Glossary
Glossary items define how terms are used within stories and commentary. Glossary entries are updated to incorporate more information revealed within a story. All glossary items are available here. Browse glossary items in alphabetical order, by date published or sort them by the date they were updated.
Glossary in Alphabetical Order
J
- John Barleycorn
A harvest legend coming from the North Western European area of England or Scotland, the poem, later set to music, symbolizes the growing season of a field of barley.
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K
- Kefir, Water
A fermented beverage made by feeding a specific culture of bacteria and yeast known as water kefir grains with sugar and then further fermenting the finished product with fruit and herbs.
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L
- LCO Initiatives
A form of outreach focusing on people from all different cultures living all around Earth in the habitats to learn to work together and come to a consensus. Members of the LCO, Liaison Community Outreach led the Initiatives.
(view full entry) - Liaisons
The Liaisons were created 17 years pre-catastrophe by the Foundation Board via a mandate as the population in the habitats began to be sustainable. The Board determined to create a third entity, which was neither the Foundation nor individual habitat management but an administration that focused on the people of the habitat.
(view full entry) - Libation Plate
Commonly used in Wiccan rituals, a libation plate is a plate or shallow bowl holding a small amount of each dish served at a feast.
(view full entry) - Lift
The common name for the vertical transportation system that moves between sections along the concave outermost wall of the habitats.
(view full entry) - Listening Meetings/Tours
The term for the interactions Alexandra undertook after the Catastrophe. Her purpose was to connect with and hear what the people had to say, visiting each section in each habitat either physically within her home habitat or virtually for the others.
(view full entry) - Living Floors
Livable floors were where people typically resided, worked, and spent their free time. These floors tended to mimic surface conditions in which videos of the sky above were shown, and the ground level contained plants, trees, and a sense of being outdoors. Most floors kept the temperatures relatively constant and did not fluctuate as they would for similar seasons on the planet’s surface.
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M
- MAGA
Originally derived from Donald Trump’s 2016 pre-catastrophe campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”, it eventually came to be associated with the extremism and hate that Trump, along with other power-hungry individuals, stoked.
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N
- Neo-Pagan
Neo-paganism is a syncretic blend of practices, blending those originating from a time before the major monotheistic religions swept over the land with more modern interpretations.
(view full entry) - Networks
The networks that connect the habitats to the surface world and each other.
(view full entry) - Nguyen-Nguyen Principle
ed Nguyen and his son, Joseph of North American Habitat East, discovered two interleaving principles of quantum theory, which led to the practical application of moving through hyperspace.
(view full entry) - Nordic Model
The Nordic Model refers to a social welfare and economic system adopted approximately 90 years before the catastrophe by the countries making up the area of the continent of northwestern Europe. It combined capitalistic features such as a market economy and economic efficiency with social benefits and an eye towards a secure and healthy life for its citizens.
(view full entry) - Nuclear Arms Race
The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War.
(view full entry) - Nuclear War
A war that is mainly fought with the use of fissionable and radioactive materials.
(view full entry) - Nuclear Winter
“Nuclear winter” is a term coined by surface scientists about the possible effects a sizeable nuclear war could have on the planet. They predicted a miniature ice age that would envelope most of the world in freezing temperatures through the time it was active.
(view full entry) - Nudges
A nudge is an action that sets up small and seemingly insignificant events to move humanity along its chosen path; these events can be influenced by the choices made by individuals or large swathes of society as they relate to their collective lives.
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- Outer Wall
The curved wall separating the interior area from the elevators and airlifts, supporting the ceiling and providing the viewing surface for the videos that mimicked the day and night. These walls had large openings at the compass points with smaller doors along the circumference, allowing access to the travel corridor.
(view full entry) - Pagans
A name for those whose spirituality embraces ancient and modern concepts of pantheism and polytheism.
(view full entry) - Pan Pagan Alliancenew
An umbrella organization for all the groups operating under a pantheistic/polytheistic belief system, organized by Alexandra Hanlon during the first Liaison Conference once she realized that every habitat had sent at least one person with poly or pantheistic beliefs and practices.
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