Basically, what we're doing here is setting up a list of terms so that we aren't all speaking a different language. This is a living list (and I'm going to keep it small at first), so if you have a term with a clear meaning you would like me to add, post it below and I'll add it in up here. If you wish to dispute a word's use, just say so and I'll add it to the "Contested Terms" section until we reach a consensus. Also, I'll try to keep both lists roughly alphabetical, but no promises.
Glossary
Allot (Allotment): An Allot is a block of housing (actual houses or apartments in a tenement), all of which face inwards towards a central area (also an allot, after which the block is named). Most Allots have a well or water pump and public conveniences, which residents are responsible for the basic maintenance and care of. Allots in tenement blocks also have communal kitchens, storerooms, etc on the bottom floor. Allots are used for meetings of its residents, both official and social. It is the smallest division of a district in civic records.
Antipode: Official term for one who refuses to accept the Way of Harmony. Originally used to describe poltical opponents, now used synonymously with 'criminal.'
Betanbaiter: nickname for the operator of a semaphore signal tower (named after Betan, a fleeing criminal who they famously helped bring to justice).
Book of Harmony: Philosophical text that details the Way of Harmony and gives advice on how one should live one's life.
Book keeper: professional brokers, fixers and arrangers for the underworld. A vital point of connection (and island of stability) in the suspicious criminal world.
Campus: Harmonium base/recruiting station, often venue for public events. Mostly open to the public.
Cartels: powerful mercantile organisations, successors of the guilds
Coin Polisher: a merchant or greedy person, also used by old nobility about anyone “with ideas above his station.”
Composer: The official title for a the governor of a colony.
Conductor: The official title for a member of the Octave Council.
Council: Refers to the Council of Ortho. The Octave Council, by contrast, is usually referred to as the "Octave."
Council of Ortho: The Chief governing body of Ortho consisting of representatives from the various provinces. Serves to introduce legislation and as the chief judicial body. Council decisions can be vetoed by the Octave Council, but the Council can overrule these decisions with a two-thirds vote.
Councilor: A member of the Council of Ortho. Also called a "Representative."
Crisis Team: common slang for an Exigency Squad.
Exigency, Bureau of: Harmonium department originally assigned to expedite travel and movement of supplies. In modern times they supply teams of volunteer specialists who solve problems and resolve crises that the Harmonium or OCA can't deal with effectively or swiftly enough. Well known as "Harmonium adventurers" (officially called Exigency Squads, the slang term is Crisis Team). Most Crisis Team personnel are normal officers who are "on call" in case of emergency. Missions are received through a full time coordinator known as an Exigency Liaison.
External: individuals born and raised outside the Pax Harmonium, who cannot be expected to know its laws and ways, or the peaceful benefits of harmony. They are accorded less rights under the law; in fact it treats them more like children than adults.
-Folk: standard Orthorian suffix for a racial group: e.g. seafolk, merfolk, lizardfolk, etc.
Freefolk: people who maintain minimal involvement with ‘the system’ and prize their relative independence. Reputation as rogues and criminals (analogous to the American ‘carnie’ and UK ‘gypsy’). Ortho’s Freefolk are a remnant of many wandering cultures and independent peoples who struggle to maintain their freedom under the great world state – but working mainly within the system rather than against it. Adventurers fall into this class. Note: I’ve spelled this various ways previously, but finally settled on this one.
Gerare: Freefolk language of trail signs and hand gestures. Gerare has no spoken form, relying on quick and simple hand gestures instead. Only very basic ideas can be communicated in this way: Stop, Leave, Trouble, Stay Quiet, Back Me Up, etc. Most Harmonium officers are aware of the Free Folk hand code, but don’t speak it. Knowledge of Gerare is not illegal, but frowned on.
Harmonium: Arm of the OCA dedicated to upholding and defending Harmony. Essentially the military, but also plays a role in policing, engineering, spreading propaganda, and various other acts that encourage "harmony."
Huihui: officially a worker’s union, but also slang for troublemaker/thug. Only quasi-legal under OCA law. Originally a lacerde term meaning roughly “me and you.”
Hours of the Day
• The Clattering Hour (5am)
• The Prayer Hour (dawn)
• The Market Hour (one hour later)
• The First Duty Hour (noon)
• Shadow Hour (an hour before dusk)
• The Second Duty Hour (8pm)
• The Drunkard’s Hour (midnight)
• The Third Duty Hour (4am)
Knights of Harmony: The ancient order of warriors and adventurers founded by Romhel of Voll. Ancestor of the modern Harmonium.
