The Descent into the Maelstrom (The Phantom of the Earth Book 4) (55 page)

GREGORIAN CALENDAR:
refers to the legacy timetable prior to the Reassortment Atmospheric Anomaly, which included days, weeks, months, seasons, and years, sometimes followed by the abbreviations AD or A.D. (
anno Domini
) or BC or B.C. (before Christ). This calendar era is based on the traditionally recognized year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth, with AD counting the years from the start of this epoch and BC denoting the years before the start of the era.

HAMMERTON HALL:
an entertainment venue designed by architect Wilhelm Vanderslooten in the 200s, dedicated in honor of the hundredth year of Chancellor Masimovian’s rule in the year 268 AR.

HARPOON AUCTION:
also called the Auction; an important ceremony in the life of a Beimenian, where consortium representatives or wealthy individuals place bids for Harpoon candidates. The valuations for the candidates are determined by the traders who work in Navita City, and while the bids are typically based, in part, on these valuations, the bidders can pay any price they deem worthy for a candidate. In other words, it’s entirely possible for a candidate to “fail” the first half of the exams and still receive a bid if the candidate’s skills in the second half demonstrate a match for a particular consortium or individual.

HARPOON CANDIDATE:
a citizen-in-development who prepares for the Harpoon Exams.

HARPOON CHAMPION:
also called the Champion; the title conferred to the Harpoon candidate who receives the first and highest bid during the Harpoon Auction.

HARPOON CLASS:
a virtual gathering of candidates from all the thirty territories in the Great Commonwealth for instruction from the Master of the Harpoons. The classes are usually organized in a stadium.

HARPOON DAY:
the day of the Harpoon Exams.

HARPOON EXAMS:
the life-determining exams given annually from 186–305 AR, bi-annually from 306–335 AR, and tri-annually since 336 AR. They consist of two six-hour sessions, with the first half being a holographic vignette and multiple-choice format designed to test language, math, and science skills, and with the second half being a virtual reality format designed to test critical thinking, telepathic, interpersonal, and physical skills.

HARPOON HAMLET:
the village where Harpoon candidates dwell prior to the Harpoon Auction.

HARPOON HARNESS:
the harness designed to connect a candidate to Harpoon Virtual Reality (VR). (
See
Harpoon Virtual Reality.)

HARPOON INSIGNIA:
three interlocked bronze circles, three interlocked golden triangles, and three silver harpoons overlapped by a phoenix feather.

HARPOON STADIUM:
the location of the Harpoon Auction; the stands can be adjusted to fit twenty-five million candidates.

HARPOON VIRTUAL REALITY:
also called Harpoon VR; the interface where candidates interact in training and instructional simulations with their developers or with each other during classes or social gatherings.

HELPERS OF THE LEADERSHIP:
children in the employ of the Leadership. (
See
Leadership Council, the.)

HOLO-PRODUCER:
can refer to a professional artist skilled in capturing events in the ZPF in holographic form or in using synisms to transmit visuals to the transhuman brain.

HOMO EVOLUTIS:
also called
posthuman
; theoretical beings whose capacities would far exceed those of ordinary transhumans and who would constitute a separate species.

HOMO TRANSITION:
also called
transhuman
(or H+); occupies an intermediate stage, or spectrum, between a normal biological human and a posthuman. Compared to the ancestral
Homo sapiens
, they have higher tolerances to pressure, heat, stress, disease, and to food, water, and sleep deprivation; they also have far greater cognitive abilities, physical regenerative abilities, and emotional intelligence/stability. After the Great Reassortment Panic of 165 AR, circumstances required further biotechnological enhancements to the human genome to better acclimate to the Beimeni zone of extreme heat and pressure variances.

HOUSE OF DEVELOPMENT:
an aristocratic house designated as so by the Department of Communications. A lady or lord of a house is often referred to as a
developer
. Their surnames are required to match the name of the house, which can be either the lady’s or lord’s surname; for instance, Eulalie Lachaize changed her surname to Variscan after the formation of House Variscan, while Thaddeus Tumblstar changed his surname to Summerset after the formation of House Summerset. (
See
developer.)

IMPULSE PARTICLE:
(
See
wave-particle duality.)

