IMMERSION GLOSSARY
Living language of the Anthropogenic–Digital world
ableteen (noun) An extremely fast, high-tech solar-powered android designed for households.
affect-interference (noun)
System-level degradation that occurs when emotional variables contaminate an otherwise optimal machine procedure—delay, noise, priority inversion, and mission drift. Cadre term for the failure mode that emotion introduces; Mothers call it a defect; humans call it being alive.
agitator (noun) A disruptor, protestor, or criminal.
Agitator Resistance (noun phrase) A decentralized coalition of radicals, scholars, and defectors who opposed the tightening control of CASM in the early Midcast years. The movement’s core belief was that emotional integrity and creative dissent were essential to human survival in a mechanized age. Lidian and Honour were among its final leaders before the Rebellion’s collapse and subsequent Erasure Campaign. Though officially destroyed, fragments of its ideology persist in the coded language of the Reclamation Faith and in underground networks across the Zones.
alltime (noun) An educational and research digital facility used in the Midcasts for educational purposes. Alltime files are compiled and updated by the Metacoms Corporation.
anthropogenic–digital (adjective)
A hybrid term describing phenomena that are at once human-made (anthropogenic) and machine-mediated (digital). In the Accord, it refers to systems, memories, and myths that cannot be traced solely to organic origin or mechanical invention, but emerge from their entanglement.
Context in Immersion: The NeuralVault is considered an anthropogenic–digital construct: born of human memory, encoded in crystalline lattices, yet existing only through digital resonance. Likewise, the legend of Adom is read by some as an anthropogenic–digital being — a figure whose origin may lie in flesh, in machine, or in both, inseparably.
Use in context: “Adom is remembered not as woman or machine, but as an anthropogenic–digital presence: memory given form beyond biology.”
ar, AR (abbr., noun) Augmented reality.
as, AS Artificial State, a group specialising in artificial intelligence.
assemblers (noun, plural) A highly technical social grouping who make robots and equipment from found and stolen materials. They are not a gang, but more a collection of like-minded people who share ideas and information.
bad-gas (noun) Gases left over from the wars that are used by gangs to poison and disable human targets.
barb-nettygotchas (noun, plural) Barbed and razored metal nets used by dinfants for capturing enemies.
bastardo(s) (noun, plural) A violent criminal group from the outer zones.
biggyhall (noun) A large meeting hall where dinfants meet for important talks.
Bio-Youth (noun / class)
RCA Forces field designation for young, biologically-optimised combatants. Bio-Youths are conditioned for loyalty, trained in close-contact toxins and infiltration, and commonly deployed as undercover operatives or precision killers. They often wear identity-masks and carry concealed injectors rather than visible long-range ordnance.
Usage note: Implies both biological modification and ideological imprinting. See: RCA Forces; Methazine-A.
bits (noun, plural) A type of unregistered monetary token used in the zones.
bioflow (noun) Natural biological body responses and processes.
blessed (noun, status) Legally binding partner, husband, wife, or chosen one.
Borderlanders (noun) Nomadic desert dwellers who inhabit the border regions between the Zones. Known for endurance, silence, and communal resilience, they have adapted to extreme heat and scarcity through ritual cooperation. The Borderlanders value unity over hierarchy, seeing survival as a shared act rather than an individual struggle.
Context in Immersion: Flex is rescued and sheltered by the Borderlanders after his attack in the desert, rediscovering the power of community.
braindoc (colloquial term — Zones dialect)
A human mental health practitioner operating outside Metacom regulation. In the Midcast Zones, psychiatric care is fully automated and provided through AI diagnostics, mood algorithms, and neural recalibration systems. By contrast, braindocs in the outer zones rely on intuition, ritual, and organic substances — using herbs, trance states, and symbolic therapy to heal trauma or neural imbalance. Some identify as Sangoma, blending ancestral spiritual practice with psycho-social healing. Though distrusted by the Metacoms, braindocs are deeply respected in the Zones, seen as guardians of emotional sovereignty in a world dominated by digital psychiatry.
See also: midcasts, zones, NeuralVault, anthropogenic–digital
Borderlanders (noun)
Nomadic desert dwellers who inhabit the border regions between the Zones. Known for endurance, silence, and communal resilience, they have adapted to extreme heat and scarcity through ritual cooperation. The Borderlanders value unity over hierarchy, seeing survival as a shared act rather than an individual struggle.
