Terminology and Slang

Spacer Colloquialisms

• Spacer: A term for anyone whose life and job revolves around traveling through space, whether for exploration, transportation, research, commercial purposes, or mercenary work. The technical term for someone who is in space for exploration or research is an astronaut, someone who travels or works as a freighter is referred to as a teamster, and anyone who is deployed for off-world operations is a marine. It could also be used to refer to those born outside of a gravity well, like on a spin-gravity space station or asteroid. They are usually taller than most humans, with their limbs being longer and their bones more brittle, on account of being born in light artificial gravity.
• C-Level: Another term for C-Suite. The 1%. Usually rich and at the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy, always working for an influential company or an ICG.
• Megacorp: Either a term for an ICG or just a powerful company, shortened from "megacorporation."
• Centaurians: The commonly used term for humanity's mysterious benefactors. Origin is from the first system where their influence was discovered, Alpha Centauri.
• Port: Any place where spacers can get some much-needed rest and recreation. This can be an off-world ground settlement, or it can be a space station in orbit somewhere.
• Ronin/"Freelancer": Paid assassin not working for a megacorp.
• Hounds: Police patrols sent to investigate possible contraband suppliers and board ships suspected of transporting illegal or highly expensive untaxed items.
• Synthetic: An android that has synthetic skin and is able to recreate basic facial expressions. Considered an insult by androids from certain manufacturers, and most people treat them as machines despite their vaguely human demeanor. Usually can't pass as human very well, either, but it is certainly possible.
• Earth-Dweller: Someone who has lived their entire life on Earth. As of 2131, 2/3 of the human population are Earth-dwellers, and only 1% of all humans have ever been to space.

Other Terminology

• ICG: Interstellar/Interplanetary Corporate Government. Not necessarily owned by a company, but is corporate most of the time.
• Inward/Outward/Spinward/Trailing: Inward means towards the centre of the galaxy, outward means away from the centre, spinward is in the direction of the Milky Way's spin, and trailing is in the opposite direction of the spin. This system is used for coordinates on the galactic plane, with a general y-axis thrown in to measure how far away it is from being on the same level as Sol.
• Samurai: A mercenary or soldier hired by a company for the purposes of committing extortion, sabotage, and murder against other companies.
• Fusion Drive: Conventional spacecraft propulsion drive that uses energy produced from a deuterium-tritium fusion reaction to sustain a long burn, most popular in 2131. Usually produces enough thrust to grant the ship's occupants gravity via thrust (though not for long, as the ship coasts without firing its engines for most of the journey before making a final burn to slow down), and afterburners are typically installed as well. Afterburners convert some of the energy from the reaction into thermal energy, resulting in a large plasma flare emitting from the thruster nozzle. The plasma is typically blue or purple in color.
• Android: A catchall term for robots that have programming meant to make them seem human, or robots whose stature appears somewhat human (i.e. being bipedal, having a distinct "head," etc.).
• Core/Corespace: The UCS, Ivory Confederation, Bulwark Conglomerate, and a few other ICGs that are close to the center of charted space, Sol. Usualy too expensive for spacers to visit.
• Outer Rim/Rimspace: Everything outside of Corespace. It also extends towards the xenoformed worlds of the Centaurians, which are closer to the rim of the galaxy and in the opposite direction of its spin. Despite this, the term can technically be used for any part of space on the fringes of society.
• Terraforming: A world with a sufficiently present level of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already difficult to find, but almost all of them don't have a composition of these gases that is actually breathable by humans. Terraforming is the process of shaping a world to have a breathable atmosphere (as of 2131, it's impossible for barren worlds or ones that have a completely different or corrosive atmosphere). Atmospheric processors are huge machines that use recovered Centaurian technology combined with human engineering and specially-bred algae to separate carbon from oxygen. Other processes include breaking down sheets of ice with trapped gases, using machinery to release nitrogen deposits from the crust, and using bioweapons to accelerate the natural selection of the planet's species, as well as introducing new species of bacteria and other organisms to gradually change it.
• The Neon Highway: A league of restaurants all around charted space that are praised for their quality. Some C-Levels have dedicated their entire lives to visiting every single one, though that is almost completely impossible to do in a realistic period of time.