THINGS: ON GOSSAMER WINGS


Here you will find information on the things in Book 1 of the Enya Chronicles: On Gossamer Wings, which includes flora, fauna, tangible and intangible constructs and important technological and societal concepts.

For information on the people (both primary and secondary) in Book 1 of the Enya Chronicles: On Gossamer Wings, please see the page entitled “People.

For information on the places in Book 1 of the Enya Chronicles: On Gossamer Wings, which includes geographical features (rivers, lakes, mountains, etc.) and locations (cities, manmade structures, etc.), please see the page entitled “Places.”
 


Age of Consent. Age at which an individual is considered to be an adult and can enter into contracts; 16 Earth years or older for original colonists; 16 Enyan years or older for those born on Enya.

Alcohaler:  An inhaler that induces sobriety in five minutes.

.  See Quarterstaff.

Cohabitation. The act of two or more individuals (gender and familial status irrelevant) who have entered into a contractual obligation outlining relationships between/among the cohabiters; replaced civil and religious marriages on 23rd Century Earth, although civil or religious marriages still permitted.

Copier. See Universal Replicator Matrix.

Dunce Cap. See Functional Magnetic Resonance Imager.

Dutchman. A term used to describe an individual who has lost control of his or her spacesuit propulsion system and is in danger of becoming lost in space.

ECC. See Enya Colonization Corporation.

Enya Colonization Corporation (ECC). Organization created by Daniel Woodhouse Snyder of Snyder Enterprises to colonize the planet Enya.

E-pedia. A project by ECC to collect and store as much data as possible for use by the colonists; originally known as “The Data Project.”

Finance, Department of. One of the six departments of ECC; responsible for all facets of fiscal policy on Enya; divisions: Bank of Enya, Compensation Board and the Economic Council; department color is copper.

Fraternal Order of the Quarterstaff. An organization that trains and certifies members authorized by the United Nations to carry a Quarterstaff.

See also Quarterstaff.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imager (FMRI)  A device used in the jurisprudence system to reveal if individual is telling the truth or not; a falsehood activates a different part of the brain than does the truth and the FMRI identifies which particular part of the brain is activated by the response to a question; also called a Dunce Cap, Truth Cap or Verifier.

Gossamer One through Six: The six, 25-person shuttles built to transport colonists from Gateway to Gossamer Wings and then from Gossamer Wings to Enya.

Gossamer Wings. Colony ship built by ECC to transport colonists to the planet Enya; Anderson Winchester Lovett was its first captain; the name Gossamer Wings came from the large solar-panels attached to the engine section and the living section of the ship which suggested a partially reconstructed poem entitled Gossamer Wings. See also Gossamer Wings Poem.

Gossamer Wings Poem. An ancient poem that has only been partially recovered; its most famous stanza is: “I fly in my dreams on gossamer wings, / Over castles and things and victorious kings. / Above canyons of gold and cities of old, / Where eagles fly and soft winds sigh.” Literary anthropologists have identified five additional stanzas whose author is unknown.

Human Services, Department of. One of the six departments of ECC; responsible for the health, well-being and educational advancement of all inhabitants of Enya; divisions: Surgeon General, Education and Training, Vital Statistics and Historian; department color is Peacock blue.

Indy. See New Dollar.

Infrastructure, Department of. One of the six departments of ECC; responsible for planning, creating, installing and maintaining all essential services to ensure the efficient and effective movement of people and material within and between population centers on Enya; divisions: Sanitation, Intersectional, and Public Transportation; department color is blue violet.

Jurisprudence, Department of. One of the six departments of ECC; responsible for administering justice on Enya; divisions: Appeals Court, Civil Court, Jurist Commission and Criminal Court; department color is purple.

Land Management, Department of. One of the six departments of ECC; responsible for the equitable and appropriate use of all Enya land, especially the initial land grants and areas under the direct control of the Enya Colonization Corporation; divisions:  Land Grants, Green Spaces, Nomenclature Council and Comestibles; department color is russet.

Master. A male not of the age of consent (less than 16 years old) in 23rd Century Earth society.

Mister. A male over of the age of consent (16 years old or older) in 23rd Century Earth society.

Mrs. A cohabitating, presumably non-virgin and sexually active female in 23rd Century Earth society.

Miss. A non-cohabitating, presumably virginal (non-sexually active) female in 23rd Century Earth society.

Mz. A non-cohabitating, presumably sexually active female in 23rd Century Earth society.

N.D. See New Dollar.

New Dollar. The primary currency to be used on Enya; abbreviated “N.D.” and pronounced “Indy.”

Operations, Department of. One of the six departments of ECC; responsible for providing essential and critical services to the population of Enya; divisions: Global Utilities; Recycling; Maintenance and Security; department color is orange.

P5 Group. Company that developed the Universal Replicator Matrix; see also Universal Replicator Matrix.

PADD. See Personal Assistant Digital Device.

