Vocabulary
- Shapers: Group that alters the body through genetic modification and specialized mental training. They originate from the colonies orbiting Jupiter and Saturn.
- Mechanists: Group that modifies bodies through computer software and external alterations. The Mechanists have been at war with the Shapers for decades, fighting over whose technology is more powerful and efficient. They originate from the asteroid belt's colonies.
- Investors: Dinosaur-like aliens obsessed exclusively with money and wealth.
- Moondocks: A derisive nickname for the Circumlunar habitats which were the first centers of life in space. They are now considered obsolete relics.
- Schismatrix: the system that includes the entire Shaper/Mechanist universe. The term is first used when the advent of détente opens the possibility of the Shaper and Mechanist factions coexisting harmoniously; a splintered posthuman settlement of the Solar System.
- Sundog: A nomad, without strong group affiliation and the permanent residency it affords. The label probably arose as the circumsolar asteroid belt would be the main territory inhabited by these itinerants. Criminals, Refugees, political exiles and the disadvantaged would adopt this lifestyle out of necessity, criminals may prefer its anonymity.
- Wirehead: A person who ignores or has abandoned his physical body in favor of permanent virtual reality.
- Lobster: A mechanist faction which permanently installs their bodies into spacesuits so that they can live in the vacuum of space.
- Looks: A language of facial expressions. To an untrained observer, they appear to be an endless series of sidelong glances.
- Geneline: A political family structure used by Shapers. Genelines trade genetic material, power, money and influence with one another as part of the subtle interplay of Shaper politics.
- Unplanned: A Shaper epithet for humans born naturally. Typically, such beings are unmodified genetically—but all such people are considered inferior.
- Cicada: A person from the Czarina-Kluster
Read more about this topic: Schismatrix
Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“A new talker will often call her caregiver “mommy,” which makes parents worry that the child is confused about who is who. She isn’t. This is a case of limited vocabulary rather than mixed-up identities. When a child has only one word for the female person who takes care of her, calling both of them “mommy” is understandable.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“I have a vocabulary all my own. I “pass the time” when it is wet and disagreeable. When it is fine I do not wish to pass it; I ruminate it and hold on to it. We should hasten over the bad, and settle upon the good.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“One forgets words as one forgets names. One’s vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)