The following is a glossary of terms used both in-character and out-of-character for the Triune RPG. Last modified 01-24-11. If you have any suggestions or requests for terms to add to the glossary, please comment below.
Angel (deva, malaikah, malachim): Intelligent race from Heaven. Their natural form is humanoid with two pairs of feathered wings and a slight bioluminescence that causes their skin to glow. However, they look exactly like a human, down to DNA, when they enter the universe of man. This disguise happens automatically and can last for years before their natural form asserts itself.
Authority: A nation included in the Hegemony. Authorities can have their own form of government and can be democratic, monarchic, imperial, corporate, etc. as long as they obey Hegemony laws on fair trade and basic human rights. Each authority selects its representatives to the Hegemonic Congress.
Anti-Church Act: Nickname for Public Law H-43-9328, the Protection of Humanity’s Reality Act. This Hegemony law makes all forms of worship illegal and punishable by arrest because of the unusual effects of prayer after opening gateways to Heaven and Hell.
Atrributes: Three numbers that help define characters. The numbers describe a person’s Body, Mind, and Soul. The number is usually the target number for an Effort Roll.
Bendship: A faster-than-light space ship that travels between solar systems in weeks or months by generating gravity to ‘bend’ spacetime. These have been rendered obsolete for travel by the weave-dependent lock system but many are still in service as military vessels. Because the Hegemony cannot track bendships, a special license is needed to operate one.
Big Four: Nickname for the authorities China, European Union, India, and United States of America. Their size, economic might, and military power allows them to dominate Hegemony politics but they are usually at odds with each other.
Budget: The number of credits an enforcer receives for a mission. These credits can be used to download items from the weave. All items have a cost and can be pushed back into the weave to free up credits. Enforcers cannot go over budget but may secretly have black market off-weave items. Hegemony citizens also receive budgets based on their jobs and how much they work. The weave allows people to pull stuff out of thin air but budgets restrict how much and how often, and force people to continue working in a capitalist economy.
Case: The investigation or “adventure” that enforcers follow in the game.
Competitive style: A style of play where each enforcer supports either Heaven, Hell or the Hegemony independent of each other. Game sessions feature more competition than a standard rpg as players struggle to promote their individual agendas.
Congress: The sole governmental body of the Hegemony. Every Authority sends three representatives to Congress but decides how to select these congressmen: popular vote, birthright, etc. While the Congress technically has legal authority over the Authorities that make up the Hegemony, in practice each Authority has a lot of freedom. Since the Trinity War, however, Congress has become more powerful.
Demon: A non-sentient creature native to Hell. They are similar to mankind’s pets or domesticated animals. They can exist in any universe but, unlike devils, they do not take the form of the dominant intelligent life when visiting other universes.
Domains: Three subsets of an Attribute that further define a character. Body’s domains are Muscle, Speed, and Fitness. Mind’s domains are Intelligence, Creativity, and Awareness. Soul’s domains are Charm, Willpower, and Empathy. Instead of a numeric rating, each domain is labeled a strength, average, or weakness.
Devil (asuras, jinn): Intelligent race from Hell. Their natural form is humanoid with horns, fangs and a dark skin tone of blue, red or green. However, they look exactly like a human, down to DNA, when they enter the universe of man. This disguise happens automatically and can last for years before their natural form asserts itself.
Discorporation: Also called uploading, it’s making an object disappear by sending it into the weave. Living matter cannot be discorporated, but this term has become slang for killing, i.e. “If you don’t do as I say, you might find yourself discorporated real quick.”
Earth Region: One of three unofficial parts of the Hegemony. It represents the planet Earth and all the authorities found there.
Effort Dice: Up to 3d6 used to indicate how much effort your character puts into a given action. More effort can produce better results but at the risk of bigger failure.
Effort System: The mechanic that resolves conflicts within the game. A player (or the GM) rolls 1d10 to determine success or failure. However, he must also pick one, two, or three d6 to represent how much effort to put into the action and thereby the level of success or failure. 1d6 means little success or failure, while 3d6 means big success or failure.
Emcar: A vehicle that pushes against a planet’s electromagnetic field to move. Emcars are old technology and can be found almost everywhere.
Enforcement Officer: A Hegemony police officer whose job is to enforce the Treaty of Pavonis Station that keeps humanity neutral in the war between Heaven and Hell. Also known as enforcers.
Faith: A specific path followed by a character: Christianity, Judaism, Anger, Laziness, Military, Media, etc. There are numerous faiths for each of the three paths. Faiths provide powers to characters who are truly faithful.
