All That Glitters - Notes

All That Glitters: Notes v 6

The 'Notes' chapter is a reference chapter on the 'All That Glitters' series. This is the third iteration of the chapter.

Unfortunately, since this chapter is upgraded based on the latest chapter, if you are using this ref while reading an earlier chapter, you might run afoul of spoiler material. You have been warned...

© bigtddybr March 2021. This series 'All That glitters' cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and bigtddybr must be credited for this work.

You will find information in this chapter in four distinct tiers:

First Tier: is general information on the history, technology, and direction of the series (not fully fleshed out as much of that history is yet to come in the series and is being added to in each successive chapter).

Second Tier: a listing of who is who based on the planet/location/ship for which they are associated, starting with Terra as the base, then going in alphabetical order by planet/location/ship name (i.e. Planet Anuura would come before Green's World, numbered systems before named planets). Characters can appear in more than one location due to the fact that they might be associated with a planet, a location, and/or a ship. Spoiler material for early chapter readers.

Included in this Tier is series historical and cultural information linked by planet, or culture.

Third Tier: a listing of incidental information that might be of use to the reader i.e. common abbreviations used in the series, the Phonetic alphabet, the list of ships involved in the series.

Fourth Tier: an alphabetical list of characters. Spoiler material for early chapter readers.

NOTE: Some minor characters, though they might be seen in Second Tier listings, are not included in the Fourth Tier lists due principally to their rather fleeting nature in the series e.g. Fontaine, Peter. (Go ahead, check it out. You know you want to.)

FIRST TIER

History

Series starts in year 2482.

Jump Drive FTL created in 2359. The next 100 years are known collectively as the Great Expansion. Six known planets in the Terran Sphere prior to the great expansion, they form the six original planets of the Union and the six stars around the Union Star in the Union Flag. All are within 14ly (light years) of Terra. The occupation of these six planets was totally funded by Terra and was completed in the year 2164. With one exception, no new planets are added until the Great Expansion.

The exception is Hollander's World, which was funded by Éire Nua. Hollander's World is 30ly from Éire Nua but is on a tangent from Terra placing it 60ly from Terra. Hollander's World was colonized in 2218 but comms was lost with the colony ship on route and the fact that Hollander's World was colonized by humans was not discovered until 2362, three years after the creation of the Jump Drive.

Human drift is 150ly radius from Terra as of 2482.

160 known stars and 63 known human habitable planets in human space, 48 full member planets with the Terran Union each with more than six billion inhabitants, one partial member colony world (Hadrian's World) with slightly less than one billion inhabitants, 6 colony worlds associated with the Terran Union that have yet to accede one million inhabitants and 6 planets that have not opted into the Union due to differences in politics, notably the inclusion of slavery which the Union abhors and referred to as the Alliance of Free Planets.

The two remaining planets have not as yet been colonized and will likely not be as they are the home planets of the Piscium A and B Societies.

Many Union planets still harbour Anti-Union organizations that want their respective planet to secede from the union, especially those planets that once made up the Confederation of Planets, those planets that lost the Terran Unification War. While miner in numbers, the Anti-Union groups tend to be very vocal, and often dangerous.

Terran Unification War Lasted 23 years from 2449 -- 2472. 14 planets of Confederation of Planets (CP) went to war against 28 planets of the Union of Planets (UP) at the start of the war, which later becomes the Terran Union at the end of the war. 12 planets remain 'neutral' but in fact support one side of the other. Many, such as New Hadria, supported both sides making a fortune during the war.

Insectoids Highly intelligent very large insect like sapient beings roughly analogous to the ants of Terra. They live in a hive family group with the queen as it's center, much like the ants or bees of Terra. They have large bodies made up of three parts:

--The AbdomenWhich is the lowermost and largest part, roughly oval, and roughly horizontal to the ground. The abdomen has the legs attached to it. Legs are much thicker overall than the legs on the ants of Terra.

