Common Terms
COA
The Corenet Oversight Authority is the government of the COA Republic. The Republic consists of the descendants of the second wave colonists. COA also represents the Corenet, the ruling body of the human colonies.
SRA
The Scientific Research Agency, a euphimism for the independent military arm of the COA. A separation of powers exists within the COA hierarchy on Sansradda and the SRA is headed by a private body elected by COA ruling members. A vocal majority of the SRA leadership has been calling for a reactivation of the stargate after the shutdown over eighty years ago, and the tension has steadily grown over the years.
GELF
Genetically Engineered Life Forms, hostility between the GELF and the Republic colonists resulted in the creation of a separated GELF Nation independent of the Corenet. In appearance, most GELF resemble off-color humans, their altered states serving to identify them from the colonist population. Quite a few have had undergone radical modifications from the stock human model to almost make them alien in appearance.
Standard procedure for colonizing a planet is to send a generation ship of GELF to the selected planet. The GELF then set to work terraforming the planet into a more habitable environment. Human colony ships arrive generations later to claim the planet from the GELF workers.
The Corenet
The lifeblood of the colonies, the Corenet binds all humans settlements in a vast intergalactic information network. The internet of pre-space Earth gradually evolved into the all-encompassing semi-sentient virtual world. It is common practice to salvage the original colony ships on each planet into that planet's Corenet hub. Each hub is unique, but they all interface with the Grand Station.
Stargates
It makes ships go fast. The only alternative to deep space travel besides generation ships, the technology used involves a lot of technobabble and hand waving. Let's just say that it works by sending matter through space rather than across it. The Corenet unexplainable shut down eighty years ago, effectively isolating the human colonies from each other. Interstellar communication with slower-than-light methods has not yet been established, as without the Corenet, signals take centuries to reach their destinations.
C.L.E.A.V.E.R.
Correctional Law Enforcement Automated Vehicular Emergency Robot. A newly created mechanized unit of the Hub police force under the guidance of Captain Kyle Bacstar, it is not yet officially active.
Brainbox
A vast array of instruments is packed into the material of an average uniform, providing continuous information, on-the-fly computations, and survival functions for the wearer. Rather than outfitting all gear with individual expensive microcomputers, a single massive mainframe is responsible for coordinating communication and information exchange between the individuals of a specific unit. These mainframes, called "brainboxes," are usually in a central location, ie. headquarters. However, less powerful mobile backups may be used in cases of extreme distance from headquarters, extensive interference from local or global factors, or when the unit requires a degree of secrecy and autonomy.
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