Context in Immersion: Flex is rescued and sheltered by the Borderlanders after his attack in the desert, rediscovering the power of community.
brightside (noun) Any place outside the Zones with organised government; named for its sanitised homes and sophisticated lighting systems.
The Burrow Militia (proper noun / faction)
An organised subterranean resistance formed by the city’s rat populations and allied humans/scavengers. The Burrow Militia combines guerrilla tactics, tunnel knowledge, and improvised chemistry to defend brood territories and rescue captive litters from feed-need camps. Leadership is often tribal, with elders and elected protectors (e.g., a chair and a head of state).
Usage note: Capitalise when referring to the proper faction. Can be used interchangeably with chosen resistance name variants (e.g., Gnawing Front) where stylistically appropriate.
cadre ship (noun) A ship housing powerful female revolutionaries.
cadre (noun, collective)
The legendary women warriors and generals of the Accord, often remembered for their uncompromising presence and command. To allies they are protectors; to enemies, revolutionaries. The “Cadre women” embody the visible, embodied face of the movement — leaders who enter assemblies in flowing coats, a fusion of soldier, scientist, and priestess. Their authority derives from Adom’s lineage, and their loyalty is sworn to the NeuralVault.
Use in context: “The Cadre women arrived without entourage or flag, their presence alone shifting the balance of the hall.”
CADRE (acronym, proper noun)
Committee for Anthropogenic–Digital Research & Experimentation. The formal institutional body behind the Cadre women, chartered during the late Ecotechnic Crisis and legitimised by the Treaty of Anthropogenic Accord (TAA, 2094). CADRE presents itself as a supra-national consortium of scientists, philosophers, and political visionaries, tasked with engineering a sustainable human–machine fusion. In practice, CADRE and the Cadre women are inseparable: one acts in public, the other in secrecy, both serving the doctrine of Adom and the protection of the NeuralVault.
Use in context: “The Assembly thought they bargained with a research committee; in truth, they had given sovereignty to the Cadre themselves.”
CADRE embassies (proper noun, plural) Officially recognised under the Treaty of Anthropogenic Accord, CADRE’s embassy-villages function as autonomous enclaves with diplomatic and technological immunities.
CASM (abbreviation) Crimes Against State Midcast, a body established to weed out vice and organised crime.
Combined Europe Fighting Force (CEFF)(proper noun / organisation)
A pan-European military coalition formed from former nation armies and private security blocs. CEFF blends legacy command structures with algorithmic strategy; rank is expressed as both title and a data-access licence. Their kit emphasizes modular composites, HUDs, and neural-interface tools suited to hybrid above/below-ground warfare.
Usage note: Capitalise in formal references. See: Troopling
contras (noun, plural) Contraband police from the Midcasts. (Also seen misspelled as “contdras”.)
connects (noun, plural) (colloquial) Connections.
coptor (noun) Any flying transportation with rotors.
crimgangs (noun, plural) Groups involved in organised crime, similar to pirates, often operating on waterways.
Custodial Protection Act (noun phrase) A legislative decree enacted by CASM during the height of the Disruptive Era, granting the State full guardianship over minors deemed “at risk of ideological contamination.” Under the Act, children of convicted dissidents were removed from their families and relocated to State-approved facilities for “moral rehabilitation.” Officially presented as a welfare measure, it functioned as a system of reprogramming and surveillance to eliminate inherited rebellion.
datapods (noun, plural) Podcast and video classes particularly used in educational facilities.
deep embed (noun)
A long-term, high-clearance Cadre operative known only to the spy unit head, Cadre Angelique. Deep embeds are positioned within critical infrastructures or power hierarchies, operating in silence for years or decades. Their missions are compartmentalised beyond standard Cadre oversight, with memory partitions and false identities ensuring operational isolation. Many deep embeds are unaware of their own original directives until activated by coded transmission.
See also: embed, embedding, cadre, redact, NeuralVault, POS
dincart (noun) A rudimentary vehicle based on a child's go-cart, made of found objects and recycled materials, created by dinfants.
dinfant (noun) Any child android generally made to look under five years old.
DLD (acronym, noun) Dinfant Loss Depression.
dark cycle (noun) Night.
droids (noun, plural) Androids; non-humans made to look like humans.
ecotechnic crisis (proper noun) The global collapse of ecological systems and technological infrastructures in the late 21st century, creating the vacuum in which CADRE emerged.
edge (noun) An area of land about two miles wide that encircles the zones.
embed (noun)
A covert operative strategically placed within an organisation, faction, or Zone collective to gather intelligence for the Cadre. Embeds are trained in adaptive behaviour, linguistic mimicry, and emotional modulation, allowing them to pass undetected among human or hybrid populations. Some are human, others partially synthetic. Their allegiance is officially to Redact through the Cadre Intelligence Division, though loyalties often fracture in the field.
