Pulson

The Templar standard-issue weapon uses legally-sanctioned technology called pulson and fires highly dense kinetic energy pulses. It is commonly referred to as The Peacekeeper, manufactured as a sidearm, a rifle, and a cannon. The Peacekeeper's various settings are capable of rendering unconsciousness, disrupting electrical fields, bursting organs, or shattering solid matter. Pulson technology is proprietary to Faith.

Temple-at-Delphi

One of the most sacred sites on Aideena, the monastic citadel is dedicated to the science and practice of prophecy and paranormal phenomenon. It is exclusively managed by the Order of the Oracle, and maintains a shrine that attracts pilgrims year round. Traditionally, all women journey to the Temple at least once in their lifetime to commune with the Sisters and receive a blessing (official psychic reading) on location.

Temple-at-Corinth

One of the first monastic citadels of Faith, The Temple is dedicated to fundamental priestly training, rigorous martial discipline and renowned for its traditional approach to Faith’s teachings. The Faithful trained at the facility are almost exclusively intended for service in the Order of the Knights Templar or the clergy. The Disciples of Paul maintain the most notorious and demanding athletic program as part of the Temple’s curriculum. It preserves ancient practices of linking extreme physical endurance with superior mental fortitude.

Temple-at-Attica

One of the principle and oldest monastic citadels of Faith on Aideena, the Temple is renowned as a center of academia and scholarly worship. The Faithful who are trained there are almost exclusively groomed for highly-placed legislative, administrative or educational positions.

SPR Band

Security Protocol Response (referred interchangeably as channels or bands): The high priority communications domain used by Faith and the Templar. SPR operates independent of the OmniNet communications network. Secured channels provide multi-band hyper-access audio, textual, and/or graphical information.

Twelve Great Houses, The

A fundamental institution of Aideena, the Twelve Great Houses share governmental responsibility with Faith and the Guild Brotherhood.

Each House is named for one of the Aes’ir Daughters who supposedly mothered Humanity. These ancestral matriarchies are comprised of a collection of Clans, which are in turn a collection of Families.

A Matron governs each familial household. A Matriarch governs a collective of households. A Dame Matriarch heads a House.

Property and wealth are passed to daughters. Wealthy or poor, regardless of geography, which House and which family/clan within a House one belongs to is everything. It predetermines loyalty and obligation, and is the only source of division on Aideena , other than gender.

The Houses are the alpha, the beta, the eta, the iota, the kappa, the psi, the rho, the tau, the theta, the xi, the zeta, and the omega.

Templar

(Order of the Knights Templar )

The largest priestly order of Faith, and one of the oldest, the Templar are charged with enforcing civil law and maintaining order under the provisions of religious doctrine.

They are the supreme military force on Aideena. In ancient times, the Order was a knighthood that maintained strict codes of chivalry and ethics. Many of its traditions have survived, however, the Order does not enjoy the autonomy it once had within Faith.

Taeson

The term is commonly used for any make and model of unsanctioned or illegally manufactured kinetic energy hand weapon. Such black market weapons are distinguished by their singular lethality. They are also notorious for being unreliable.

It is not uncommon for a taeson to self-destruct upon firing or fail after a few uses. To acquire a taeson that functions reliability is thus highly prized as a collectible and heirloom. They are branded and personified by their owner, whose ownership assumes signature status.

Privates

Private security militias chartered by a House, or family or clan within a House, these mercenary guildsmen are remnants of the time when The Houses maintained standing armies.

Following the Clan Wars, the jurisdiction of privates was limited to the personal properties of their Matriarchs. They are forbid from operating in publicly designated places, which are delineated by Faith as neutral territory for rival clans, Families, and/or Houses. They operate as a kind of neighborhood watch and are expected to act in coordination with Templar authorities. Privates' ability to bear arms is highly restricted. Ultimately, Houses are answerable to Faith and Templar for the activities of these security forces.

Unlike Enforcers, Privates have legal standing. However, enforcers and privates are commonly perceived as interchangeable. It can be said that one group is paid by a Matriarch "on-the-books" and the other is not.

Pai

The common-use term refers to biometric technology that allows interconnectivity among recumbent wetware networks that transmit data using Aideena’s standard protocol architecture.

Pai devices are usually worn, incorporated into common dress, and interfaces with implanted nano-avatars that encrypt personal identification information to authenticate secured information transactions. Pai originally entered the vernacular as an acronym for personal access interface.

OmniNet

The worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected replicant wetware infrastructures transmits data using Aideena's standard protocol architecture. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together facilitates various information and services, such as communications, personal financial transaction, and intelligent search.

