Iron Empires Glossary

See also Burning Empires acronyms list on this wiki, and Terminology on the official Burning Empires wiki.

Ahmilahk 

The six-fingered prophet. Founder of the Mundus Humanitas.

AIC 

Advanced Intrusion Countermeasures.

Anvil 

Planet-based armed forces: soldiers, tanks and planes. Also refers to unpowered infantry armor.

Archcotare 

The highest ranking religious official on the planet.

Arch Metropolitan 

Another title for the Primarch.

Armiger 

Armorbearer to a noble.

Bright Mark 

Because psychology was so greatly feared during the Federation Era, DNA markings were placed in most citizens. Each time the Psychologist uses his innate powers, this mark glows brightly in a long line from forehead to cheek over the left eye. Eventually, as the Psychologist uses his abilities more and more, the mark scars and can be seen even when psychology is not in use. It is a mark of pride in the courts of the Karsan League, but reviled nearly everywhere else.

CEBW ("chebu" or "ceebu") 

Coherent-Energy Beam Weapon.

Church of Transition (CHOT) 

A polytheistic cult that has taken root in the Darikahn Empire’s southern reaches. The CHOT believes in a series of gods that each has dominion over a particular aspect of creation. There are seasonal gods, rain gods, earth gods, fire gods and others. Each is prayed to for assistance in overcoming the elements, having favorable weather and receiving blessings on the home. They are all governed by a matriarchal deity sometimes referred to as Dana but usually simply as "the Goddess." It is called the Church of the Transition because its principal doctrine is that transition is the path of nature. All things begin as one thing and transform to another.

Circle of 10,000 

Only the Karsan League has managed to form an organized and sanctioned structure for the psychologists born into their empire. It is called the Circle of 10,000 — though no one knows its true membership. Young men and women who bear the Bright Mark are brought into the Circle, trained in the use of their talent and fostered on the precepts of the order.

Cnihts 

Gonzagin who identify with the old guard of Gonzagin nobility — even if they are not nobles themselves — and use this identification to justify the Gonzagin pretensions to the Hanrilke throne.

Coeptir 

Young noble, usually under the age of 15, employed as a page, squire, or midshipman.

Corvus 

The state of permanent depilation of the scalp that is a mark of honour amongst the Lords-Pilot. It is required in order to implant a crucis (see below), although some illegal techniques allow the implantee to keep his or hear scalp hair.

Cotar 

Priest of the Mundus Humanitas.

Cotar Antistes 

Senior priest, elected, who officially represents the Church and presides over certain important ceremonies. His word has force of law.

Cotar Arderes 

Another title for the Primarch.

Cotar Fomas 

A priest much like a regular cotar, but he is also a warrior. He has all the powers of a cotar, but he also commands an arm of the Mundus Humanitas’ military. Unlike a cotar, who is commanded by the dregutai, a cotar fomas answers directly to the archcotare. While he cannot act without the archcotare’s leave, the cotar fomas has broadranging powers. He deploys his units as he sees fit and is the archcotare’s enforcer.

Crucis 

An electronic port that is built into the back of the head at the occipital lobe to allow control of iron or hammer. Through this interface, the machine responds to mental commands and monitors vital signs. The crucis gets its name from the cross shape of the implant. It is large enough to be seen clearly on the back on the head and is a badge of honor for all who have one.

Cyrean 

Heretics of the Comoran Empire who do not believe in the supremacy of the Mundus Humanitas. They believe the church is morally bankrupt, decadent and corrupt. Their own churches preach the Prophet’s teachings, but they have no fortress temples, no primarch and no massive church bureaucracy. Their religious power is decentralized and their faith more egalitarian. Cyreans are vehement in their beliefs — they believe the Mundus Humanitas jeopardizes souls rather than saving them. Devout Cyreans are committed to its eradication.

Dregus (pl. Dregutai) 

Prelates elected from the cotars. They work as adjuncts for the archcotare, advising and assisting him. They carry out his will and supervise the cotars. Dregutai often officiate at temple services in the absence of the archcotare. When the archcotare does perform the duties himself, the noncelebrant officials are always dregutai. A dregus can become quite powerful if he serves a weak archcotare. Much like the metropolitans are to the Primarch, they are "the power behind the throne." Crossing an influential one is a dangerous business.

Distortion Drive 

A drive technology that manipulates the value of time to allow faster-than-light interstellar travel.

Eremite 

Hermit.

First Speaker 

Senior member of the Circle of 10,000.

Foundation 

Psychologist cabal or school.

Forged 

Combining both Anvil and Hammer elements.

Fusor 

A squad support weapon that projects a tongue of plasma, energized to the point of nuclear fusion, at great distance and with great effect.

Fuur 

The Fuur are a mythical alien race who were encountered by the Federated Empire. According to legend, their small culture was absorbed into humankind and the Fuur simply ceased to be.

Gunda 

Brutal nomadic tribes who flourish by exploiting the resources, (human, industrial & mineral), of the planets they conquer. After milking a world dry they move on, leaving a ruined husk in their wake.

Grav/Pressor 

A technology that manipulates gravity to provide reactionless drive inside a gravity well.

Hammer 

Space-based naval forces: battleships, cruisers and transports.

Hanrilke 

The last dynasty to rule the old Federated Empire. Their collapse brought on the age of the Iron Empires.

