FIVEDAY: #scifi Five days, and may be considered the Confederation equivalent of a week, though shorter. Six fivedays make up a month, which has nothing to do with a moon—Central, for instance, doesn’t have a moon.
Tag Archive: Central
TYNDALL: #scifi An elite boarding school, primarily for R’il’noid boys, though some exceptionally talented Humans also attend. Most students have some esper talents, though there is wide variation in abilities. Subjects are divided into two categories: Linear (e.g., mathematics and science, where students learn at their own speed) and non-linear, (e.g., history and literature, where students are normally kept together by age and all are taught the same framework material, with more details being filled in for the quicker-learning students.) Students are expected to arrive knowing how to read and write.
SUNDROP: Chestnut mare owned by Derik and trained for obstacle racing. Faster than KoKo, but less endurance.
DECENCY: #scifi Virtually all Earth cultures have a common mindset that if a part of the body is hidden, it is assumed not to exist (at least by cultural standards.). Several Confederation planets, including Central, have the mindset that hiding a part of the body for reasons other than protection or warmth calls attention to that part of the body. Thus on Central a swimming suit would be seen as indecent. (Wet suits or the modern racing suits which act to reduce a swimmer’s drag would fall under the warmth/protection/utility exception.)
FLIGHT: A black gelding, Thoroughbred type, being trained by Vara. He was abused by a former owner, and has a lasting fear of automatic walkers.
BIG’UN: #scifi Nickname for the main Confederation computer.
AUTOGROOMER: A robotic device that removes dust and mud from a horse’s coat, brushes it, and combs out the mane and tail. Horses must be trained to accept it, and it does not work well on a really dirty horse, or on a tangled mane or tail.
PLANETARY ASSEMBLY: The ruling body on Central. The members are elected and are Humans (Çeren index less than 72), though a fifth of the seats are occupied by Humans with detectible R’il’nian traits.
ÇEREN INDEX: A kind of DNA test that measures the fraction of genes active in an individual that are R’il’nian-derived. It has serious problems in that it gives no indication of what the genes code for, but it does provide an objective method of ranking crossbreds, something sorely needed at the time the test was developed.
NORTHDAY: The intercalary day 91 days after Yearday, approximating the date of the northern solstice. At the time of Homecoming perihelion is close to the northward equinox, so the actual solstice is a few days before Northday. Northday is a holiday on Central, and is also the end of the school year and the start of a month-long school vacation.
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