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Confederate Terms & Concepts
[Most] terms are translated and transliterated from Standard Confederate to 21st Century American English
Terry is an enduring Confederate word for something relating to Earth, sourced from the English word ‘terrestrial’ in the Early Solar Expansion Period. Over time, it became an independent term of its own from its root word as most of the different forms of English died out and/or were assimilated into other languages, and the term was officially included into Standard Confederate centuries later when that official language was first being formalized and centralized at Luna.
A term that refers to the couple dozen star systems colonized before the discovery of the Forerunner portals. Sol System is sometimes included under this, since it was obviously the first one colonized by Humanity. Because travel and communication speeds were so limited, colonies in other star systems developed their own independent cultures, which were made more diverse by the fact that some were sent by specific groups or nations. The isolation led to unique cultures being formed among the stars, which began to be mixed up when the portals were discovered and used.
Because governing the extremely diverse and enormous volume of space the Confederacy spans is too vast of a responsibility for a single nation, but being united is better than being disunited, the Confederacy represents the compromise between the two extremes.
Since the Confederacy is similar to a more cohesive UN, it needs a way for issues and proposals to be laid out in a communications medium between each Confederate member, with the Confederate Assembly being the answer to that need. Linked by specifically placed wormholes, they all connect from across the galaxy to a large bank of wormholes within Luna, feeding into an interactive VR environment for delegates to communicate.
Prime examples for hotly debated topics on this forum are the Confederate Charter and Membership Pact, which lay out the requirements for being a Confederate member. Alterations to the often controversial contents and proposed changes require a large majority of each member state to agree to. However, due to it being difficult for such a large number of different member nations to agree on more than basics, the requirements are loose enough to allow a very large diversity of societies across the Confederacy.
Originally proposed centuries ago in U0 during the Antebellum Period, it is a term used to refer to a concept borne from the conclusion drawn by scientists in the Interstellar Coalition that the Multiverse undeniably exists and that it is extremely vast, although the question as to whether it is infinite or not is still unclear due to insufficient data. The basic concept of it is that in a large enough Multiverse, there are enough universes with random characteristics to produce a staggering and possibly endless array of different internal conditions, but that in some cases there would be universes with different conditions and internal events which could produce near-identical results due to random chance.
The 'peaks' with HLUP refers to would be universes which have a specific component identical to that in a different universe which was developed via a different process, with each such universe being a 'peak' and the surrounding ones in probabilistic space being progressively less similar as 'distance' in probabilistic space increases. The most-cited example would be the evolution of Humans, which in U0 was natively on Earth with no known outside interference, but the same outcome could've had a very different starting point in a separate universe (Humans originating from alien colonists, being transplanted from elsewhere, etc.). Based on this, there could conceivably be differing universes converging on nearly identical historical events, but with drastically different starting origins.
Taking U2 and U0 into account, Confederate scientists would take them as an example of this law, since the evolutionary and tectonic history of life on Earth (U2) was somewhat different in the area which would become Talitoa, although apparently not enough to influence the evolution of Humans. The similarities mostly end there however, since the civilizational and cultural development of Earth (U2) was very different from Earth (U0). Another interesting difference noted between the two universes is the presence of life on Dione (U0) contrasted with an absence on its alternate of Dione (U2), which is still unexplained.
OOC: Inspired by 
this, but not as far-fetched.
The Matrix is the term given by the Confederacy to the fundamental substrate of the known Multiverse. An incredibly dense bath of matter/energy analogue, it is the medium which universes are formed from and exist within, and used as a power source by the IU Drive. Far more 'intense' than anything within a standard universe, even the smallest fragment of the Matrix manifesting in one would outweigh the mass already present in one and cause some issues for the inhabitants. Fortunately, some property of the Matrix prevents it from doing so, with a perhaps inaccurate comparison once being made to water being unable to submerge a perfectly buoyant raft.
Probabilistic Space is the term used to describe the 'space' which universes exist within and IU travel occurs across. The term is related to Hovilq's Law of Universal Peaks, referring to how the closer to each other two universes form in this space, the higher the probability of them being similar. As speculated by Confederate exterologists however, the tendency of universes to 'drift' through Probabilistic Space (albeit slowly) would imply that some universes 'near' each other may be less similar than they would be otherwise.
The science regarding study of the Multiverse, not to be confused with cosmology (study of universes). Although limited with direct observations being nigh-impossible, the advent of IU travel during the Multiversal Expansion Era radically altered the nature of this field due to both observational research of parallel universes and information gleaned from more advanced civilizations such as the Imperial Confluence and Architects.
Currently, the main focus for the field is a debate between Singular Theory and Strata Theory.
