Lexicon
A pocket lexicon of what people are shouting at you, and what their names say about them.
- ag
- The Silver name particle, as in Regulus ag Sun.
- ArchGovernor
- The Society's ruler of a planet.
- au
- The Gold name particle. Darrow au Andromedus.
- Aureate
- The Golds' own term for themselves. Latin for golden.
- bloodydamn
- Reds' favoured curse, and later everybody's.
- Boneriders
- The Jackal's elite killers, led by Lilath.
- Break the chains
- Eo's message and the Rising's slogan.
- Crow
- Slang for an Obsidian, for their skull helmets and black armour.
- cu
- The Copper name particle.
- datapad
- A slim device worn on the forearm, whose screen is cast as light.
- frysuit
- The suit worn by a Helldiver. Not nearly protective enough.
- Goodman
- A Roman-style polite address, with the implication that the speaker is being very polite.
- Gorgons
- Atlas au Raa's special forces.
- gorydamn
- A close and equally popular cousin of bloodydamn.
- Hail Reaper
- What his men shout. It's the one thing he can't get them to stop doing.
- Helldiver
- The drill-pilot on a Red mining crew. Highly prestigious, and rarely long-lived.
- Howl
- What the Howlers do before coming through a wall.
- Hypercane
- A planet-scale storm used as a weapon on Mercury.
- Imperator
- Supreme commander of a Society armada.
- kravat
- The Society's fighting art. Lorn's form of it is the Willow Way.
- lancer
- A Gold's sworn fighter and aide.
- Legate
- A senior military commander, usually of a legion.
- LowRed
- A Red of the mines. Compare HighRed, the far luckier sort who get to work above.
- Moon Lord
- A great Gold house of the Rim.
- Penny
- Slang for a Copper bureaucrat.
- Per aspera ad astra
- "Through hardship to the stars." The Institute's motto, among others.
- Persephone
- The name the rebels give to Eo after her song spreads through the mines.
- Pitviper
- A Martian mine snake. Every Red child learns to watch for them.
- Pixie
- Howler slang for a pampered Gold. Not a compliment.
- Politico
- A Gold who fights with influence instead of a blade.
- Praetor
- A fleet commander of the Society.
- Primus
- The leader of an Institute house.
- Reaping Dance
- An illegal Red dance, performed as a protest in front of the gravLifts by Darrow's father's generation.
- slag
- A curse among Reds. Also what's left after a mine has finished with you.
- slag it
- An all-purpose expression of despair.
- slingBlade
- Another style of razor.
- slingBlade
- The hooked mining tool of the Reds, later the Rising's symbol.
- Sovereign
- Ruler of the Society, and of everyone.
- Stained
- A freed Obsidian marked by tattoos of defeat.
- stork
- A big-bellied ship that drops soldiers in starShells out of its tubes.
- ti
- A name particle of Grays, such as Holiday ti Nakamura.
- Tinpot
- Lowborn slang for the Gray soldiers who police a mine.
- Vale
- Where Reds hope to go after death.
- Valkyrie
- The Obsidian warrior-women of the Martian pole.
- xe
- A name particle of Blues, such as Orion xe Aquarii.