HE (1) 

Hanrilke Era; the common time reckoning system in the Iron Empires. The Hanrilke Calendar consists of 360 days, divided into 4 quarters: "RISING" from days 1-90, "APEX" from days 91-180, "WANING" from days 181 -270, and "NADIR", from days 271-360. This is a Mundus inspired, seasonal "wheel" which most human worlds use in conjunction with a local, planetary calendar. The Darikahn Court, because of antipathy towards the Mundus Church, uses the Hanrilke Calendar of days, but refers to the quarters as "FIRST QUARTER", "SECOND QUARTER", and so on. The first Hanrilke Emperor, Ober I, took control of the dying Federational Empire in the year FE 10,101 and ruled for 35 years. He established the Hanrilke calendar in the first year of his reign, setting HE year 0 to correspond with the Federation Calendar's year FE 10,000. This means that the Hanrilke Era actually is 101 years shorter than its calendar indicates. Ober knew the value of a "long tradition of rule", even if it was illusory.

HE (2) 

High-Explosive.

HEAP 

High-Explosive, Armor Penetrating.

HEAT 

Hyper-Endothermic Assimilation Technology. A HEAT suit provides excellent heat masking and moderate visual cloaking.

Iron 

Vernacular for a particular type of mechanized armor. It is perhaps a noble’s single greatest status symbol—an honor and a privilege allowed to only the nobility and the most accomplished warriors. The Iron Empires take their name from the symbolic image of wars and conquest led by nobles clad in iron. Though it is cumbersome, iron is ingenious in its design. It is a selfcontained environmental suit that turns a human being into a small tank. Power, locomotion, protection, and life support are all provided by the suit. An iron company is a formidable force.

Kerrn 

Race tthat was genetically engineered by the Vaylen to serve them; however, after only a generation or two, the Kerrn's remarkable immune system rejected the Vaylen tampering. Kerrn have a fiere hatred for the Vaylen and their engineered slave races. They are large and green, with brightly coloured eye patches.

Kunmai 

The Kunmai are one of the more powerful groups in the Karsan League. They hold to imperial tradition, while ascribing to the more liberal views common to the people of the Karsan League. Since the collapse of the Hanrilke dynasty, the Kunmai have promoted their own imperial lineage under their own emperor, the Tirkahn.

Landwehr 

Volunteer army of reservists organized around a professional core, generally serving as the Anvil force throughout the Kursan League.

Lord-Pilot 

A noble rank that allows its bearer to own and operate iron or hammer-class spacecraft.

Mercator 

Interstellar transport vessel.

MPIML ("empel") 

Man-Portable Intelligent Missile Launcher.

Mukhadish 

A bioengineered slave race created by the Vaylen as a labor force. They and the Kerrn despise one another.

Mule 

Someone able to use psionic abilities without bearing the Bright Mark. When using his psychology, a Mule does not exhibit any outward sign. No one knows his true power! However, Mules are all infertile. Any attempt to render them fertile with technology causes the loss of the Mule trait and its benefits. All Mules are also physically conspicuous in one manner or another

Mundus Humanitas 

The Mundus Humanitas sprang into life with the emergence of the six-fingered prophet Ahmilahk Ahved Ahll. Ahmilahk appeared in the Comoran worlds, (now the Kudus Theocracy), around FE 10,098. He preached a doctrine of mystery and fatalism, attacking the Church of the Divine Machine (the Imperial Federation's "state" religion), for clinging to the worldly tatters of the old rationalism. This theme was seized upon by Ober Hanrilke and his conspirators in their assault on the state. Hanrilke's support gave Ahmilakh's religion a currency that separated it from the hordes of similar heresies that peppered the Imperial Federation in those years. When the Noble Wars died away, leaving Hanrilke in firm control of the Sphere, the Mundus Humanitas became law. Wherever the CoDM had been, the Mundus moved in, burning the old temples, pillaging the libraries, erecting the flaming wheels that were their central icon. The Mundus continues to be the primary religious belief in the Iron Empires period, although it has been weakened by the fall of the Hanrilke Empire and by internal splits.

Naiven 

Native Vaylen worm that has not been implanted in another living creature.

Order of the Mystic Fire 

The Mystes are an itinerant monastic order among the Mundus Humanitas. While sanctioned by the Church, the exclusively female organization is regarded with some suspicion.

Order of the Seeking Fire 

The Order of the Seeking Fire is the Church’s official name for its internal investigatory arm, known popularly as "the Inquisition."

PAc 

Particle Accelerator.

Primarch 

Successor of Ahmilahk (also Arch Metropolitan or Cotar Arderes) and the Mundus Humanitas Church's supreme authority.

Psychology 

Use of genetically engineered (and now inheritable) psionic powers; the power to read thoughts, communicate telepathically and forcefully alter a target’s behavior or personality with only a thought.

Ravilar 

A class of patroned historians who chronicle the events of the age.

SCArE 

Sub-critical area explosive.

SCrEM 

Sub-Critical Energy Missile.

SCrEW 

Sub-critical energy wepon.

Sled 

A small vehicle, typically using grav/pressor technology.

Stentor 

Personal servant and bodyguard of an Iron warrior, who helps him get into and out of iron and cares for the equipment.

Vaylen 

A race of parasites, they're a cross between slugs and eels, unsavory but harmless in their natural state. When they come in contact with another creature's central nervous system (particularly with the brain), the Vaylen secrete an electrically conductive resin with which they control the nervous systems of much larger creatures, effectively short-circuiting the "will" of their host. Vaylen farm-worlds have become the concentration camps of the age, where people are harvested as hosts to their overlords.

VISE 

Vision enhancement technology.

See also Burning Empires acronyms list on this wiki, and Terminology on the official Burning Empires wiki.

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