Singular Theory postulates that the Multiverse is a single domain with an undefined 'edge', with all universes present within the same plane of existence. Although previously the unchallenged assumption held since the Multiverse was first experimentally verified to exist, the enormous changes wrought by the Multiversal Expansion Era have weakened it in relation to the newer Strata Theory.
Strata Theory postulates that the Multiverse consists of multiple disconnected domains which it labels 'strata', with the known Multiverse merely being the stratum which all known universes lie within. Originally proposed as a solution to certain issues arising within Singular Theory, among which is the lack of any observed parallel universes (for example, an alternate Confederacy in an alternate U0). Strata Theory solves this problem by stating that such parallel universes are present within different strata, as detailed in the below graphic. Information recovered from Confluent databases appear to hint towards Strata Theory being more likely to be correct, but only verifies the previously-held theory that such strata would be completely and totally disconnected from each other, with travel and communication being impossible in every sense of the word.
Multiverse has multiple layers of overlaid 'strata' which are totally inaccessible to each other, with universes separated out across them. Different strata could have different 'multiversal rules' for how they operate, such as different foundations (magic mushroom network, noncausal spindrift, intense 'energy' bath, universes all having the same time frames/rate of time/direction of time or not, etc.), different modes of interuniversal travel (more/less energy required to jump, whether it is possible at all, etc.), and distribution of universes (high enough amount to have 'repeats', etc.).
Based on what's been established thus far, TACEZ for instance would be in a stratum with an 'energy bath' that has distantly scattered universes (key point, no repeats, no alternate U0s or U2s) with different time frames which has methods of IU travel requiring sophisticated technology and a great deal of energy. Alternate U0s and U2s with alternate versions of the countries within them are more or less all within different strata.
A Confederate term originating from the Late Solar Expansion Period which descends from the English term 'maturation sac', describing the incubation pods used by Confederates to reproduce.
As Human colonization of Sol System began to progress towards the outer gas giants and the Oort Cloud, artificial wombs began to increasingly take center stage due to them easing the supply strains of colonization. Due to them being able to relax the issues with transporting a viable population to the colony site and completely eliminate the increasingly unnecessary challenges of natural pregnancy, the development of artificial alternatives began to cross over with new advancements in genetic engineering.
This line of development would ultimately produce a new type of engineered organic womb in the 23rd century which was initially labeled a 'maturation sac', ultimately shortened to 'msac'. The latter would eventually find its way into Standard Confederate as the name for this innovation. Capable of independently supporting itself as a lifeform and also reproducing asexually, the msacs were capable of accepting genetic information from a strictly male donor, a strictly female one, or a combination of both, using it to gestate a Human. An msac in appearance vaguely resembles a leathery sack which is visibly alive but very passive and minimally mobile, and although capable of surviving in any number of environments and consuming nutrients in any number of forms, an idealized state is within a chamber maintaining certain conditions and providing it with sustenance.
Obviously, this is a deeply disturbing detail for Humans originating from other universes such as the Confluence to tolerate, and initially this was equally repulsive for the population of Sol when it was originally being developed. However, its widespread use for initial interstellar colonization during their population boom phases would make it seen as the norm in the societies they spawned, and the advantages of transferring the burden of pregnancy from an active individual leading their own life to a passive incubator would quickly make it the preferred norm. Over the centuries, the dominance of this new form of propagation in the majority of Human space and the advantages offered by it would gradually make it the standard for settled societies in Sol as well via cultural diffusion. By the time of the Foundational War, the overwhelming majority of Human pregnancies were via msacs, freeing people from enduring them if they wished and making natural pregnancies seen by most Confederates as a vaguely distasteful relic of the past. A common perspective on msacs is them being seen as a natural conclusion to the historical progression of pregnancy being made easier and less dangerous via technological and societal development over the millennia.
This is a general Confederate term to refer to Human societies which have differing gender and sex dynamics than the male/female binary as the majority, with non-binary and others as minorities. This includes "Eri'sto", referring to ones made up only of women, and "Ato'sto", made up of ones only of men. There are also some societies which deliberately engineer their ratios away from the 1:1 norm, such as the Venkari culture who had engineered a 1:7 male to female ratio and the S'Akun culture who had engineered a 1:5 female to male ratio, although these are somewhat rarer. There are also the categories of "Uda'sto" and "Iyu'sto", with the former being a generalization of ones which ascribe to neither of the former (usually via non-binary being the majority) and the latter being a very rare type which involves people regularly transitioning between genders as an expected norm.
These societies are generally more possible due to the norm of Confederate offspring gestated via msacs, with natural Human pregnancy being a rare phenomenon which mostly occurs amongst Eri'sto populations. These societies often regard this largely abandoned state of reproduction with an unusual, almost nostalgic reverence which anthropologists have noted as being "fascinating".