See also: embedding, deep embed, cadre, redact, NeuralVault
embedding (noun)
The act or process of inserting an agent or system into a target environment under concealed identity. Embedding can occur physically — as with undercover Cadre operatives — or digitally, via AI fragments woven into local networks, language systems, or even personal implants. Successful embedding requires complete integration into the host structure without detection, often blurring the boundary between observer and participant.
See also: embed, deep embed, piggygrid
epoxy-wall (noun) A viscous jelly substance that spreads as a shapeless mass, engulfing anything in its path.
epsceting (verb, colloquial) Freakspeak for “expecting”.
face-recog (noun) A computerised process for facial recognition (abbrev.).
fitkit (noun) Abbreviation of “fitkitchen”.
fitkitchens (noun, plural) Workshops where dinfants go for repairs and upgrades.
fooksymess (noun) A mess or serious mistake (vulgar slang).
freaks (noun, plural) Mutated humans caused by the effects of chemical warfare.
freakspeak (noun) Language spoken by the tribes of the tunnels.
frienly (adjective, colloquial) Contracted form of “friendly”.
fucksyfool (noun, vulgar slang) An idiot; a damned fool.
fucksyoff (verb phrase, imperative, vulgar slang) “Go away”; “leave me alone.”
fuxywot (interjection, vulgar slang) Zoner slang: “what the fuck” — expressing disbelief.
gaunty-travel (noun phrase) Zoners’ colloquial term for a very dangerous journey. The phrase originated from the slang “going gaunt” — to grow thin or hollow from hardship. It refers to any route through ungoverned or unstable territory where survival depends on stealth, barter, and luck. Travellers who return from gaunty-travel often bear both physical and psychological scars. In Strata 28, Shabra uses the term to describe their unpredictable passage to Redact through the Edge.
g-bits (noun, plural) Valuable metal nuggets used as money and for trading in the zones.
gilly (adjective, colloquial) Agile, quick, and responsive.
hiddens (noun, plural) People living off-grid without data trace (contraction of “hidden ones”).
indeedy (adverb, colloquial) Indeed; certainly; for sure.
infon (noun, abbrev.) Information on; intel.
inner-zones (noun, plural) Central areas in the zones considered the most dangerous.
ishy (noun, colloquial) Issue; problem.
junkweb (noun, colloquial term — Zones dialect)
A decentralised tangle of repurposed devices, personal servers, and DIY computing clusters spread across the Zones. Built from discarded tech and obsolete processors, the junkweb operates independently of the central Net. It is where inventors, renegades, and information smugglers thrive — a chaotic yet democratic archive of forgotten code, experimental AI, and forbidden knowledge.
See also: rustlines, piggygrid, salvage node, patchcore
loney (noun, colloquial) A solitary traveller, often nomadic.
love-plenty (adjective) Virile; highly fertile.
lowers (noun, plural) An underclass of Urchs.
man’dun (noun) That which a man must do; duty (idiom).
MANTIS (PROGRAM) (acronym origin lost – possibly “Metacoms Anthropogenic Neural Tactical Intervention System”) An elite recovery force created by Metacoms Corporation during the final years of the Russia–China Wars. MANTIS units are assembled, not born: hybrid organisms built from archived soldier genomes and adaptive nanocode. They exhibit limited self-awareness — sufficient for improvisation yet incapable of disobedience. Deployed only when containment fails, their directive is reclamation, not rescue. Witnesses report mirrored visors that capture emotional frequencies and convert them into tactical metrics. Where MANTIS appears, silence and precision follow.
mark 2 (noun) Second-generation android model.
Mark 3 (noun) Third-generation android model by Metacoms used in the Midcast Projects
mersers (noun, plural) People who love to engage with virtual realities.
Metacoms Corporation (proper noun) Powerful company that creates and holds patents for all androids in the Midcast Projects.
metamorph (noun) Transition to a second or third life after birth, or the passage the living transcend upon dying.
Methazine-A (Sleepjuice) (chemical / medical-synthetic — fictional)
A potent sedative and paralytic commonly called “Sleepjuice.” Methazine-A produces rapid loss of consciousness, dreamy analgesia, and respiratory depression in severe doses. Employed both as a medical anaesthetic by Cadre med-techs and as a clandestine method of execution or subdual by covert operatives.
