meaning, Old Language is sometimes used on ceremonial occasions. You know what they say: fear the fallen!
Old World | World before Conflagration; a rarely used expression.
Order of Priestesses (of Tali) | A female religious order of followers of Syl. Priestesses are well-known not only for their charity and social service, but also for their interest in pre-War technology. See also: Syl
Orphan | (In relation to androids) An instance of android left without its master or authority, but still powered on. In groups orphans are known as unallocates. See also: unallocates
Pin | Affectionate nickname natives of Kyos gave to penguins. Plural is pinz.
Pure humans | Also: Purists, sticklers (offensive). Humans with 0% IR. See also: implant rate
Sawbones | Those who illegally modify androids by removing limiters, replacing parts and/or altering patterns.
Scourge, The [12 AW] | Mass exodus of Corrupted from all over Kyos to Flavia. Whatever settlements survived Collapse, The Scourge has put an end to them. See also: Collapse
Sept | A clan governing a dome, either officially, as in most DCs, or via proxies, as is the case with Artas.
Skirmish of the Steppe | See Kate Wars
Subreality | Common abbreviation for subjective reality.
Syl | Elder goddess of universal Kyosian pantheon.
Trial | A challenging dungeon.
Tetra | A state Elara Bates created in 320 BW by unifying Kyos. Tetra was destroyed during War, and its former citizens went back to calling themselves Kyosians. A citizen of Tetra was Tetrian.
Unallocates | A group of orphans, powered on androids left without their command. Most well-known refuge of androids was founded by a group of unallocates not far from Republic of Artas; it’s based around a former train graveyard called Terminus. See also: Orphan
War [Year 0] | A short but chaotic and utterly devastating conflict between nation of Tetra on one side and majority of espers and newly manifested Demons on the other. War effectively came to an end after the discovery of Axis and subsequent foundation of Tali and other domes throughout Kyos. War separates timeline on Kyos into BW, Before War, and AW, After War, with Year 0 between two eras.