Faith Prayers: A set of prayers only available to members of a specific faith. The faith prayers of Islam are only available to those who believe in Islam.
Free Congressmen: Members of Congress selected by Congress itself rather than any Authority. There are only three at any time but they have full voting rights.
Fringe Authority: Governments and planets recently brought into the Hegemony during the Inclusion. Most are located near the edges of explored space and receive little respect from other, more established authorities.
Gates: Huge machines that can create an opening to Heaven or Hell. It is highly illegal to even work on creating a gate. The Hegemony maintains only one gate in the capital of Tranquility on Luna.
Gnosis: A section of a case for GMs only that provides background information on NPCs, locations, etc.
Health: The resource for the Body attribute that represents your physical health. If you run out of Health, you die.
Heaven: One of the three universes and home to angels and guardians. It is also called the universe of angel. It is only accessible through expensive and power-hungry machines called Gateways.
Hegemony: Short name for the Economic Hegemony of Authorities. While primarily concerned with regulating trade and encouraging economic growth among member nations, the Hegemony has become more powerful and pervasive since the Trinity War.
Hell: One of the three universes and home to devils and demons. It is also called the universe of devil. It is only accessible through expensive and power-hungry machines called Gateways.
Inclusion: Hegemony program of forcing independent societies to join the Hegemony to prevent them from worshipping religion and possibly altering reality. While some societies joined peacefully, many had to be subdued militarily and remain slightly rebellious.
Initiative: How to determine when a player goes during a round. The first person to say what he wants to do goes first. The others decide who goes in what order. Once settled, this order is used throughout the conflict.
Lock: A stable wormhole used for travel by foot or vehicle. The name comes from the airlock used in between wormhole ends. People enter the airlock; the original location’s air is pumped out; the target location’s air is pumped in; gravity is adjusted; then people can leave the airlock. The term has become both a noun (“We will use the lock”) and a verb (“We’ll lock over there”). Locks are expensive to maintain and few private citizens have their own locks.
Lockport: A central location where locks lead out to many different locations; similar to an airport or train station.
Loom: A device that allows people to access the weave. Hegemony citizens have an internal loom in their brain to allow direct download of data into the mind as well as to push and pull items from the weave with their hands. It also saves a backup of the person’s memories, personality, and body in the weave for recorporation in the event of unexpected death. It is illegal for non-citizens to have an internal loom.
Loyalists: Humans who were very religious before the Trinity War and remain loyal to Heaven or Hell despite the Anti-Church Act. Fringe Authorities and societies forced into the Hegemony during the Inclusion are home to many loyalists.
Natural Critical: When a player rolls five dice and gets five successes or five failures before any difficulty is applied. A natural critical win (five successes) means the player can add 1 and subtract 1 from the path ratings of the authority his character is currently in. A natural critical loss (five failures) means the GM adds 1 and subtracts 1 from the authority’s path ratings that would be the opposite of what the player would want.
Negative Prayer: A prayer that remains constantly in effect and causes the character to suffer penalties during the game. Negatives are automatically assigned once a character drops to –1 or lower in a path.
Nephilim: A non-sentient creature native to Heaven. They are similar to mankind’s pets or domesticated animals. They can exist in any universe but, unlike angels, they do not take the form of the dominant intelligent life when visiting other universes.
Off-Weave: 1) A person without an internal loom. They cannot access the weave and will face real death if they die. 2) Items manufactured as opposed to being pulled from the weave. These are illegal because the Hegemony cannot track who made it, who uses it, when and where they use it, etc. Criminals value off-weave items highly.
On-Weave: 1) A person with an internal loom in their brain. Only citizens of the Hegemony are authorized to be on-weave. 2) Items pulled from the weave. The Hegemony keeps track of where, when, and by whom on-weave items and downloaded or uploaded, including information.
One-Sided style: A style of play where all enforcers secretly support either Heaven or Hell. They still work for the Hegemony but must figure out how to support their path without getting caught breaking their own rules. Enforcers will work together and game sessions will feature a lot of scheming against the Hegemony.
Path: One of the three sides in the game—Heaven, Hell or the Hegemony. Every character and Authority is rated in the three paths which shows its support (or lack thereof) for each side. This can happen even if a person doesn’t realize it. Sometimes people have deep beliefs that they aren’t aware of: atheists with a secret belief in God, priests who support Hell by stealing collection money, etc. Each path has six faiths.
Path points: Experience points that enforcers receive during playt. These can be spent to increase their path ratings. For every three path points spent, a path rating can be increased by one. Players decide which path rating to increase.
