The Official Vatican Assassins Lexicon

Triple Ascendency –

Red Class Citizen – There are several tiers of citizenship that are color-coded to work, training, and education.  Depending on the era, each color wanes and ascends in political influence, with the exception of the lower educational tiers: The Red Class.

The Lower Red Commons – A neighborhood in the trans-axial junction of the Orbital Elevator Linkage.  Mostly industrial and named after the heavy population of Red Class Citizens, this warehouse and distribution point has the largest population density in the Paradise City Complex. 

Jovian Superstructure – Taking nearly 600 years to build, this massive 696,731.46 km toroidal superstructure forms an artificial ring around the planet Jupiter. The interior of the torrid forms the downward floor while the exterior has large sections of clear Axial Alloy that lets in sunlight for crops and other bio-organic processes.  The structure was sparsely populated, with less than 9 billion people, mostly clustering around a few large megacities. Designed and constructed during the 6th millennium by the Status Forward AI Hive, it housed humanity for nearly 1,000 years.  

Pod-Kin – At the beginning of the 25th Gerrad cycle mass clone farms were created for slave labor by the “Mars Accepts Greatness Again” movement.  The Martian utilitarian government invested billions of Zulags into the development of a nonsentient humanoid form. The clones gained sentients during a wetware product patch and ‘woke’, then overthrew their oppressors by forcing the population into the cloning vats. The Martin Clone Action, as it was named by the clones met with a quiet end as the clones could not breed and the failed patch also destabilized their immune systems collapsed.  Pod-kin was what the survivors who emerged from the cloning vats called themselves, though only forth thousand out of two billion survived the forced de-maturation of the cloning vats. It may also refer to genetically modified individuals who were processed in the same vat or “pod”. 

Black Water – Black Water is a constructed phage virus that infects the pleasure centers of the brain. It is delivered in a syringe ampule with a saline nutrient solution. The nutrients are there to counter the near-comatose state that often occurs with the infection.  The phage is designed to die six hours after delivery but infection and swelling can last for up to 24 hours. Some instances of death have occurred, which citizens call “the sweet black death.” 

Cyber Narcos – A gang that has generationally been the center of drug trafficking in Paradise City. Chain family (chosen family, not pod kin) form the backbone of an honor-bound organization.  Elders work with city officials and politicians while street-level couriers and street samurai enforcers run various drugs and interfaces that give the general population a bit of numbing to keep them sane. 

Triks – Sex work. 

Synth – Short for Synthetic, as in an android, robot, or automaton. Built exclusively on Mars, Synthetics have allowed for the expansion of civilization by doing the work that nobody wants to do.  During the construction of the Jovian Superstructure, the Martian colonies were destroyed and only a few million Synths remain in circulation.  

Slave Pit – Slave Pits were originally for Synth battles, where one or more Synths would battle a variety of mechanized monsters or other Synths.  When Mars shut down its operations and no new Synths were being created, they converted the gladiator events to a more “organic” version.  Gangs run all Slave Pits, and the authorities only intervene if reports of minors fighting get out of hand. These betting operations form a core economic staple for most gangs.

Snacks – “Snacks” are a 1% to 5% reward taken off the top of a drug or input shipment. The courier can use them or sell them, and it is considered a standard reward for a fast delivery. Anything above 5% is considered a cut.