Aideenans may access OmniNet using pai devices or by interfacing pai devices with obelisk-like kiosks in public locales for expansive capabilities.

Parliamentary, The

The legislative and administrative body is comprised of representatives of the Twelve Great Houses and the Guild Brotherhood, and mediated by Faith.

The Parliamentary brings together all the branches of government to conduct the business of sovereignty. They meet in session at the Acropolis and are empowered with supreme civil authority.

Oracle

(Order of the Oracle, The)

A priestly order of Faith exclusively female, the ministry is dedicated to the psycho-sensory abilities of women.

Many of its rites and activities are secret (called Mysteries). Women trained in the Order are professional seers and conduct official psychic readings. The Order is the most powerful in the public’s mind, and the most influential within Faith and the Parliamentary.

The Sisters of the Order of the Oracle organize covens and covens compete for prominence and authority within the Order.

Maiden's Day

A celebration that coincides with the spring equinox, Maidens’ Day recognizes the passage of all sixteen year-old girls to womanhood. Several days of prayer, fasting and communal activities culminate in a crowning ceremony. Several days of community-centered festivals typically follow. After Maiden’s Day, girls (new women) leave their mother’s homes and move into domiciles set up by matriarchs in their area and are accepted as equals.

Juda-Hon

An archaic term, it means both damned and outcast.

Juda-Hon applies to a clan of the zeta who betrayed the House during the Clan Wars. The crime was so heinous and lead to such bloodshed that, after they were put down by the Knights Templar, The Twelve Great Houses excommunicated the clan and their descendants forever.

Juda-Hon have no rights to land or property and no protection under law. Members can not marry legally outside their own group. For hundreds of years they have wandered from place to place, forbidden to set down roots. Their numbers saturate the ghettos of many cities.

The Houses do not recognize them as human beings. Faith permits prayer but not communion. The Guilds use Juda-Hon for cheap labor, but they are forbidden from attending their academies. Recently, social reform movements have called for tolerance.

Guild Brotherhood

The branch of government comprised of masonic unions of professionals and laborers is the legislative institution for world commerce and industry.

Predominately male, membership is familial. Historically, guilds were part of The Twelve Great Houses, but the Clan Wars resulted in concessions granting more autonomy. Guilds still rely on the authority of Matriarchs for legal status and leases on property. The Brotherhood maintains academies for the training of young boys in a particular skill or profession.

Goddess and Creation, The

Prehistory on Aideena records visitations by extraterrestrial life over several thousands of years.

The activities of these beings survives as mythology and early peoples generally regarded them as maternal gods called The Aes’r and collectively, The Goddess. Possessing superior technology, The Aes’r established a hyperspace link to other points in the Universe on Aideena and harvested life from several planets all over the galaxy. They conducted genetic experiments on proto-human life on the planet, advanced evolution and established many of the fundamental conventions of Aideenan civilization.

An unknown catastrophe caused The Aes'r to abandon Aideena and their system of space gates. The Aes’r Daughters, also called The Gaia, are said to be extraterrestrial prodigy left behind who mated with primitive Aideena-kind. It is a fundamental belief that The Aes'r will one day return.

On Aideena, Creation is seen as an on-going phenomenon of nature. Scientific inquiry may reveal the fundamental design of the Universe, but Human Thought may not necessarily comprehend the entirety of Creation. Aideenans do not believe Creation is necessarily evidence of a Supreme Intelligence. But rather, they revere it as a process in which they are active participants.

Invoking “The Goddess and Creation” is a common blessing to channel wisdom and the forces of providence that manifest beyond everyday existence which, in context, can be delivered as charm of protection or a curse.

Gaia

The sixth planet in Aideena’s binary solar system, it is the moon-planet’s gaseous parent.

Genealogy

On Aideena, a person’s lineage is as fundamental to civilization as gender.

According to popular lore, Aideena-kind descended from twelve genetically engineered daughters of the Ae'sir, extraterrestrial colonists. The Daughters mated with proto-humans to produce various family bloodlines.

Whether or not the myths' specifics have any basis in fact, each person on the planet can trace their ancestry back along one of these original twelve bloodlines. The development of familial communities, tied in part to various geographic locations and alliances along bloodlines, led to the creation of The Twelve Great Houses.

Free Townships

Originally off-world research and industrial facilities established primarily by the Guild Brotherhood, these space colonies are scattered throughout the solar system and neighboring stars. Over the centuries they developed into thriving communities, attracting entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

The Free Townships campaigned and won status as independent democratic states. The Free Townships are forging the exploration of space. The emerging space-borne identity aligns itself less with traditional familial customs with each passing generation. Divisions over gender, class, blood obligation and House affiliation are perceived as less significant.