Cheops

Topic: Spacecraft

A Titan class low orbit and upper atmosphere patrol craft, the Cheops is the sole Templar vehicle permanently assigned to Terra. Orbiting the earth in Am or within the Veil at a depth of 1.5, the Cheops keeps watch while staying well out of the range of terrestrial sensors.

The Cheops is equipped with the standard Titan class armament – particle cannon, kinetic point defense batteries, nuclear and conventional cruise missiles. The ship also mounts a high caliber after-market nuclear powered railgun and a long-duration Crew Service Module. While the “angry end” of the vehicle is capable of atmospheric entry, the CSM is not. It does, however, have the capability to fly the Command Module remotely via an encrypted tight-beam telecommunications link, and can function as a lifeboat or orbital platform if required.

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Colonial Authority

Topic: Lexicon

A Colonial Authority is a corporation that has been delegated key responsibilities of the state within a specific region of space. Colonial Authorities are invariably influential mega-corporations with a significant number of government contracts – so significant that the state has determined that it’s better to keep them happy than it would be to run the risk of pissing them off.

The designation is typically granted to corporations that provide services deemed vital to human health and security, whose assets and income total more than sixty percent of the gross domestic product of the company’s geographical area of operations, and for whom the state (or a major state contractor) is the primary source of revenue.

A rough equivalent would be the East India Company.

The Colonial Authority Corporate Interests And Espionage Act

Topic: Lexicon

A block of corporate-backed legislation that can, under certain specific conditions, extend “enemy of the state” status to persons deemed detrimental to the interests or security of corporations granted Colonial Authority status. The legislation effectively enables Federal peacekeeping forces to arrest, detain or execute any person who commits a crime in Colonial Authority space or against Colonial Authority assets operating outside of Colonial Authority space.

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Compartment A1

Topic: Locations

The bridge of a Javelin-type spacecraft, Compartment A1 contains four modular command stations for crew and two folding jump seats for crew or passengers. Aboard the Daedalus, the stations are configured for engineering, co-pilot, pilot, and communications. Pilot and co-pilot stations have access to the Jumpnet and weapons, while the engineering station features a module that allows for manual positioning of the secondary engines. The communications console is a “base” command module, capable of most of the functions of the other stations but lacking specialized hardware.

The bridge is a very long, narrow space, more akin to a tractor trailer cab or an attic crawlspace than the command spaces of larger spacecraft such as the Cheops or the Sabrosa. It is the only spacecraft interior to feature ashtrays – two, on the center console.

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Compartment A3

Topic: Locations

Compartment A3 – the rec area – is the living room and kitchen of the Daedalus. The compartment provides access to the bathroom, the spacesuit locker, the cargo transfer lock and the central corridor. It is the biggest pressurized compartment on the ship, and has been used as a reading room by Ornix and as a language transfer theater by Inga Murnau.

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Compartment A4

Topic: Locations

Due to ongoing maintenance issues with the seals in the neighboring Compartment A5, Compartment A4 functions as the primary airlock of the Daedalus.

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Compartment A5

Topic: Locations

Aboard the Daedalus, compartment A5 is the Cargo Transfer Lock – the intersection between the cargo bay and the pressurized top deck of the ship. It also provides direct access to the reactor and contains access points for the air and water purification systems. As the cargo elevator seal is imperfect, West elects to keep the compartment depressurized, which makes compartment A4 the ship’s primary airlock.

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Compartment D1

Topic: Locations

Compartment D1 is the unpressurized cargo bay of the Daedalus. It is dominated by the distinctive forward access hatch, port and starboard bay doors, landing gear wells, and a cargo lift that can be reconfigured for use as a cargo ramp. Both configurations are shown in the story, though the switch between the two happens offscreen – the lift configuration is shown in chapter eight of The Dualist and the ramp configuration features prominently in chapter four of Transitional Voices.

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Daedalus

Topic: Spacecraft

A Javelin class Am-capable high speed cargo transport, the Daedalus is the property of ex-Templar Captain John West. The workhorse of a shady courier service run out of the Australian outback in a nearby pocket universe, the Daedalus is frequently far from Earth, and often under the command of John’s executive officer and co-pilot, Naomi.