Peacekeeper. Long rifle utilized by members of the UNPF; an outgrowth of the coil gun of the 21st Century, it utilizes ceramic magnets to propel a 5-cm, finned dart at a muzzle velocity of 4,500 meters per second; each magazine holds 100 darts, which can be fired in either semi- or fully automatic mode; possession of firearms by civilians became illegal in 2135.

Peacemaker. Hand-held weapon carried by members of the UNPF; an outgrowth of the coil gun of the 21st Century, it utilizes ceramic magnets to propel the same 5-cm finned dart as used in the Peacekeeper at 1,500 meters per second; each magazine holds 25 darts, which can be fired singly or in pairs; possession of firearms by civilians became illegal in 2135.

Personal Assistant Digital Device (PADD). A combination of the obsolete computer, laptop and tablet; it has nine terabytes of memory and a sophisticated suite of wide-ranging programs; small, compact and powerful, it is ubiquitous on 23rd Century Earth.

Platinum Pilsner. A pale pilsner beer; the favorite alcoholic beverage of Stephen Hoage.

Quarterbot. A robot programmed to emulate the expertise and ability of any one of the 13 proficiency levels of a member of the Fraternal Order of The Quarterstaff; see also Quarterstaff Proficiency Levels.

Quarterstaff. A defensive/offensive personal weapon developed on Earth centuries ago; made famous by the tales of Robin Hood; it was originally a wooden staff but modern quarterstaffs are made of an almost indestructible metal 2.5 meters in length; see also Fraternal Order of the Quarterstaff.

Quarterstaff Proficiency Levels. The 13 levels of membership in the Fraternal Order of the Quarterstaff; each increasingly proficient level requires the individual to meet certain hierarchical qualifications.

RatPak Foods. The largest manufacturer of ready-to-eat rations for recreation and military use on Earth; provided the provisions for Gossamer Wings.

Relay Satellite (RelSat). A satellite which receives the energy produced by a Solar Satellite and retransmits that power to the surface of Enya; the RelSat also incorporates a Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitter; meteorological observation and forecast equipment; high-resolution, steerable cameras; and relays communications between PADDs and commbands; hundreds of RelSats will eventually be placed in orbit around Enya to provide power to the planet’s entire surface.

RelSat: See Relay Satellite.

Shiva. The all-purpose, all-weather airplane used by the UNPF(A) to enforce United Nations’ dictates; it was highly computerized and carried a single pilot.

Solar Satellite (SolSat): A satellite that generates electrical power using solar panels and transmits that power to RelSats (see Relay Satellite); there will eventually be eight in orbit around Enya; four at the North Pole and four at the South Pole.

SolSat. See Solar Satellite.

Truth Cap. See Functional Magnetic Resonance Imager.

Uni. See Unisex Garment.

UniGar. See Unisex Garment.

Unisex Garment. The one-piece garment worn by ECC personnel; modeled after a combination of 21st Century cargo pants, first responder attire and military Battle Dress Uniforms; it has large replica of the ECC’s dragon logo on the right breast extending from the shoulder to the waist; on the left side, above the flapped breast pocket, is a color-coded nametag indicating the department in which the wearer works (see individual department descriptions for color); the name tag for a colonist is white; the name tag for those workers who are also colonists have a white border around the name tag to show their dual status; the belt color mirrors the name tag color; the colored nametags became passé after landing on Enya and the Unisex Garment was eventually abandoned; the slang term for the Unisex Garment is “Uni;” the trade name for the Unisex Garment is “UniGar.”

Universal Replicator Matrix (URM). Developed by The P5 Group in 2155, the Universal Replicator Matrix is an outgrowth of 3D and 4D printers developed in the 21st Century; the URM, or “copier,” scans an item at the atomic level and creates a master matrix which it uses to reproduce unlimited duplicates; duplication of an item can require several minutes or several hours, depending upon the item’s complexity; the URM can utilize any material to construct a duplicate; there are four sizes of URMs: small, medium, large and very large; each size contains the “blueprint” for the next larger size; scrap material inputted by an individual is valued and credited to his/her bank account; the cost of a copied item is debited from his/her bank account.

United Nations (UN). The planet-wide government which replaced all independent governments on Earth in 2109 C.E. following the Great Jihad of 2106—2107.

United Nations Living Center. Created by the UN, a Living Center is a combination soup kitchen, halfway house, rape crisis center, homeless shelter and domestic abuse retreat;  there is at least one Living Center in every city with a population over 10,000 throughout the world; a small, permanent staff is augmented by a large number of volunteers.

United Nations Peacekeeping Forces (UNPF). Military organ of the United Nations; divided into four branches: Space, Ground, Air and Navy;  UNPF(S) uniforms are black and gold, UNPF(G) uniforms are brown and gold, UNPF(A) uniforms are light blue and gold, and UNPF(N) uniforms are dark blue and gold; light-blue berets and high-topped boots are worn with each uniform; various types of camouflage uniforms are worn when necessary; a Peacemaker and two additional magazines are standard issue for each member.

UNPF. See United Nations Peacekeeping Forces.

Verifier. See Functional Magnetic Resonance Imager