TERMINOLOGY OF THE 'VERSE
Anglo-Sino Alliance -- The government in charge of ... pretty much everything.
atmo -- Foreshortening of the word "atmosphere".
ap-scan -- security device (first use -- Serenity: The Movie)
black, the -- Outer space or perhaps deep space, beyond planetary orbit.
Blackout Zones -- Originally areas on Core worlds off the Cortex network, today synonymous with regions where illegal activities, crimes or treason are performed.
Blackrock -- Term used to describe an uninhabitable planet.
Blue Sun -- A company that sells food products (and certainly more). Blue Sun logos are seen on food cans and advertisements throughout the 'verse. The motto from their commercials: Live life with Blue Sun.
Bowdens Malady -- A degenerative affliction of the bone and muscle. Afflicts the settlers of Paradiso in the Georgia System.
broadwave -- Long-range broadcast sent to all receiving stations
Browncoats -- Referring to the "independents" or rebels against the Alliance, likely in reference to their military uniform.
bughouse -- Slang for "mental health facility".
bungers -- Expletive. First use of word -- Serenity: The Movie.
Burnham Quadrant -- Furthest edge of civilized space. First use of name -- Serenity: The Movie.
byphodine -- A drug which can induce a state of reduced metabolic function. Unexamined, a person under the effects of Byphodine is easily mistaken for a cadaver.
carrion house (a.k.a. scrap shop) -- Outlaws set these facilities up and capture space ships with a high-powered electric "Net". These arrangements are used to immobilize a ship and kill or stun its crew, then strip parts off the ship or simply steal the whole thing.
Capisson 38 -- unreliable make of engine. First use of phrase -- Serenity: The Movie.
capture -- card-sized video & sound recorder. First use of word -- Serenity: The Movie.
cashy money -- payment in hard currency. First use of phrase -- Serenity: The Movie.
central authority -- Judicial courts of the Alliance.
Companion -- An academy-schooled prostitute practicing legally as part of The Guild, a socially powerful pseudo-religious organization. Companions are highly respected by almost everyone. Their schooling is long and arduous and covers everything from psychology to sword fighting. They can converse with anyone, and make anyone utterly at ease, from a dirt poor farmer to a planetary president. They live by the Guild code and only engage in transactions with customers of their choice.
core -- Refers to any major city/planet in the Alliance. Can also refer to a ship's reactor core.
Cortex -- The visual/textual Interconnected Networks of the 26th century.
credit -- A type of currency. Alliance-based, with no 'solid' component, and used to the exclusion of all else (save for Alliance printed paper currency) for legitimate transactions on all Core worlds. I.e.: all standard transactions on the Core worlds are electronic in nature -- no one can physically hand you a credit. Per unit, a credit is worth more than any other type of currency (See *platinum*, below.)
cruiser -- Type of Alliance military vessel. A very large, vertically-aligned vessel that resembles nothing so much as a small city in space.
cryo -- Foreshortening of the word "cryogenic", especially in the context of cryogenic suspension. By the 26th century, cryogenic technology has advanced to the point that suspension can be sustained in a self-contained mobile unit. This makes for an ideal means by which to smuggle living human cargo in a temporary state of suspended metabolic function. Awakening suddenly or prematurely from cryo can result in severe system shock.
doxy -- Slang, a female lover or mistress, or a sexually promiscuous woman. This term is distinct from the word prostitute, which is a profession, and is more similar to courtesan or concubine. Note: this is an actual English word, you can find it in most dictionaries, with the meaning "slut" or "loose woman".
Delcium -- medication used to amplify REM state (first mention -- Serenity: The Movie)
Dermal Mender -- A piece of medical equipment used to repair damage to the dermis, skin, and cartilage, and to reatach limbs or smaller appendages. Presumably it uses molecular nanotechnology to reweave the fibres of the dermis at a molecular level. See "weave".
drops -- Slang, Drugs. Used in "Heart of Gold."
encyclopedia -- A palm-sized reference work. It can display information in hypertext form.
fed squad -- A unit of twenty Alliance soldiers.
