Rimspace Glossary (v01)
A selection of slang terms for the Mothership Sci-fi Horror RPG and similar games. May be updated as I add to the list or expand entries. In particular, I'd love to add to the food and drink section.
Because language is one of the predominant materials used to construct ttrpg play at the table, I think modifying the language characters use might help capture a sense of the setting. As well as possibly being fun to play with. Reflects the moment-to-moment lives of the characters etc etc etc.
Posted as part of Mothership Month 25
Money
Racks: Credits.
Reds: Credits.
Get Bloody: Get rich.
Kilocredit: A thousand credits.
Seeing Red: Looking for a big payout. From “Red” in credit.
Blackout: Get out of debt.
Thousand Meter Hole: Inescapable debt.
Go Red: Take out a big loan.
Ticks: Credits, usually a small or fractional amount. "Pay you back when I've got the ticks. Keep the ticks."
Big Edward: A million credits.
Portion: what someone is owed. "Gonna get my portion."
Work
Voidworker: someone who works in an off-planet environment.
Rimrat: someone born on the rim, usually low-class.
Greycollar: Violent work. Security guards, marines, and bounty hunters.
Greencollar: Botanical or organic labor. Herders, algae-techs, and farmworkers.
Bluecollar: Industrial, manual, and logistical labor.
Whitecollar: Office or administrative work.
Redcollar: Work with bodies, medicine, or money.
OPCON: Operational Condition on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating crisis. The related expression "OPCON 6" refers to a situation that's completely fucked.
SCT: Standard Contract Terms.
Hazard Pig: someone who seeks out hazardous operations for the excitement or extra pay.
Corpseworker: an employee repurposed after death to continue paying off accrued debts, crudely reanimated by an inexpensive artificial heart and brain.
Scrape: a whole group of scabs.
Wage: someone's job or training. "What's your wage?"
Siblings: clone workers used as strikebreakers.
Rock Jock: asteroid miner
Bagger: Low-cost bounty hunter or wetworker, sends targets back in bags.
Crat: Administrative worker, whether gov or corp. Abbreviation of "Bureaucrat."
Company Glove: someone who always acts in the Company’s interest.
Oggy: someone who works in a zero-gee environment.
Guppy: a security officer, refers to goggles looking like big eyes.
Bugnut: an exobiologist (the majority of life is bugs).
Greentrader: agricultural hauler, grows product onboard.
Witko: derogatory term for white-collar worker.
Polvio: crime, from "policy violation."
Navigation and Environment
Vacc: vacuum, zero atmosphere environment
Longfield: Orbit, especially as in "longfield work."
The Source: the now-lost origin point of human life
Xenoform: life with non-human origin
EDL: Atmospheric entry, descent, and landing.
EM: electromagnetic.
GA: Gravity assist
HOZ: horizon
IR: infrared
LY: light year, the distance light travels in one year.
Apoapsis: the point in an orbit farthest from the orbited body.
Periapsis: the point in an orbit closest to the orbited body.
Aphelion: apoapsis of a solar orbit
Perihelion: periapsis of a solar orbit
Arc Minute: measurement of angle, 1’ = 1/60 degree
Arc Second: measurement of angle, 1” = 1/60 arc minute
Hover: geostationary orbit, esp. “in hover.”
Nightmare Alley: a particularly dangerous series of jump routes
Line: a jump route
Gap: A string of long jumps between sectors.
Grand Avenue, The: mythical route back to Company HQ.
Sleep: A low place where dangerous levels of CO2 have gathered.
Death and Violence
Scratch: kill.
Bricked: dead.
Whacked off: killed, especially assassinated.
Slick: relating to biological-digital interface, e.g. slickware, slickspace
Bagger: bounty hunter.
Delete: kill.
Ripper: a pulse rifle, from the high rate of fire
Softies: polymer rounds used for shipboard engagements and crowd control
Hackknife: a vibechete
Get the Chef: bring a flamethrower
High-pressure Tactics: corporate euphemism for combat engagement.
Mulched: Maimed or killed violently.
Dark: Kill. "Let's dark these guys."
Mass: Abstraction of corporate power, inertia, and assets prepared for use.
Culture and Belief
Nocturne: the ritualized process of preparing for cryosleep.
Eldy: the anniversary of leaving a gravity well to work in space, often celebrated instead of a birthday, derived from "LD," for "Launch Day."