Designed to haul moderate amounts of cargo incredibly long distances at incredibly high speeds, the Javelin class is equipped with the most efficient engines and non-organic power plant designed to date. The ship generates artificial gravity by acceleration, and can sustain a 0.5g burn for upwards of six hours. The type is incredibly nimble in a vacuum, though maneuverability in atmosphere is extremely limited. While the advanced RCS system provides a degree of ground effect and the capability to turn on a dime at extremely low speeds, the ship has an atmospheric turning radius of hundreds of kilometers at any significant speed – a maneuverability that decreases exponentially on approach to escape velocity.

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Deflection Blades

Topic: Weapons

Deflection Blades are knives designed to facilitate and direct ricochet. In the hands of a properly outfitted combat cyborg they can be an extremely effective means of self defense and counter-attack.

Addicaine G-14 Greg Auriga has the brain implants required to use deflection blades with maximum efficiency, and the structural enhancements required to keep his bones from cracking or snapping in the process.

Dessau GC-2

Topic: Ground Vehicles

The Dessau GC-2 Electric Truck is an overgrown golf cart in Templar service in April, 2002. It has the tail number BMCM-04 and plate number 422-004. Key features include four cushioned seats, bench bed seating, long battery life and a woefully inaccurate speedometer.

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ELG-2623.4

Topic: Planets

A moderately well-endowed gas giant with a reasonable number of moons, one or more of which may be worth colonizing.

ELG-2623.4.21

Topic: Planets

A small mars-like moon that’s managed to hang on to an atmosphere, clouds, and polar ice. Any one of these items would have merited a note in the logs but indications of all three on the initial scan guaranteed a follow-up visit. In this case, the ETL/Templar-manned Castores is making a detailed orbital and surface survey on behalf of the ICG with an eye toward commercial exploitation.

Epiphany

Topic: Spacecraft

A Pecora class star freighter used for early Heirotus BTS tests. Presumed destroyed during a premature BTS discharge event in January 1968, though no wreckage was recovered.

Status upgraded to “missing” after captain and test navigator Mike West‘s brief appearance at Kolg Saerai Orbital (“Kaysoo”) in late 1968.

In The Dualist, the Epiphany appears buried up to its con tower in the Australian desert, in an advanced state of decay. While the ship is no longer spaceworthy, the Tacoma class biomagnetic reactor, communications suite, and computer system are still functional.

Executive Order 571.3 (Templar)

Topic: Lexicon

An addendum to Templar law that prohibits any Templar or Templar asset from setting foot on a vaguely described continent in a pocket universe of an undefined planet. Access without escort by either Michael West or the Frater Superior of the order is strictly prohibited, and carries severe penalties.

The vague text of the order (omitting region of space, system, planet, etceteras) is available to any Templar initiate. Templar of rank VII ° or higher are allowed access to a version of the document detailing the region of space, and Templar of VIII ° are issued the full text.

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Expert Technologies

Topic: Companies

Founded by Judas Lang almost immediately after he left Heirotus, Expert Technologies Limited (ETL) dominates the recreational genetics and carbon computing markets. While ETLs’ primary business is the medical and recreational manipulation of the human genome, the company has also taken an interest in advanced electronics, ballistics, and various heavy lift technologies.

ETL was sued by Heirotus immediately after its first patent filing. The case was settled in ETL’s favor prior to discovery.

GAC-5623.8

Topic: Planets

A gas giant somewhere between Earth and civilization, utterly unremarkable save for the recently dispersed orbital body the Sabrosa smacked into at the untimely end of an otherwise textbook BTS jump.

Grenade Launcher

Topic: Weapons

Grenade launchers are single-shot projectile weapons that lob explosives over a moderate distance. The model depicted in The Dualist appears to be an unsighted variant of the M-79, whereas the wire-stocked variant shown in Dead City Radio has no parallel antecedent.

It does, however, make a distinctive THOOB! when fired.

GSU-1921.5

Topic: Planets

A gas giant near the very edge of validated ICG charts, and the observation point from which the initial surveys of GSV, GSW, and GSX were made.

In 1997, the Heirotus-leased ICG survey ship Hemera used the initial ICG charts to conduct a deep-range Holt-Rischmann scan of sector GSV, disappearing shortly after arrival. In 2002 the Sabrosa used the ICG observation point to begin a search for the Hemera.