Confederate opinions regarding Uda'sto and Iyu'sto cultures are usually neutral, since they generally aren't any more or less of an inherent threat than other societies in the Confederacy. However, it is usually taken for granted that the monogendered societies of the former two have an inherent tendency to develop into cultish reclusives which commonly become dangerous sources of gender-based extremism. Although initially a theoretical concern, this fear was realized when a sizable percentage of these societies ultimately degraded into such fanaticism, commonly becoming hostile to the binary majority and even more aggressive towards their mirror opposites. In the worst cases, they would occasionally engage on campaigns to exterminate the gender absent from them elsewhere via deliberate andro/gynocides, pandemics of engineered sex-targeted diseases, and more over the centuries, sparking occasional brushfire conflicts which devastated numerous worlds and forced interventions from the Interstellar Coalition. These sporadic clashes over the centuries are sometimes collectively referred to as the 'Gender Wars', with or without a touch of dark humor.
These occasional outbreaks of violence would culminate in the unstable environment created by the aftermath of the Foundational War. Due to the recently established Confederacy being stretched thin putting out fires from the war, the stage was set for a particularly nasty interstellar conflict between opposing coalitions of Eri'sto and Ato'sto civilizations. Other crises occurring elsewhere, many of them far more serious, prevented the Confederacy from being able to fully get the two rampaging combatants to stop, with the conflict only ending with their mutual annihilation after inflicting extensive collateral damage. After this, the Confederacy would officialize a growing unofficial convention of monitoring for the development of such societies amongst Human populations and preemptively dissolving them before they became a threat, becoming more successful at it as the new polity stabilized and cemented itself as the hegemonic authority in Human-settled space. Despite this policy, some Eri'sto and Ato'sto cultures which had remained peaceful and well-connected with the rest of the Confederacy for centuries before the bulk of the troubles started were left alone, with an expectation for them to continue being accepting towards members of the absent gender which visit or immigrate from elsewhere.
One of the more fanatical examples targeted by the dissolution campaign was the 'Anti-Y Front', a militant Eri'sto organization which was initially a minor annoyance but became notorious from their thwarted attempt to launch an attack on U2 Earth. This was done by stealing an IU Drive from a naval yard and using it to transport a ship to U2, and then firing canisters of a male-targeting disease at Earth from the ship, although thanks to quick action by native TAMDEZ forces this was intercepted. Although crippled by their failed strike using the majority of their resources, it would take several years of searching and pursuit by Confederate forces in U0 for the remnants of the organization to be fully eliminated.
OOC: No they didn't change the timeline, that idea of mine was stupid, time travel is stupid, and and both are wiped from TAMDEZ canon because of the cringe
Following the events of Cutoff Day, it is commonly suspected that practically all of the Confederate-derived societies of this kind were wiped out along with the rest of the original Confederacy itself, aside from individual survivors amongst Confederate populations in other universes. Any reemergence of the two monogendered types as distinct groups is monitored as a potential threat to the security of the Confederacy and its allies.
During the Middle Solar Expansion Period, direct harvesting of animal products from...animals began to slowly die out. Technological refinement of animal product culturing would give it a dramatic economic advantage over factory farming by the mid-21st century, and although this advantage due to its drastically smaller resource consumption would be the main driver behind the subsequent transition in favor of the former, moral campaigning based on climate stabilization and animal rights would also play decisive roles as bans on the practice would begin to spread across Earth and beyond. These irresistible pressures forced factory farming into a gradual decline, although it would take until the first decade of the 22nd century for it to be globally eliminated, along with formal bans on the practice.
Over the centuries, the concept of direct harvesting from animals would slowly take on a connotation of disgust across most populations as direct memories of it faded, although there would still be fringe occurrences for cultural reasons, sometimes but not always tolerated if the animals in question were treated humanely. After a millennium of this, most modern Confederates would view consuming products from an animal as a somewhat repulsive practice and cultured animal products being "cleaner*", with more specific cases like factory farming being viewed as highly immoral. This would introduce a minor cultural barrier in terms of interacting with TAMDEZ nations in U2, since they largely still directly consumed animal products from animals.
*The concept of parasites being present in meat, forcing cooking merely to avoid being infected but with their corpses still present in the food, is particularly noted as being a major source of repulsion.
As a comparison, many Confederates may view harvesting and consuming products directly from an animal in a generally similar light to how many in the 21st century would have viewed the communal use of tersoria by the ancient Romans, and accordingly factory farming like the routine massacres from city sieges during conflicts such as the Punic Wars.
To a Confederate, speaking of foods such as "meat" or "milk" will generally elicit thoughts of foods which are produced in a contained environment such as a vat, tank, or printer, while "animal meat" or less polite variations involving words like "corpse" specifically refers to anything directly carved from an animal's body.