IMPULSE WAVE:
(
See
wave-particle duality.)

INACCESSIBLE REGIONS:
the regions in the Beimeni zone considered to be off limits to expansion owing to seismic activity within Earth.

ISLAND OF REVERIE:
formerly known as Manhattan, became home to the Reassortment Research Terradome, the only surface zone laboratory in use by transhumans to study the Reassortment Strain.

JANZER:
refers to the race of transhumans designed by the supreme scientist Ahab Janzer. Chancellor Masimovian commissioned the creation of the Janzer race to replace the legacy strike teams’ role of protection against structural collapses and Reassortment scares. The Janzers’ role also includes law enforcement activities of the Masimovian Administration and expansion plans executed in accordance with approval by the Office of the Chancellor.

JUBILEE:
a required public viewing of a voluntary clinical trial of a synbio cure to the Reassortment Strain.

LEADERSHIP COUNCIL, THE:
also called the Leadership; confidants of the president of the Liberation Front. They are high-level leaders of the Front who confer on strategic decisions, including Polemon strikes and recruitment of new members. From the commonwealth’s perspective, these are the most dangerous transhumans in the underground.

LEAGUE OF SCIENTISTS:
an elite team of scientists commissioned to complete the Reassortment Strain in the Livelle and Hengill laboratories for the Western Hegemony.

LESSER TERRITORIES:
include Gaia, Piscator, Jurinar, Reanaearo, Haurachesa, and Yeuron.

LIBERATION FRONT, THE:
the organization of residents of the underground in open conflict with the Masimovian Administration.

LIBERATOR, THE:
also known as Jeremiah Selendia; the man who united various factions of residents throughout the Beimeni zone in their conflict with the Masimovian Administration.

LIVELLAN CALENDAR:
refers to humanity’s new timetable following the Reassortment Atmospheric Anomaly, which includes days, trimesters (underground), seasons (on the surface), and years, followed by the abbreviation AR. (
See
After Reassortment.)

LORUM, THE:
the intelligent alien race living on the exoplanet Vigna. (Note: Collective singular, in form and meaning.)

LOWER LEVEL:
the part of the underground designated by Chancellor Masimovian as being fit for Beimenians who do not garner a bid at the Harpoon Auction.

LOWER LEVEL ZONE:
a layer of the Earth four thousand meters deep.

LOWER TWENTY-TWO:
refers to all territories except for Boreas, Xerean, Farino, Zereaux, Kiplorea, and Columbia in Underground North, and Gallia and Gubertiana in Underground Northeast.

MAGLEV:
a transportation system in which trains glide above a track, supported by magnetic repulsion and propelled by a linear motor.

MAIDENS OF MASIMOVIAN:
concubines to the supreme chancellor Atticus Masimovian.

MALCOMBE MINZIER TRAINING CENTER:
also called the Hive; replaced the simulation and training facilities previously part of the Comb Cove.

MARK OF MASIMOVIAN:
also called the Mark; a synthetic tattoo, black ink formed into the bust of Chancellor Masimovian held by two phoenix feathers. It is an honor conferred if a supreme scientific board conclave deems a Beimenian’s work to be worthy of the threshold of significant conversion. (
See
significant conversion.)

MARK OF THE STRIKE TEAMS:
the black and gold ink shaped as a captain, striker, aera, and strategist holding hands, swaying, looking down upon Livelle city-state.

MARSTONE:
the artificial intelligence designed to understand humanity’s connection to the cosmos; later used by the Masimovian Administration to monitor transhuman brain impulses, including, but not limited to, thoughts, speech, visions, and dreams in the ZPF. (Note: Monitored communication is denoted by bold, italicized lettering in Marstone’s Database.)

MARSTONE’S DATABASE:
the databank that contains all information on residents of the underground; registration to it is required by Chancellor Masimovian’s Precepts.

MASTER OF THE HARPOONS:
also called the Harpoon instructor, this designation is prestigious in the Great Commonwealth, for the instructor is responsible for providing supplemental mind-body-cosmos training and wisdom on the ways of Beimenians during Harpoon classes.

MIDDLE ZONE:
a layer of the Earth between two thousand five hundred and four thousand meters deep.