--The ThoraxThe middle portion of the body and containing two sets of arms ending in multiple fine fingers, having twelve fingers on each hand. The juncture between the abdomen and the thorax is very flexible and allows the thorax and head to elevate high above the abdomen giving the larger specimen, like the drones, almost two meters of height.

--The headWhich contains two large compound eyes looking forward and capable of seeing in multiple light frequencies, and a smaller set of compound eyes that is set in the side of the head which see in black and white. The two sets of eyes give a large 340˚ field of view around the individual with only a 20˚ field of view behind the individual missing, which the individual can fill in by simply moving its head left and right.

The head also has mandibles that are proportionally smaller than on the ants of Terra. It also contains large antennae that are used to 'feel' the air currents for movement or scent.

Insectoids have at least six different body types related to the duties they perform: 1) smaller workers, 2) larger workers that seem to be subdivided between heavy lifters and 3) security types, 4) slender workers who seem to be the queen's attendants, working to help the queen and new larvae, 5) drones, males who service the queen, and 6) the queen, the matriarch and mother of the society in that she provides all of the eggs, similarly to ants, bees, and other social insects on Terra.

The Insectoids live in a hive format that will quickly disintegrate without their queen. Individual workers can live for upwards of fifty years, while other body types, especially queens, can live many times longer.

Insectoid Mining StationThe insectoid mining station is a mining station that was constructed by the insectoids in the Piscium system. It was destroyed, most likely by the Piscium A Society some forty years after it was constructed. The Station is approximately three minutes light from Liramor-23.

The insectoid's mining station came into Piscium system approximately 280-250 years ago and was destroyed, most likely by the Piscium A Society, 40 years after arrival - approximately 240-200 years ago.

Insectoid Home WorldThe Insectoid home world is as yet unidentified but some things are known about it. It has a rotation around it's home star that equal to 1.28 Terran standard years. Based on the light spectrum they see in; their sun is probably a brown dwarf like star similar to that of Hollander's World. The size and strength of the Insectoids themselves indicates that their home world has a slightly higher gravity than does Terra.

Piscium planetThe destruction of this planet in the Piscium system 24,000 years ago, most likely because the large gas giant now known as Piscium 8 came into the orbit of the original planet causing it to break up. This created the asteroid belt in which the series principally takes place at a time in human history that was the equivalent of the early stone age.

The people of the doomed planet watched in horror as Marat-Zami, The Great Destroyer, wandered into its orbital plane, destroying the planet. The people held a lottery and one in ten million were saved, from two different factions of the people.

These two different factions settled two nearby habitable planets with the admonition that they not interfere with each other. This pact is still in effect. The two planets became what is now known to Terrans as the Piscium A (Pod-Drran) and B Societies.

The Piscium societies, especially the Pod-Drran, still intern their revered dead in cemeteries in the system. Last internment in a Piscium system cemetery by former members of the Piscium people less than 360 years ago (in 2122).

Piscium cultures (A and B) Two distinct societies settled on separate planets not too far galactically from each other but do not interact with each other due to societal differences and a pact made between them during the destruction of The Home World. Both societies have had several civilizations collapsed due to different reasons, Piscium A due mainly to internecine warfare, the Piscium B society due principally to the very active geological forces of their new planet.

- Piscium A Society: Mostly warlike. Have spent millennium in internecine warfare which resulted in the collapse of their society on several occasions. Their great philosopher Kur-Tar, similar to Confucius on Terra, codified and set the laws of ritual combat. Kur-Tar recognized that continuous open warfare was detrimental to the development of society so set up the laws and rules of ritual combat to prevent open warfare and the destruction of society. While internecine battles still occur, open unrestricted warfare does not. Most people rise in rank through ritual combat, though certain status, such as Kai (one who has killed in actual hand-to-hand combat), or Sai (one who has killed in defence of the Emperor, or in defence of the Emperor's household) can only be received in actual combat.