G-32 Paxilon Hydroclorate -- Chemical engineered by the Alliance to induce calm in large groups of people. Commonly referred to as "The Pax". First used on Miranda. Side-effect: in .1% (one tenth of one percent) of those exposed, aggressive tendencies are amplified to the point of insanity. (First use of term -- Serenity: The Movie)
genseed -- A type of genetically engineered crop seed issued to those sent to settle terraformed planets and moons.
gorram -- expletive, AKA "god damn", used to express extreme displeasure, anger, or surprise.
grapple -- Slang, vulgar. "To have sex with."
grizwald -- A grenade about the size of a battery; responds to pressure.
gurtsler -- Type of engine used in space ships, considered to be of somewhat shoddy construction.
hover-plane -- A mode of transport.
humped -- Expletive. Screwed, fucked, in trouble(depending on context). First use of phrase -- Serenity, Firefly pilot.
hydrozapam -- A particularly valuable pharmaceutical.
I.A.V. -- Interstellar Alliance Vessel -- standard prefix on all Alliance military craft. (As seen on the IAV Dortmunder in the Serenity Pilot, as well as several others.)
ident card -- Alliance identification card carrying personal information in electronic format -- useful for scanning purposes.
Independents -- Political/military party opposed to the Alliance. See also: Brown Coats and the Unification War.
isoprobyline -- A pharmaceutical used to boost the immune system.
kick -- Slang. To die. (As in "kick the bucket".)
medvault -- A secure area for the storage of pharmaceuticals.
mule -- Four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle used to transport goods and crew. Seats a maximum of two people. Top speed approximately 40 to 50 kph. In the movie Serenity, a mule is also a type of hover sled used to transport up to four people plus cargo. (First use -- Serenity, Firefly pilot)
non-progressional evolutionary theory -- Possibly a (future) expansion of the Darwinian model of natural selection, possibly a neologism invented by River Tam.
O-two -- Oxygen.
pasceline-d -- A type of medicine used to treat the degenerative affliction Bowdens Malady. Pasceline is valuable on the black market. The word Pasceline has its origins in Dutch, a language native to Earth-that-was.
pipeline -- A communications channel.
platinum -- A type of hard currency, typically used on border worlds and for most clandestine dealings. For the purposes of conversion, a credit (see above) converts to platinum on approximately a 2.5:1 ratio, and a platinum coin converts to paper scrip (1 "dollar") at approximately 10:1. (1 credit = 2.5 platinum = 40 bills).
propoxin -- A pharmaceutical.
purple belly -- An Alliance soldier or officer. (Used in reference to an Alliance Captain in Bushwhacked.) The Alliance's official colors include purple and are used on the abdomen (belly) of Alliance troop body armor.
reader -- Short for mind reader.
Reavers -- Space pirates with a twist -- the twist being they're insane, torture their captives, and practice cannibalism and self-mutilation. (First use -- Serenity, Firefly pilot. Further explanation of Reaver origins in Serenity: The Movie.)
roller -- A weapon used in the war, presumably a tank or some other conveyance moving on treads.
ruttin' -- Expletive. 'frigging, damn. Context uttered by Jayne: ...who's in ruttin' command here?
seeker -- A small heat seeking missile used by the Alliance, that gives off a whining sound when acquiring a heat source, which makes the missile detectable. More likely used to take out infantry than anything else due to the size and the explosive yield of the missile.
shepherd -- Term for a religious minister, preacher, or priest.
shiny -- Slang. "Good", "great", "neat", "wonderful", etc.
shuffle -- Slang. To die. ("Shuffle off this mortal coil...")
sly -- Male and homosexually inclined. (May also apply to women who fancy women.)
Sky Plex -- A space station that has optimized a large portion of it's habitable space for client services such as shopping, entertainment, and so forth.
Tele Fonix -- Name of a telecommunications system, like AT&T or MCI.
terraforming -- Means of bestowing a planet or moon with conditions essential to sustain human and nonhuman life.
tick -- Slang, second (as in, increment of time: the ticking of the second hand) (first use -- Serenity: The Movie)
triplex -- A slang term for a planet side shopping and entertainment megaplex.
U-Day -- Short for "Unification Day"; the holiday celebrating the Alliance's defeat of the Independents.
'Verse -- Slang, short for "universe".
vitals -- Short for vital signs.
wave -- Audio-visual transmission sent over the Cortex. Full waves (audio and visual) are generally only available within major Alliance systems. Once a ship has left a major system (or is traveling in a system too unimportant to have a Cortex beacon), the send must resort to more primitive means of communication.
weave -- Medical term, presumably referring to a skin weave. A skin weave is a highly advanced medical procedure that uses nanotechnology in re-knitting the dermal fibres at a molecular level. Such a procedure is to stitches as stitches are to a bandage.
woolly -- Slang, crazy or fuzzy (e.g. wooly logic, or feeling a little woolly. First use -- Serenity: The Movie)
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