Auravelus: An Austral-based organization dedicated to a strict interpretation of the Third Testament, supremacism of the Vulkaz-wrami race and forced eugenics upon baselines and familiars. They are regarded as extremists by the modern, secular Austral Unity, and are believed to be extinct. 

Austral Scape: The homeland Scape of the Vulkaz-wrami race. It suffered from both extreme global warming and incidents of bioterrorism, culminating in a dominant nation-state in Antarctica run by theocratic eugenicists. The modern Austral Scape is partially remediated, with the equatorial regions being re-colonized. 

Austral Unity: The dominant political state of the Known World, ruling the Vulkaz-wrami homeland of the Austral Scape and its colonized Scapes. It contains some 14 billion citizens, a mixture of baselines, familiars and Vulkaz-wrami. Previously an expansionist theocratic and eugenicist state, the modern Unity is secular, democratic and desegregated. Its ruling body, the Corpal Synod, is based in the Austral Scape’s South Pole. 

Baseline: An unmodified human being, with no cybernetic or genetic alteration.

Familiar: A non-baseline whose ancestors were assimilated into the Austral Unity. Over the course of generations these peoples were genetically enhanced, though most of them can pass as baseline. 

Filth Scape: The Scape where first contact with the Inrisus was made by Auravelus missionaries. As the Inrisus are well-travelled this is probably not their native land. Environmentally pristine and apparently unpopulated, it is actually a trap/prank/joke by the Inrisus, who will kill/brutalize/expel all visitors.  

Forteans: Individuals rumored to be in possession of fantastical abilities, a continuation of old stories about UFOs, telepaths and ghosts. ‘Real’ Forteans are thought to simply use advanced technology. 

Girid: The codename of a semi-historical Noir hero and martyr. A staunch atheist in combat with the Auravelus, the various incarnations of Girid developed a Code which instructs Noir policies to this day. 

Great Slick: The most devastating terrorist incident in recent history: the intentional destruction of aquacultural resources on the Wallace World Scape. Perpetrated by Noir baselines and affecting more than 2 billion Unity citizens with famine, it essentially broke the will of the Unity in its occupation of the Noir Scape.   

Horizon: The moving portal edges that open and close over the Loosed World. They can be predicted by the field of hypercartography, though with some imprecision. 

Inrisus: A grotesque, dangerous post-human race of purplish monsters, more technologically advanced than the Unity, named by the Auravelus. Each individual has a personalized anatomy, usually including hypersexual/animalistic features. Inrisus personal and caste names are intentionally designed to be offensive to whichever culture they contact.  

Junkyard Scape: A Scape that was unpopulated upon the Unity’s landfall. A nuclear exchange seems to have happened around 1400 years prior, with no native human remains younger than 600 years. The radiation has left several areas in surprisingly pristine condition.  

Krummholz: The Fortean power, as understood by the primitives of the Larch Scape. 

Larch Scape: A cold Scape undergoing ice age glaciation, discovered by the Unity. It has a small native population and numerous Pleistocene beasts – however, almost all the plants are black due to genetic modification against the cold in the distant past. 

Noir Scape: A Scape that successfully resisted Austral occupation, remaining mostly-baseline into modern times. It is ruled by some 90 different schools of Skepticism as an atheistic police state, with superficially pre-electronic technology. The Convention of Santa Rosa forbids Noir citizens from partaking of genetic or cybernetic enhancement, though some exceptions are made and familiar immigrants have been accepted. 

Scape: A particular version of Earth, the entire sphere. Each Scape has its own original Sky, but as the Horizons turn this original may become confused or lost. 

Vulkaz-wrami: The native post-human people of the Austral Scape, derived from the title ‘Rams of Vulkaz’. They are extensively genetically modified for both superior health and longevity and a distinctive appearance, with dyed blue skin and biogenic jewels, most prominently grown from the scalp as a ‘crown’ with a personalized choice of gemstones. 

Wallace World Scape: A Scape that has no evidence of a native human population, living or extinct. Many Pleistocene species remain. Despite the Great Slick terrorism incident this remains one of the ecologically healthiest Scapes.