- Piscium B Society:Mostly peaceful. The planet they live on is geologically extremely active which has led to the collapse of the society on several occasions, from which they have slowly rebuilt. The society has now finally settled all parts of their new home world, which means that the collapse of society on one part of the world will no longer affect the forward momentum of the society as a whole.

Technology

24^th century technology is amazing, with devices that we only dream about being commonplace.

Wrist CompOften called the 'comp' or 'personal comp', referring to the miniaturized marvel of the wrist computer everyone wears in order to stay in contact with others. The devices are used as cell phones, as computers, to navigate the planetary internets, as a means of purchasing things via electronic money transfer, of scanning the surrounding flora and fauna, as medical scanning tools, and other mondain tasks. The comps can scan most devices that are used as tools and incorporate them in an app on the main page, thus providing a means of using tools without having to carry them.

The device consists of a thin, flexible, metal band which includes all of the miniaturized components, that fits around the owner's wrist. It is capable of projecting a 3D, holographic display that allows the user to perform all necessary functions. They can connect with other devices such as other comps, the internet, and larger 3D monitors so that more than one or two people can view the images produced by the device.

As with any device, the more expensive the device, the more capable and secure it will be. Those owned by the power elite are very capable, very secure, and very much blinged out systems.

FTL DriveThe physics that control Faster than Light Drives is not intuitive and was originally developed in 2359 by a series of very fortunate flukes. FTL drives allows ships to jump great distances by using the power of Dark Matter. Dark Matter maps of the universe show that they trail in lines between stars, clumping at the star's gravity well. A ship with an FTL drive can move along these Dark Matter lines.

Originally limited to 12ly leaps in smaller ships, the drives slowly became more capable until they were capable of moving large ships to distances of over 30ly. With the new Marilon/Aruna generators and redesigned FTL drives, distance of more than 65ly are now manageable in the smaller fast ships and distances of 45ly in larger ships.

Gravity PlatesThese devices allow for an artificial gravity environment to be available in space. They are normally fixed into the decking of most vessels and allow humans the benefit of having a gravity managed environment.

Gravity plates can be reversed, thus allowing extremely heavy loads to be moved with on pallets. They can also be used to provide lift chairs for those who are injured. Sean Murphy uses a lift chair frequently in the series.

Light Distances:

Light Second = 300,000 km

Light Minute = 18,000,000 km

Light Hour = 1,080,000,000 km

Light Day = 25,920,000,000 km

Light Year = 9,460,528,000,000 km

Marilon GeneratorsCreated in tandem with the FTL drive, Marilon generators provide the means to produce enormous amounts of raw electric power by tapping into the background radiation of Dark Matter. The generators can release their power in a controlled stream or all at once. When used in burst power mode, they are capable of supplying the immense power needs of the FTL drives. The downside of burst power mode is that it tends to deplete the generator of power until it can recharge, a process that can take four to six hours dependant on the age of the generator. The generators also need to rest for several hours after having been used over a string of five or six jumps. This adds to the time in transit for ships in long distance travel.

Marilon/Aruna GeneratorsOften referred to as M/A generators, these have a modification of the power control in the generators designed by Dr. Ohiraha Aruna, which allows it to finely control the amount of burst power it supplies. This gives more control in how the power is used in shorter jumps, giving ships the ability to multi-jump by not using all available power, thus saving power for a second immediate jump. A normal Marilon Generator uses the same amount of power to jump five light years or to jump to the maximum capacity of the ship. The new generators allow for the ship to short jump and not use all available power, thus retaining power for a second jump so long as the ship does not do a maximum distance jump.

The fine tuning of the power consumption also allows the generator to recharge much more quickly, usually a depleted M/A generator can recharge within an hour. It also does not need to 'rest' so can jump to it's max jump range once every hour. This makes for a significant improvement on the older standard Marilon Generators.

Ship Identifiers

Ships are identified in a number of different fashions. The two most common are the abbreviations before the name of the ship (see Glossary) i.e. PV -- private vessel/yacht, and the colours of the ships.

