Codename: Ghost

Glossary

~ This is a story with futuristic stealth action. Many readers enjoy putting the various puzzle pieces of a complex narrative together by themselves, but for those who don't I have included a glossary of all relevant terms ~

Active Camouflage: theoretical clothing technology which allows the wearer to fully blend into their surroundings and become functionally invisible. Numerous elite mercenary armies are pouring billions into R&D to perfect this.

All1 Sneaking Suit: classified fullbody military outfit used chiefly in advanced covert operations for Praxis Army. Achieves limited Active Camouflage. Its exterior material is an advanced black plastic fabric membrane: bulletproof, temperature resistant, and permeability-adjustable. Its head-covering facemask includes advanced optical systems and basic gas filtration. Health monitoring systems and emergency injections are housed subdermally in the chest area. Arms have subdermal double-layer pouches which store chemicals, poisons, and antidotes that can be expelled out of subdermal fingertip tubes as liquid or gas. The All1 "core" is a small black box located on the back of the neck; it houses the central processing unit and can retract the entire suit inside of itself at the press of a button for easy storage. Other devices can be paired and/or synced with the All1 to expand its general utility, the most common being the multi-tool.

Arkan Dominion: powerful old nation-state located in heavily forested central Pangaea. Contracted the White Army five years ago to bring the secessionist West Republic back to heel, sparking the brief but nearly apocalyptic Crater Campaign.

Black Army: tied with the White Army for first place in the world military standings. Known for its surgical tactics and highly sophisticated armaments. Scion of the Golden Army's dissolution. Has a tangled history of bad blood with the White Army.

Cabal: group of scientists working exclusively for a single mercenary army. Members are sometimes kidnapped from their homes and forced into service. The top five army's all have Cabal's to stay technologically competitive.

Church of Man: largest religion on Earth. Unlike most other religions which are pantheistic or Gnostic, the Church of Man's central ideology promotes the divinity of humankind. Chiefly led by First Daughters.

Colossi: giant statues ranging in height from 4 to 100 meters. Found in a diversity of nations. Some few ancient examples, possibly built by an extinct non-human precursor civilization, remain amidst certain jungles and coastal caves.

Competition: chief negotiating tool/event used by the alien Mediators. Each "Competition" has its own set of rules. Once both sides agree to be bound by those rules, the Mediator in charge has full discretion with which to adjudicate the proceedings and eventually award a winner.

Contract: written or spoken agreement enforceable by law. Contracts form the heart of Pangaea's privatized military industrial complex. International law stipulates that nations may only wage war against legally recognized enemies by contracting legal mercenary armies. All citizens of a Contract Holding State are considered Citizen Contract Holders, and therefore subject to certain protections, guarantees and conditions. To protect urban environments piecemeal, high ranking officials of the Contract Holding State designate various zones as "Havens", in descending order of importance, to eliminate or simply reduce their status as potential combat areas. Failure by the Contract Holding Army to abide by all laws protecting Contract Holding Officials, Citizen Contract Holders, and Havens can lead to penalties ranging from dismissal of High Command Officers and de-certification of an army's legal military status down to simple Contract dissolution, Contract bonus loss or specific national banning of individual squads/soldiers. All decisions are subject to adjucation and appeal at International Courts under The Accords.