Slang Terms of the Rational Occultic Scale - Echoing Stars
Out in the colonies, things are a little more lax. Earthhungers for treasures and the colonies are the mucus membrane which tests todangers of what might one day be transported to the home sphere. CoffinPounders and Explorers bring back Spook Machines, Nostradamus Code and EngramTrades along with Mimetic hazards and Alien Physics in equal proportion.
The grand dream is always a scalable, comprehensible,useful form of Physics that might free Humanity from its sphere, or its energydependency.
The subtle and sometimes hard-to-comprehend dangers ofCold World Coffin Pounding, and the difficulty of systematising and expressingsuch, lead to the 'Rational Occultic Scale', intended to be a formal method ofassessment of the potential dangers and potency of the most complex andincomprehensible alien artefacts, memes and other less-coherent phase states ormaterially-expressed fluxions.
The great poetic and philosophical challenge of how todescribe the indescribable was then formalised by the R.O.C., at least enoughfor corporate accountants and decision makers.
While the exact decision matrices have remained acarefully guarded corporate/government semi-secret, only fully known byAndroids and A.I., the slang and terminology which grew up around the R.O.C. iswell known by Coffin Pounders and the extra-legal Diaspora and can be a usefulform of knowledge in itself, especially for anyone given the job ofinfiltrating Coffin chat groups, assessing E.M. decoded intercepts or simplydeciding on security procedures for incoming craft.
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BASIC POTENCY
The R.O.C. begins its scale with a general assessment ofthe potential or actual potency of the material in question. Unless a certainthreshold of potency is reached, other potential qualities are not consideredrelevant.
> "Knock" or "Knocker".Drawn from 19C and 20C spiritualist culture, a"Knocker" is a 'table knocker', or a fake spiritualist who simulatesthe presence of supernatural spirits by knocking on their table. Use of thisterm usually means a crew or assessor things a Material has some extranormalqualities but no more than a curiosity. Not saleable, powerful or active.
A 'knock' may simply be an unusual Material with noextranormal properties according to human physics but strange and unexpected inaspect or utility to most crews.
> "Stug", "Stugatsky" or "Mulder"This word indicated a Material of low, but potentiallyactive and not entirely predictable potency. Usually this means the crew has noworries about confining or controlling the Material, but is not quite certainof exactly what it will do, though they certainly think it has extranormalaspects.
> "Rabbit" or "Bunny"Taken from 'just like a rabbit out of a hat'. Thisphrasing indicates a crew or broker is sure their Material has certainextranormal properties or capacities. Put simply; it is, or can do, 'magic'. Itcan also reference the active or moving nature of a living animal, its abilityto 'burrow' and the power of the magicians rabbit to seemingly 'come fromnowhere'. Though this phrasing alone usually indicates a crew does notfeel endangered at this time, any use of this word or code should indicatemaximum precautions and possible quarantine.
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Beyond this point the scaling of the R.O.C. breaks intostrands depending on the assumed or observed qualities of the Material inquestion. Like a tree breaking into several rising branches. Each branch hasprovided its own slang or common speech terms as descriptors used betweenworkers. Any observer must be especially aware of these terms, especially _incombination_.
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ACTIVE/INTELLIGENT QUALITY > "Girl"Thought to be derivative of a scene in a 20C movie inwhich a man is hunted by a dinosaur. The Material is a "Clever Girl".This usually indicates that the crew has active precautions in order to keepthe Material controlled and that it is capable of acting under its own powerand in unpredictable ways potentially dangerous to human flourishing. Anyreference to "Girl", even a "Knock Girl" or a"Stuggy Girl" allows you to fire upon the ship should youconsider it warranted. Any reference to "Sticky Girl", "FoeGirl" or worse means you *must* immediately destroy the ship ifpossible, then isolate yourself.
> "Boat"Usually stated as "its Boated" or "theship is Boat". This indicates a material active enough that the crewis considering or has considered abandoning ship. This material is no longerunder human control. You must fire upon the ship and destroy the ship. You mustfire upon any life pods or escapees if you think it warranted. All escapeesmust be isolated.
> "Regan"Unclear if this is a reference to the U.S. president or acharacter from the film "Exorcist". "She's Regan" or"Its gone Regan" indicates a Material which the crew cannot controlwithin the ship and which they cannot prevent from leaving the ship. You mustfire upon the ship and destroy the ship. You must fire upon any escapees anddestroy any escapees. You must fire upon all wreckage, rubble or partsresulting from ship destruction and reduce them to a cubic mass of no more thanone half meter and then log the expected parabola and course of any suchwreckage.
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MEMETIC/INFORMATIONAL QUALITY > "Sticky", or "Yellow"
This indicates an infectious or transmissible form ofMaterial/Information. Either the Material itself can physically re-createitself and/or it can 'breed' and move in the form of pure information, eitherby direct realspace voice/face contact or more dangerously, via E.M.transmission. A "Sticky" indicates that the Crew does notbelieve themselves to be in immediate danger, but believe they are dealing witha transmissible material and are taking precautionary actions. A "StickyRabbit" or even a "Sticky Mulder" can create enormousproblems for even a well-run colony and its infosphere.
> "Foe"Short for 'Information Hazard. This indicates the crewbelieves themselves to be dealing with a certain and dangerous form oftransmissible or infectious information/material. Any reference to "Foe",even a "Foe Knocker" or a "Foe Stugatsky"should indicate immediate quarantine procedures and reference to a higherauthority. Any further communication with, or intercept of the vessel or groupscommunications must at this point be ceased and any recordings of anythingbeyond this point quarantined or even destroyed if the Agent thinks itwarranted.
> "Lamb"Stands for 'Sacrificial Lamb'. This indicates extra-legalactivity and should be immediately reported, as well as taking all precautionsstated above. A "Lamb" is a human or equivalent machine which hasbeen memory and/or personality edited, either by themselves or others, so thatthey themselves do not know what material they have. This is illegal in allcases and this method is only used when the material/information is sopotentially dangerous and of such a high info-hazard potency that even knowingthat you know it is a potential danger and *only* the those ignorant of it canbe allowed to remember or store it.
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CAUSAL QUALITIES > "f11" "F Eleven" or "Quicksave"
The crew suspects they may be dealing with a causalevent/material or equivalent and are advising awareness and active precautions.Since those engaged in causal phenomena usually have no awareness of this it isvery likely the material or cryo-failures are having some effect on crewpsychology.
> "Murray" or "Bill Murray"The crew believes it may have entered a causal loop orequivalent event or material and does not know how to escape. They do notnecessarily believe themselves to be in physical danger, but this isirrelevant in reference to causal threats.
You must record and transmit any and all details acrossthe broadest light cone possible with your current equipment, UNLESS you have*any* indication of Informational or Memetic danger i.e. any reference to"Foe" or "Yellow", in which case you MUST NOTDO THIS.
> "Subaru"The crew believes themselves to be engaged in a highlynegative, highly dangerous causal event strongly inimical to human flourishing.Avoid all contact and transmit warnings to all local actors to avoid allcontact. (Unless any references are made to memetic hazards as stated above).Consider destruction of the craft via remote means.