MIND-BODY-COSMOS INTERFACE:
sometimes called the mind-body-cosmos connection; the seamless connection with the ZPF, the body, and the mind enabled by neurochip and mesh implants in transhuman brains.

MINERAL CRUSHERS:
synthetic
C. perfringens
designed to burrow through limestone and granite, among other minerals. The latest iterations ingest the minerals and excrete a combination of oxygen and neon.

MISSION PROTOCOLS:
rules and regulations, objectives, and strategy and tactics to be employed during a commonwealth mission. (
See
commonwealth mission.)

MULTIVERSE:
an infinite realm of being or potential being of which the universe is regarded as a part.

NEOPHYTE:
a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief. In Beimeni, most Harpoon candidates who receive a bid during the auction become neophytes for a consortium.

OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR:
the administrative office of the supreme chancellor of the Great Commonwealth of Beimeni.

OFFICE OF THE JUDICIARY:
the administrative office of the Great Court of Beimeni; manages the circuit of lower courts in all the villages and cities in the Great Commonwealth. (
See
Great Court of Beimeni.)

OPEN HOUSE:
specific to the Research & Development Department (RDD), enables Beimenians who wouldn’t normally be permitted into the department to tour certain parts of it.

OPERATION PRESERVATION:
the emergency procedures to follow in the event the integrity of Livelle Laboratory is threatened, including, it is hypothesized, the storage of 340 scientists in Livelle Laboratory who’re important to the preservation of the transhuman race.

OUTER TERRITORIES:
all territories outside Underground Central.

PENDANT OF THE CHANCELLOR:
communicative technology attuned to the Janzer race, which enables anyone who speaks through it, both audibly and through the ZPF, to control them.

PHANES BELTWAY:
the maglev tunnels and stations that loop around Beimeni City, Phanes Territory; the centralized location to verify interterritory travel. Around the beltway, fifty heavily fortified and protected transport stations are designed to verify travelers are, in fact, authorized to move between territories. All interterritory tunnels in Beimeni’s territories lead to the beltway.

PLEDGE TO BEIMENI:
a solemn oath of allegiance and fidelity to the Great Commonwealth of Beimeni, recited at the beginning of each Harpoon class.

POLEMON OPERATION:
a clandestine operation conducted by the Liberation Front.

POLEMON PASSAGEWAYS:
the system of tunnels scattered throughout the underground, built by the Liberation Front.

POLEMON PROCLAMATION:
a proclamation issued by the former supreme scientist Jeremiah Selendia to his allies throughout the underground, inviting the unregistered and registered residents of the Beimeni zone to unite with his Liberation Front in the guerilla war against the Masimovian Administration.

POLEMON STRIKE:
sophisticated attacks perpetrated by the Beimeni Polemon against commonwealth interests and infrastructure.

POLEMON ZONE:
a layer of the Earth between two hundred fifty and three hundred meters deep.

PRECEPTS, THE:
the addendum to the Formation document designed to restore law and order to the underground, encourage scientific advancement, protect humanity from danger, and foster economic and cultural growth.

PRESIDENT OF THE LIBERATION FRONT:
the highest political and military office of the Liberation Front.

PROJECT GEMINI:
commissioned to Supreme Scientist Damosel Rhea in 342 AR with the expressed goal to learn about the origins of life, and to better understand evolution and the processes that influence Reassortment. Eventually transitioned into Project Silkscape. (
See
Project Silkscape.)

PROJECT REASSORTMENT:
the research project designed to find a cure for transhumans to the Reassortment Strain.

PROJECT REGENESIS:
the research project designed to revive the scientists stored in stasis just prior to the Death Wave. By 327 AR, only Dr. Kole Shrader—known as the Legend for the belief that he might be immune to the Reassortment Strain—remains in living stasis.

PROJECT SILKSCAPE:
an entertainment venture with the Harsailles Menagerie: A Garden for Formerly Extinct Species, scheduled to open in the spring of 370 AR at the center of Silkscape City, Lovereal Territory.

PROPER CONVERSION:
a meaningful but less onerous standard of scientific achievement as compared to significant conversion. (
See
significant conversion.)