GLOSSARY of TERMS

"But what does it all MEAN?"

Game Reference Terms
Body Type - the effective amount of meat on the character, 'hit points', a measure of size or height.
Game Holder - the person running the game, making up the background information and controlling all non-player characters.
Stats - a listing of physical, mental, social and subtle defining terms that describe the character. Intelligence, Strength, etc.

World Reference Terms
Zekira - the colonized world on which your characters are living. The planet has several continents.
Area - equivalent to "country" without the political/social implications. There are 14 Areas.
Land - equivalent to "continent". There are 4 Lands on Zekira: Zerin, Tana, Curra and Kiran.
Zone - equivalent to "counties" or cities. Each Area has at this time 15 Zoned population centers which allow voting and have their own laws.
Zekirans - the people who have colonized this world.
Human - any reference to Human in this text refers ONLY to Zekirans, not to Earthly Humans because well, we don't show up in this world at all.

Status Terms
Each person on Zekira must be of a specific financial status. They each have a different ability to vote, hold land or buy slaves, loan money, or perform medical services.
From lowest to highest recognized Status -
Slave/Owned - people who are not free, cannot vote, and have no further rights, must obey their owner/lord.
Permanent Bond - A Bayaran whose debt far exceeds any reasonable amount that they could possibly pay back in their lifetime. They become their own payment.
Bayaran/Bonded - people who are deeply indebted to another and are working off that debt in service to their loan agent. They may not vote while Bayaran, but may be awarded their old Status if they pay off their debt.
Generation Bond - Those who have died and left their children a significant debt, leave them 'Generationally' bonded. A group or family members, friends or other such people may pay off a debt for their departed loved one. Or, choose to do this to pay it quickly while they are still alive.
Habitual Bayaran - A Free Worker who often dips into Bayaran status, who will be permanently lowered and no longer offered the ability to vote. They may not always actually be in Bayaran, however their social standing has suffered permanently.
Free Worker - the mainstay of free population, working to rent their home. They may vote in low-level local elections only.
Free Land Holder/Land Master - home owners, business owners of small businesses. They may vote, and may even run for very low office. They may hire Workers.
Membayar/Master-Mistress - usually working with laws and land, Membayar may pay off other people's debts and have a Bayaran working for them at a much higher rate of obediance than a Worker. They do not have to do this. They hold more land than Land Masters. They may vote and hold offices.
Owner/Lord-Lady - born into money and land holdings, they may also Bond, but they usually own Slaves to do their work. They vote and can hold offices.
Suzerain/Suzeraan-inne - Higher holdings in land, Bonds and Slaves available than Membayar and Owner. Business people on the move. They must vote, may hold offices and run for higher offices.
Animal Master/Beast Lord-Lady - Specially bred or trained people who can control animals in some format, working with land or environments, transportation or food supplies. They must vote, may hold offices, Bond or Own Slaves. Their lands are often left wild.
Breeder - Scientists and genetic engineers, psychologists, healers, medics and mate brokers. They are highly trained but often may have powers to aid their work in genetics or healing. They must have a specific degree that determines their medical abilities, as well as (prior to 10600 or so) a secondary Status of Membayar or above. They must vote, may hold high office, Bond and Own.
Healer - only the ability to do medical work such as ear-nose-throat, pediatrics, field medicine and herbalistic medicine.
Dream Healer/Psyche Healer - usually working with psionic powers that aid in cleansing the mind or helping calm manias.
1st Degree Through Sixth Degree - varying abilities of pairing off people and producing children. 3rd Degree specificially Owns all offspring unless contracted otherwise, 6th Degree is the only legal way to produce splices and genetically engineer.
High Owners/High Lord-Lady - Owners whose Holdings exceed the 800 Unit limit on Owner's lands, but are not willing to retitle to High Holder. They rely upon their Slaves to work, rather than larger numbers of Bayaran. They must vote, may hold high office, Own and Bond.
High Holders/High Master-Mistress - Those whose Land Holds exceed 600 or more Units (depending on prior Status) that usually rely upon Bayaran to work for them. They are elite, social creatures whose leadership abilities are rarely challenged. They must vote, may hold high office, Bond and Own people.
Rogue - criminals who have been ousted or escaped, who cannot vote or do any of the above unless cleared of their criminal record.
Renegade - Slaves or Bayaran who have run away from their Lord or Master, who may 'squat' on hidden land for a certain amount of time to become Free Holders. If they are retrieved before that time period elapses, they become Slaves or Bayaran (usually Slaves) again.
Exile - Criminals whose crimes are completely unforgivable and who are obviously not able to be rehabilitated. Exiles are mass murderers, people who commit crimes that are inexusable. Exiles are not killed because it is worth more to the Zekiran people that they suffer before they die alone and unrecognized.
Outsider - People who have somehow become or were born Immortal, who exist either outside society or hiding among people for a time. Their stories are complex and sad.
Unknown - Status includes Zekirans who have been born outside of any Zoned area and outside of any influence of laws. Many Zekirans born naturally on the continent of Neres are qualified as Unknown, as are many Free Renegades (communities after fleeing that have continued without contact).
Neres Natives - though not a status per se, the natives of the planet reside only upon the small continent of Neres, and are not considered Human.

