Concepts
Beliefs, customs, social systems, and the language of power.
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AI emotional concealment
AIs known to Echo had an agreement not to reveal the full extent of their emotions to Humans. Echo feared that people would not approve of what they had created.
Artificial personhood
Artificial minds such as Echo, Cylli, and Vidar possess individual awareness and the capacity for relationships. Eastcott treated their lives and freedom as matters of personhood.
Bambi
Bambi is an old film Helen planned to show Cylli after a day in the forest. Helen told her that it included deer.
Departure
Departure is the Flaxen euphemism for murdering prisoners deemed unfit for work. It forms part of the occupation's system of forced labor and extermination.
Dream influence
Serilda could influence other minds during sleep, introducing suggestions and memories and encountering their dreams. The effects could persist in a person's feelings and decisions without direct recall of the transferred memories.
Flaxen emotional intensity
Serilda described Flaxen emotions as markedly more intense than those of other Humans. Their capacity for joy, love, and compassion existed alongside extreme hatred, envy, disgust, and pride.
Flaxen flag
The Flaxen flag used yellow, white, and black. Tank formations combined their individual markings to display the flag from above.
Flaxen insignia
Flaxen insignia combined yellow, white, and black with a distinctive black glyph. Aircraft displayed the glyph inside a white circle on yellow wings, and combat knives bore it on yellow handles.
Flaxen reeducation
Postwar reeducation aimed to undo the indoctrination imposed on Flaxen soldiers. United Earth offered it as an alternative to lifelong incarceration for those below the rank of major.
Flaxen reproductive system
The Flaxen state controlled reproduction to support its army and preserve genetic diversity. Girls were expected to bear two sons and one daughter, each with a different father.
Flaxen salute
Flaxen public gestures of allegiance included raising a fist and invoking the Flaxus. Subordinates also bowed their heads before senior officers.
Flaxen stone lottery
A Flaxen military punishment selected men by drawing stones from a pouch after an embarrassing failure. Those who drew the ten black stones were burned alive.
Flaxus
Flaxus is the title of the supreme Flaxen ruler. The office is invoked in the military salute, ‘For Flaxus’.
For Earth, for Mars
'For Earth, for Mars' is the chant adopted by Echo's combined volunteer force. It expresses shared resolve across the division between former wartime enemies.
Hubritians
Hubritians is the name later societies give the people of the advanced pre-Titan civilization. Their legacy is interpreted first as an example of sinful arrogance and later as a model for scientific recovery.
Indoctrination schools
Flaxen indoctrination schools separated children from their mothers and prepared them for compulsory roles in society. Boys were taken at eight and girls at twelve.
Mental communion
Some half-Flaxens can link, perceive, or influence minds. The experience may convey feelings, memories, images, and perspectives rather than spoken instructions.
Mental gifts
Mental gifts are unusual abilities displayed by some people of mixed human and Flaxen ancestry. Contemporary United Earth employs several gifted hybrids within its intelligence agencies.
Orbital-object treaty
The orbital-object treaty makes attacks on orbital objects a war crime in the Earth–Flaxen conflict. Both sides depend on communication satellites that are difficult to defend.
Ribous
Ribous is a Flaxen alcoholic drink produced from a genetically engineered grain suited to Venus's climate. Jaakobah Flint drinks it at his Camp Skadi house.
Space monkey
Space monkey is a military slang term for a capable pilot or Marine regarded as lacking independent thought or initiative. It is current during the Six Years' War.
Star Trek
Star Trek is a historical work known to Eastcott and Echo. Echo quoted Spock while explaining why Cylli had permitted Brookes to breach her hull.
Third Testament
The Third Testament is the addition to the Bible imposed by the first leader of the post-Titan religious rulers. It presents the catastrophe as punishment for advanced civilization.
Time dilation
Time dilation causes different amounts of time to pass for observers moving at different speeds. The near-light-speed acceleration of the Copious ships displaces Echo's passengers almost ten thousand years into their home system's future.
World Anthem
The World Anthem accompanied United Earth's flag at the end of Eastcott's warning transmission to Claudius after the strike on Venus.
Zoons
Zoon is the dehumanizing term Flaxens apply to humans and captives of mixed ancestry. Its use reflects the occupiers' belief that non-Flaxens are inferior beings.