Cinematophote
noun A handheld round plate that displays moving images on its surface. Origin Derived from cinematograph (‘movement writing’) and phōto- (light). Source The Machine Stops
Zero Gravitas
A science fiction lexicon
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Habiform
verb Technically correct term for what is usually called terraforming ; altering any already existing environment to suit it to the needs of one or more species. Origin Pairing of ‘habitat’ and form (to create). Source Matter
Behemothaur
noun A large floating animal, able to move about its gaseous environment. Origin Pairing of behemoth (mighty beast) and aura (air). Source Look to Windward
Metamathics
noun The investigation of the properties of Realities (more correctly, Reality-fields) intrinsically unknowable by and from our own, but whose general principles could be hazarded at. Origin Contraction of metamathematics , a branch of mathematics dealing with mathematical systems and their nature. Source Excession
Clanker
noun informal A robot. Origin Derived from clank , the sound of metal colliding. Source Gateway
Liferoo
noun informal A disciple of the Church of Life Evolving. Origin The Church believes that life is the ultimate good and that anti-life – entropy – is the ultimate evil. Source Tuf Voyaging
Chronowarp
noun A device able to warp the very weave of the fabric of time, to hurry it or hold it still. Origin Pairing of khrónos (time) and ‘warp’. Source Tuf Voyaging
Impietist
noun One who practises impiety. Origin Pairing of ‘impiety’ with the suffix -ist (to practice). Source Against A Dark Background
Theophobia
noun The fear and hatred of gods. Origin Pairing of theo (god) and phobia (fear). Source Against A Dark Background
Metaplegic
adjective Of or relating to a bodily paralysis triggered by a disorder elsewhere in the body. noun A person who suffers from metaplegia. Origin Pairing of meta (from ‘metastasis’) and plegia (paralysis). Source Against A Dark Background
Junklight
noun The light reflected by orbiting artificial satellites seen in the night sky. Origin Space junk , objects in orbit with no useful purpose. Source Against A Dark Background
Synchroneurobonding
noun A virus that makes a group of infectees better able to anticipate one another’s reactions. Source Against A Dark Background
Jambles
noun informal The area of space between the Fringe and the highly civilized worlds around Old Earth. Origin Derived from ‘jumbled’ in reference to the effects of the Double War on these planet’s civilizations. Source Dying Of The Light
Outworlds
noun plural Collective term for all the worlds of the Fringe; those fourteen human colonies between the Tempter’s Veil and the Great Black Sea. Source Dying Of The Light
Endwife
noun A woman who has vowed to tend the stricken, help the hurt to live, and bury the dead. Origin Pairing of ‘end’ (cessation) and wif (woman). Source The Deep
Autopsychomimesis
noun A self-perpetuated imitation complex. Source He Who Shapes
Dirtside
noun The surface of a planet. Origin “Dirtside – that was the only word for it. What did the globes of dust have to offer after the clear sharp world of space?” Source Spaceship Medic
Blindspin
noun A journey in a self-driving vehicle to a destination selected at random. Origin Coined after the idiom “take for a spin”. Source He Who Shapes
Normform
noun A body with unmodified anatomy. Source The Keys to December
Orthogony
noun The structure of actuality; orthogonal futures and pasts that fluoresce from the universe as it is, and from those into others, and others, always at right angles to the stream of time. Origin Back-formation from ‘orthogonal’. Source Great Work of Time