One-Three: Unlucky.
Archist: Someone who pushes for monarchy and control.
Sunny: A follower of the Solarian faith.
Uplit: Happy. "That fucker's so uplit."
Rimtrash: A subculture, aesthetic, and epithet used to refer to grubby rimspace culture. Often worn with pride.
Beulah: A ship's sprirt.
The Flow: the status quo. Alternately cashflow. Alternately, the way cash flows upward, always.
Ping: To get a bad feeling. "This has got me pinging."
Bodies and Health
Blister: pouch of skin covering a mechanical implant.
Vatkid: Lab-grown human. Made to work.
RIDGE: abbreviation for hazards to crew bodies during spaceflight: Radiation, Isolation, Distance, Gravity, and Environment. “Extreme Ridge,” “High Ridge” and “Low Ridge,” and “Minimal Ridge,” describe relative levels of potential impact.
DEGEN: degeneration, esp. from spaceflight stresses.
IFAK: Individual First Aid Kit.
CHP: Company Health Plan.
RAD: Rapid Application Dressing, highly adhesive bandage and absorbent dressing for quickly sealing wounds.
Haze: short for Hazemerol, a pharmaceutical depressant
Panacea: powerful powdered hallucinogen, burned and inhaled, induces vivid lucid dreams and waking nightmares.
Dummy: curvy, voluptuous. "Oh, they're dummy."
Food and Drink
Mull: spiced fermented beverage, served hot.
Caffenyl: combined stimulant and painkiller, brewed from a chemical powder.
Mealweed: Prolific vine, somewhat edible.
Polyfiber: mixture of various recycled and byproduct fibers.
Fishmeat: a cheap nutrient paste made from pulped seafood.
Milt: bioengineered grain, used to make a thick porridge.
Technology and Communication
Wetware: Biological computing material.
Bioform: Human-modified organism, from bacteria to megafauna.
Aug: Augmentation, whether biological or cybernetic.
T-Form: Terraform.
Hydropack: Polymer pouch full of liquid and salts.
Synthskin: Durable artificial body envelope, made for industrial workers.
Pseudoflesh: Artificial tissues, including skin and organs.
Longcomm: high-power communications array, usually terrestrial.
Talknet: high-efficiency communications mesh allowing basic discussion and messaging capability.
CCN: Company Communications Network.
Wineskin: A sleeve used for parties.
Growler: A cheap air scrubber, after the low roar of operation.
RTG: Radioisotope thermoelectric generator.
Icebox: A cryopod.
Frame: An industrial exosuit.
God's Pocketknife: A laser cutter, used for shipbreaking and mining operations.
Clothing and Shelter
LCVG: Liquid Cooling Ventilation Garment, worn under a vaccsuit to regulate temperature.
Blues: Company regulation coveralls, which are usually blue.
FCD: Fecal Collection Device. Integrated system for gathering human waste within a vaccsuit during extended operation.
Bubble: A vaccsuit helmet. "Watch your bubble."
Walking Coffin: A low-quality vaccsuit.
EHG: Environmental Hazard Garment. A hazard suit. Pronounced "Egg."
Egg Up: Don a hazard suit.
Hot Load: Don a vaccsuit without proper safety procedures. Reduces the time to put on to about fifteen minutes, but increases risk and physiological stress.
Hot Rack: Share a berth with alternating sleeping schedules.
Cold Rack: A berth left empty because of a death or accident.
Rack: A simple bunk or sleeping capsule.
Hab: Habitation. Somewhere to rest.
Burrow: A subterranean outpost.
Relationships
Rack up: start sharing a bed.
Cord: friend, buddy, connection.
Pup: someone who always follows orders.
Bunnyfuck: Procreate, especially rapidly or as part of a colonial contract.
Dangle: Hang out. "Mind if I dangle?"
Good and Bad
Expo: Expendable. Something useless.
Cut: A problem. "What's the cut?"
GY: A particularly dangerous place. Abbreviation of "graveyard."
Pseud: Something or someone artificial, untrustworthy, or fake.
Dispo: Disposal. Something worthless. "That's dispo."
Site: Parasite. Someone who takes from other people.
Big Plus: Yes, totally, very good.
Rags: Good. "That's rags."
Major: Very. "That's major rags."