Ships are normally mono-coloured, one solid colour, i.e. ships of the TGA are coloured in the solid blue colours of the Union flag. Navy ships are a flat black colour to help them hide against the background of space. Most commercial supply ships are white in colour with the crest of the company above their name. Some companies will paint their livery on the ship, but this is an exception. Company yachts and the privately owned vessels of the rich are usually painted in the owner's livery.

SECOND TIER

LIST OF CHARACTERS BY LOCATION:

Terra

- Capital City Seat of Union Government (Terran Union Governmental Authority, TGA). Covers roughly a quarter of the North American Continent from what was once Toronto in the North-East to what was once Denver in the South-West.

Anar, HanaleiMB, CMGPSM, First Wife of Fayad Piscium, who she met at Denders Resort, Terra. Widow of Temet Halar, who she suspects that Andjuran's people had killed. Taken in by Andjuran's household when she is declared 'Fullohd' (unlucky). She is a spy for Andjuran, whom she hates, but gives herself to Fayad when she discovers him to be a pious man with a future. Minor character who appears infrequently to help main characters in the series because of her being in Senator Andjuran's and later in Fayad's household.Soft brown hair, deep blue - almost purple eyes, very well formed and beautiful woman, twenty-four years of age when we first meet her. First seen in chapter twelve.

Andjuran, Wasim, Sen.Senator for Planet Anuura, one of three, member of the Senate Human Resources and Refugee Committee (HRRC) from which he is syphoning funds. Chief Cleric and Senior Elder for the Church of Andanii. He despises women and has altered the Church of Andanii to accept that women are second place to men.

Scoundrel with links to many criminal syndicates. He is in league with the pirates and is bribing or blackmailing many of his fellow senators and anyone else he deems of use to him.

Alternately reported as 'The Spider', 'The Snake', or 'The White Raven'. Short, thin man with dark hair and eyes. First seen in chapter eight.

Anduura, NajmaddinAide and Intelligence gatherer for Senator Andjuran. Minor character who acts as communications link between Andjuran and many of the criminal syndicates he associates with. Elder in the Church of Andanii. First seen in chapter eight.

Hollister, MikeRight wing religious zealot who helped to modify the content of the entertainment channels when Senator Wassim was trying to establish aliens as dangerous to the Union. He holds sway over millions of viewers for his TV ministry. First seen in chapter seventeen.

Montasso, SenDeceased Senator, who was involved with the pirate and criminal syndicates. He had been amassing a large nest egg for his retirement when he was killed by Andjuran for his list of contacts and the illegal nest egg. Andjuran used the nest egg to finance his rise to power in the Senate. First seen in chapter thirteen.

Ronter, Charles, Mnst.Minister of Foreign Affairs and in charge of the UDC. First seen in chapter twenty-seven.

Tatsuya, HajimeRenowned Master Smith and weapons maker who makes traditional Japanese swords with new metallurgy that amalgamates traditional Japanese sword steel with new materials. The new metal will not rust, is stronger than traditional Japanese sword steel, but just as flexible. Tatsuya is renowned for the beauty of his swords, which can cost tens of thousands of credits each. First named in chapter twenty-three.

- Capital City Spaceport, Capital City, Terra - In what used to be the city of Bismarck. There are a number of shuttle ports around the area of the Capital that can be used by Princess Class Fast Ships. Most forms of aerial transportation will take you anywhere in the city within one hour, however, for safety reasons aerial transports are not permitted within ten kilometers of a spaceport.

The Presidential Compound of the Union is roughly in the center of the city mass and covers an area roughly 10 x 25km. It includes a dedicated shuttle port, the Joint Chiefs of Staff HQ, the TUSN HQ, Union Marines HQ, Terran Planetary Defence HQ, and the Embassies of the 53 human settled planets (roughly half are not located within the Presidential Compound but are located near to it including the 6 non-aligned planets).