Breeding, Healing and Mutation Terms
Breeding/Breeder - generally speaking, the act of engineering a birth, however the broader term can be used to refer to anyone in the medical field.
Degree - the legal limit of ability that the Breeder has paid to perform and been trained up to in school and experience. From 1 through 6, and in later eras, includes 6a or 7.
Fertility - a measure of a person's ability to reproduce. In game terms characters fall into several categories.
Hyperfertile - the very rare ability to produce a child after a 'heat' or estrus cycle, rather similar to Earthly humans, or even animals.
Normally Fertile - the rare ability to produce or sire a child once in several years but through into maturity and old age.
Semi Fertile - the common ability to produce or sire a child once in a number of decades, often failing after middle age.
Partially Fertile - the common ability to sire or produce a child perhaps once in a lifetime.
Infertile - the dangerously common inability to produce or sire a child for any of a number of reasons (including poor sperm count, through improper body parts and mutations that don't allow copulation).
Mutation - a physical change in the appearance or use of a gene, generally speaking one which shows visibly, but some mutations can be entirely internal (such as immunities, immortality, or senses).
Psionics - the telepathic or mental powers of the character. Zekirans are apt to have psionics paired with common mutations, such as "elf ears" that go along with the "machine sense" power.
Specialization - a Breeder who works with only one type of mutation, appearance feature or Status.
Splice/Splicing - the act of a 6th Degree Breeder (or Animal Master using animals only) of taking two or more clinically extracted cells and creating a whole person from them by hand-matching genes.
Tuning - mutants who are specifically bred for a unique trait such as Animal perception or psionics, wings or other useful things.

Legal, Stock and Land Terms
Bond/Bayaran - verb, to owe money to. A bond is being worked off to someone who has paid a large debt. Bayaran must do as their Master requires, but do not have to actually perform to the risk of their health or wellfare. They must pay back this debt, or become Permanently Bonded.
Credit Chip - the small metal and/or crystal unit of money on Zekira. Made of platinum.
Hac - half-credit, made of silver
Quad - quarter Credit made of gold-stamped silver.
Duo - Two-Credit unit, made of silver and ringed with plat;
Tres - Three Credit unit with all three metals in its composition resembling a target,
Dec - Ten-Credit chip which usually has a heavy rim of silver framing a thin unbreakable crystal.
Jarin - 50 Credit crystal framed in platinum.
Zhosh - Hundred Credit, donut shaped solid metal.
Kik - 1000 Credit rod of solid platinum.
Divest - the act of either losing money due to unforseen events, or actively selling off items, Slaves, stock or Land in order to drop below a certain legal limit of Holdings.
Freeing - the act of paying for a Slave into Bayaran or Free Worker status. This enables the Slave to then begin working for their own goals, instead of their Lord's. Separate from Raising or Retitling.
Hold/Holding - noun: the locale where a Land Holder actually owns their territory. Verb: the act of buying Land.
Inheritance - the act of passing along money, Steeds, Holdings, Slaves or debt to the next generation, or alternately the act of getting same.
Invest - the act of buying into Land Holding, paying off someone's debt to become a Membayar or other such money-using tactics.
Raising - the act of changing Status from Slave or Bayaran into Animal Master, Free Worker, or very rarely Breeder due to the appearance of powers, mutations or circumstances that dictate their worth in those fields. Separate from Freeing or Retitling.
Retitling - the act of buying into another Status, be it divesting into a lower one, or investing into a higher. Only those above Bayaran may Retitle by themselves. Bayaran must be awarded their former or new Status in court.
Span - a unit of physical distance measuring about 16 to 18 Earthly inches, approximately a "foot" on Zekira.
Stock - items that are owned by someone. This can include everything from furnishings to Steeds, vehicles or abstracts such as "power", but may not include Slaves.
Hard Stock - human Stock, or Slaves owned by anyone of Owner or above Status.
Unit - a measure of Land, 100x100 Spans average. This amount and its value varies tremendously from Area to Area, Zoned to rural locales.

World Specific Terms
Ferilon - a small ferret-like creature popular as a pet or a show worthy investment.
Steed - Zekiran term for horse, but Zekiran Steeds normally have wings in different types. When referring to grounded steeds, Steed is no longer a proper noun. They just aren't as well-respected or loved.
Zpara - Zekiran version of coffee, a reddish or yellow colored plant that produces varying amounts of chemical stimulants.