Lacerde: Orthorian lizardfolk
Licensed Quarter: section of the city where various ‘vices’ are legal.
Manse: private home owned by relatively wealthy citizens. They vary from the tiny homes of mid-ranked soldiers and bureaucrats packed in one beside another, to the opulent compounds owned by rich merchants and the stately palaces of Ortho’s ruling elite.
OCA: See Orthorian Central Authority.
Octave: The Octave Council, or a member thereof.
Octave Council: The chief executive branch of the OCA. Serves at the pleasure of the Council of Ortho, but can veto or overrule decisions they make or introduce new legislation with a seven-to-one vote.
Ortho: The homeworld of the Planar Harmonium and center of the Orthorian Empire.
Orthorian: Being of or from the planet of Ortho, or a person from said world.
Orthorian Central Authority (OCA): The federal government of Ortho and its colonies. Includes both the Council of Ortho and the Octave Council as well as their respective bureaucracies.
Orthorian Empire: The empire ruled over by the Orthorian Central Authority including all planar and off-world colonies.
Pax Harmonium: The era stretching from the end of the War of Harmony to the present, or the culture and civilization that dominates Ortho.
Planar Colonies: The Orthorian empire's holdings on the Outer Planes, particularly Arcadia.
Planar Harmonium: The branch of the Harmonium active in the Outer Planes. Referred to by Planars as simply "The Harmonium."
Plaza: a place central to every ward, used for official events. The place to find information and gossip from across the Ward.
Prov: lower class worker dependent upon the Daily Provender for food. Also Derogatory term for someone who relies on the daily provender of free and cheap food. Mainly used by the ‘upper classes’ as a general term for a shiftless ne’er-do-well, criminal, or troublemaker – but some provs have taken to using the name with pride.
Provender: a daily dole of free food (usually bread) distributed in all towns and cities. There are also ’Provender Markets’ where heavily subsidized food and goods are available at very cheap prices.
Provender Run - Merchant slang: Any job that is hard but shows little profit at the end; such as transporting the Daily Provender.
Quack, The: Criminal slang, for the “thieves’ tongue” of Ortho.
Recanter: Someone who accepts the Way of Harmony but later rejects it. Usually refers to someone who develops a poltical, religious, or philosphical opposition to the Pax Harmonium.
Redfin: Common term for a Sahuagin Harmonium officer. Also used to describe any Harmonium officer who is uncompromising, authoritarian, intolerant, and violent.
Revel Law: all theatrical performances and other works of public entertainment must “have value to the education, moral, or general betterment of the people of Ortho.”
Shortcloak: Derogatory term for someone who performs only the minimum service length in the Harmonium (two years) before mustering out. Named after the lighter than normal cloaks issued to Harmonium troops during summer time.
Tenements: standard housing of Ortho’s working class to middle class. Each has a representative who speaks for it at public assembles and helps to bind the community together (often a serving or retired Harmonium member).
Thief Lord: Masters of the criminal guilds in ancient times. Villains of legendary wealth and cunning.
Venture Company: just about any small business, but especially one that travels a lot or which is made up of Freefolk adventurers.
Ward: Each city is divided into Wards, districts that specialise in a particular industry or activity. Many Ward names are standardised, and a traveller can find Wards of Harmony, Duty, Consensus, and War in cities throughout Ortho, as well as more mundane monikers such as the Dock Ward, Caravan Ward, Factory Ward, and in certain heavily-industrialised eastern cities, the Smog Ward. In larger cities, each Ward often contains several smaller districts, sometimes known as ‘quarters’ because they are officially assigned a ‘slice’ of each Ward based on compass bearings. The exact number of composition of city quarters varies to the needs of the populace, but most cities have at least Parchment Quarter supplying writing materials to the city, a Market Quarter for visiting traders, and a Licensed Quarter for entertainments. There’s also a Dyer’s Quarter, but it is often isolated outside the city itself because of the awful smell and social stigma attached to it.
Way of Harmony: The central philosophy of Orthorian culture originating from the Knights of Harmony and codified in the Book of Harmony.
Workhouse: Orthorian prison, where criminals pay of their debt to society through labour.
Contested Terms
Composer: Should Composer also refer to members of the Council?
Mark me down as firmly for "the OCA controls the Harmonium" - making the Harmonium = the military. That the planar belief is otherwise - is simply that - a planar belief and propaganda. It's notable to add that one does not have to be in the military to believe in the ideals - and I think that should be something we need to leave available in this society.