Path Prayers: A set of prayers only available to members of a specific path. The path prayers of Hell are only available to those who believe in Greed, Pride, etc. A follower of Judaism or Politics would not have access to Hell path prayers.
Path ratings: A numeric scale from –3 to 9 that represents the character’s support for that path. Higher path ratings mean stronger support for that paths. Ratings also determine which Powers are granted to select characters; not everyone in the setting has a Power.
Prayers: Powers that affect reality: cause Health damage to people, detect secret thoughts, move objects telekinetically, etc. Each faith has a list of specific prayers that become available at each level. Using a prayer requires a successful Spirit roll and, if it works, costs 1 Spirit.
Recorporation: 1) Using the weave to create an object. Only items scanned into the weave can be recorporated. Also called downloading. 2) Bringing a person back to life by pulling their body from the weave and then downloading their memory and personality into the new body. In game terms, a player may rearrange their Body and Mind attributes during recorporation.
Resolve: The resource for the Mind attribute that represents your mental health. If you run out of Resolve, you go temporarily insane.
Round: Name given to a set of turns where everyone can act once. When everyone’s turn has finished, including any NPCs, a new round begins.
Screen: A media system that combines TV, sound system and computer. It usually uses a touch-screen for input but can include keyboards.
Settlement Region: One of three unofficial parts of the Hegemony. It represents all the authorities that lie outside of Earth’s home system, Sol.
Spirit: A measure of a character’s power of faith and belief. Players must roll 1d10 equal or less than his character’s spirit to fuel Powers. Successful use of a Power costs 1 Spirit, but every failed roll adds 1 Spirit. Players can also roll against their current Spirit to shrug off effects from another character’s Powers being used against him.
Sol Region: One of three unofficial parts of the Hegemony. It represents all the authorities in Earth’s home system (Sol) except for Earth itself.
Sympathizers: Citizens of the Hegemony who publicly support the Anti-Church Act but secretly worship a faith. Whereas loyalists are publicly loyal to a faith, sympathizers hide their loyalty and usually support a faith indirectly. Sympathizers can be found everywhere and are difficult to track down, as some people are unaware that they’re sympathizers.
Target Number: The number you must roll equal to or under to succeed on an action. Usually, the target number is the relevant attribute.
Traditional style: A style of play where all enforcers support the Hegemony’s efforts to stay neutral and avoid siding with either Heaven or Hell. Enforcers will work together and game sessions will feature no scheming or hypocrisy.
Treaty of Pavonis Station: The treaty that ended the Trinity War and eventually created enforcers. The treaty states the following: 1) The Hegemony shall remain neutral and will not help or hurt Heaven or Hell; 2) The Hegemony has authority over the entire universe of man; 3) Angels and devils cannot enter the universe of man without prior approval of and escort by the Hegemony; and 4) The Hegemony can enforce this treaty using their own laws and traditions. The Treaty led to the creation of enforcement officers.
Trust Territory: A region that is not claimed by any authority and falls under direct control of the Hegemony. Congress selects a governor to administer the region. As with authorities, people in the trust territories are usually citizens of the Hegemony.
Turning Point: The climax of a case when enforcers are forced to make a decision that will either help Heaven, Hell or the Hegemony. Players decide which path to help and will gain 2 path points for one path, zero for a second and will lose 1 path point for the third.
Universal Prayers: A set of prayers available to all who are faithful. A universal prayer can be used by followers of Heaven, Hell, or the Hegemony.
Universe of Man: Legal name for the universe where humanity was born.
Weave: An internet-like system that allows people with internal looms to download information directly into their minds. It also allows items to be ‘pulled’ or downloaded out of thin air. Only Hegemony citizens have internal looms but they work anywhere in the universe of man. The Hegemony uses powerful software to keep track of on-weave items and to regulate how much people can pull via budgets.
Weave Suspension: A version of capital punishment used by the Hegemony. The criminal is killed and his recorporation suspended for a set amount of time. Usually, his brain is edited upon recorporation to be averse to whatever crime he was convicted of.
Weave Tears: Damage done to spacetime by trying to pull items from the weave with more mass than a large human (around 130kg). Objects put into a tear cease to exist and are lost forever. Hegemony software using budgets prevents more tears from happening.
Win/Loss Level: The result of an action as determined by rolling 1d10 and 1,2, or 3d6. There are six possible levels: Critical Win, Major Win, Basic Win, Basic Loss, Major Loss, Critical Loss.