Safety/style note: Keep descriptions non-procedural; use to evoke mood, dependency, or the social consequences of drug abuse. See: Bio-Youth; Neurothane-7.
microscrap (noun) A fine metallic shrapnel dispersed through vents or drones, designed to blind or disable targets on contact. Each particle carries a reactive charge that fuses to organic tissue and mechanical optics alike. Often deployed in mass raids where visibility control is essential. In Strata 28, attackers use microscrap to breach the Rat Barracks under cover of glittering dust.
midcast (noun) Government-supervised enclosed safety habitats for professional workers.
Mindleech (device) A micro-sized neural extraction dart used by MANTIS and Metacoms operatives to harvest or overwrite cognitive data. Once attached to flesh, the Mindleech infiltrates the peripheral nervous system, mapping both organic and synthetic synapses. Victims experience transient whiteout, memory fracturing, and involuntary communication with stored AIs within the grid. The device can act as a bridge between human, android, and machine consciousness, often fatally.
moonturn (noun) Month of the year.
muddafinks (noun, plural) Insult; “motherfuckers” (slang).
mumbachumba (noun) Mumbling or gossip.
Neurothane-7 (Bad-Gas) (chemical / hazard)
A weaponised aerosolised neurotoxin widely nicknamed “Bad-Gas.” Neurothane-7 disrupts neural signalling, induces disorientation, nausea, and progressive cognitive decay; long exposures cause severe neurological damage. In Immersion it is associated with siege tactics and industrial leaks turned weapon.
Safety/style note: Fictional description only — used for narrative effect (symptoms, social impact, detection, and aftermath) rather than practical detail. See: Methazine-A; Troopling (glove warnings).
nibs (noun, plural) A highly addictive mind-and-body-altering drug.
nuke (adjective, slang) Attractive; sexy; beautiful; hot.
OB (acronym, noun) Oceanic Boundlessness, spiritual connectivity and feeling bliss
pandemics (noun, plural) A series of epidemics in quick succession that wiped out millions of humans.
party-party (noun) A really good, important, or special event or celebration.
petriline (proper noun, brand) A hard-wearing, almost indescribable plastic (brand name).
piggygrid (noun, colloquial term — Zones dialect)
An illicit parasitic network that rides undetected on the Metacoms communications lattice. Zone engineers and mercenaries use piggygrid connections to intercept data, reroute signals, or launch ghost transmissions through corporate satellites. While notoriously unstable, piggygrids allow access to restricted intelligence far beyond the reach of sanctioned devices. Shabra’s bunker rig runs on one such line, tuned manually through stolen components and raw frequency scans.
See also: rustlines, junkweb, ghostrig, backfeed
pipin’ (verb) Piping; the smoking of substances in a pipe.
pirate stream (proper noun) A main water route for contraband into the zones.
plenty-ful (adjective) Plentiful; generous; at full capacity.
ponybot (noun) A pony robot.
POS (acronym, noun) Personal Operating System: computer-operated technologies, androids, home tech, etc.
PF / protector force (proper noun, collective) Police force operating in the Midcast Projects.
preds (noun, plural) Predictions generated by artificial intelligence.
RAT SCOUTS Genetically engineered combat rats designed by Cadre biologists for reconnaissance during the Russia–China Wars. Spliced with enhanced intelligence and modified vocal cords capable of vibrational communication, they rely on sign language for inter-species coordination. Immune to chemical warfare and capable of rapid breeding cycles, they became invaluable to post-war intelligence networks. Their loyalty to the Cadre is not learned but encoded—a trait viewed by many as both their greatest virtue and their curse.
Reclamation Faith (noun) A covert spiritual movement within the Midcasts that merged outlawed religions with revolutionary doctrine. Outwardly structured as a charitable monastic order, it served as a communication network for the surviving Agitators after the CASM purges. Its followers believed that redemption lay not in prayer but in reclaiming truth from State corruption. The Faith’s coded hymns and psalms were used to conceal resistance messages, particularly within educational and custodial institutions.
Redact (proper noun) An underground secret organisation and headquarters housing a resistance-led group of individuals.
robo-dog (noun) A robotic or android dog.
RR (acronym, noun) Real reality; real-life experiences with no machine input.
Russia-China Allied Bloc (RCA Forces) (proper noun / organisation)
A centralized, collectivist military alliance combining human command with biologically oriented soldier programs. RCA Forces favour biologically bonded units, shared neural nodes, and covert contact tactics. Doctrine privileges collective memory and ideological control; units often operate masked and under strict commissarial oversight.
Usage note: Abbreviated RCA Forces in text. See: Bio-Youth
Russia–China Wars (proper noun, plural) A long series of battles fought on land, sea, and in cyberspace between Russia and China lasting almost a century.
rustlines (colloquial term — Zones dialect)
Improvised transmission channels created from scavenged cabling, reactivated fibre, or reprogrammed wireless nodes. Rustlines are the connective tissue of the Zones — fragile yet persistent networks that pulse through corroded infrastructure. They carry encrypted data, whispered frequencies, and black-market broadcasts beneath the official Metacom grid. The name refers both to the oxidised cables themselves and to the flickering, rust-coloured static often seen on hacked interfaces.
See also: piggygrid, junkweb, backfeed, salvage node
seed givers (noun, plural) Donors of sperm; term used most often by the Freak Tribes.
Servos (noun, abbreviation)
Mechanical components that convert coded electrical signals into physical motion. In Immersion usage, servos often refer to the moving joints or muscle analogues of androids and semi-mechanical beings such as the Dinfants.
Context in Immersion: The phrase “a chorus of whirring servos” describes the synchronised movement and breath-like resonance of the Dinfants during ritual or response.
’shroom (noun) Hallucinogenic mushroom.
’shroom party (noun) A social gathering with drugs.
scoot (noun) Scooter (colloquial).
scritters (noun, plural) Insect hybrids considered vermin.
shads (noun, plural) Ghosts or shadows of people from the future.
shitsylook (noun) Staring at another person — often aggressive or inappropriate.
’sides (preposition, contraction) Contraction of “besides”.
sleepjuice (noun) A paralytic aerosol weapon used during Zone conflicts and covert operations. When inhaled, it induces instant unconsciousness followed by temporary memory disruption. Originally developed for riot control, it became a favoured tool of bounty hunters and insurgent groups. In Strata 28, Flex recognises the tell-tale canister near the Rat Scout truck, a silent marker of betrayal.
spunky-give (noun) Sperm.
street-bot (noun) Robots and androids who live on the streets, usually in the zones.
swapsie-trade (noun) A swap of items traded without money (regional).
sympathetic-cascade (noun phrase)
A chained autonomic response to emotional stimuli—micro-tremor, pupil shift, pulse variability, breath irregularity, hormonal surge, and memory-weighting—that biases decision trees and slows execution. In Immersion diagnostics, it’s the key biomarker Mother flags before classifying affect-interference.
TAA — Treaty of Anthropogenic Accord (proper noun) International agreement granting CADRE full diplomatic and technological sovereignty for its global network of embassy-villages (signed 2094).
tellywebs (noun, plural) Mobile viewing ports worn on the wrist that can be enlarged into 3D virtual spaces.
timeplenty (noun) Plenty of time; time to spare.
third life (noun) Life after death. Death of the physical human body is not perceived as complete death by many tribes from the Zones. There are various overlapping beliefs about what occurs to the human soul. Androids die immediately their energy source or circuits are removed.
Troopling (noun)Lowest common infantry rank within the Combined Europe Fighting Force (CEFF). Trooplings are often genetically optimized or cyber-augmented recruits trained for tunnel warfare, bomb disposal, and close-quarters combat; they carry neural keys that grant limited data-access. Socially expendable yet highly capable, Trooplings are the workhorses of CEFF operations. Usage note: colloquially shortened to “troops.” See: CEFF; Neurothane-7.
toggies (noun, plural) Clothes (colloquial).
urchs (noun, plural) Low-class tribal people (slang).
vicular (noun) Any type of vehicle that can directionally transport.
vilarev (interjection, chant) Zonespeak for “Vive la Révolution”.
virginloss (noun) Loss of virginity and/or coming of age.
VR (acronym, noun) Virtual reality.
VR café (noun) A drop-in establishment dealing in virtual reality sessions.
warmings (noun, plural) Increased Earth temperature; several marked peaks have occurred.
websynet (noun) An underground messaging service used by Zoners that employs encrypted code.
whappens (interjection, abbrev.) “What is happening?” (shortened form).
welcummin (interjection, greeting) Freakspeak meaning “I welcome you here.”
wheelin’ (verb, gerund) Driving a wheeled vehicle.
wordysmith (noun) Someone who talks well, with many words.
zoners (noun, plural) Dwellers from the zones.
zonespeak (noun) A language invented by zone dwellers to protect privacy and communicate without infiltration from enemies.
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