| Name | Meaning |
| Academy of Sciences | Professional body with broad responsibilities for education and research |
| Architects | General name of the unknown alien predecessors that left enigmatic ruins scattered through space |
| Bioreactor | A device for growing and incubating biological matter (either genetically engineered and/or cloned), usually with the goal of food production |
| Biosynthetic Synergistics | The study of man-machine interfacing: Cyberware (implants) and Cyberwear (clothing and other wearable tech enabled devices) |
| CCS | Colonial Courier Service. Equivalent to the X-Boat service in canon Traveller |
| ComEcon | Commission for Economics. A division of the GPP charged with modelling agricultural and industrial production, and matching that up to consumer demand. Publishes results are used as instructions for Interkosmos and UGS to implement. The All-Union ComEcon one of the most important and influential Committees in the USSP. The subdivision working at the Kosmos level is the KosComEcon. |
| Contact | Branch of SPF engaged in deep space exploration |
| CR | Union Roubles (aka ‘credits’). Standard currency of the USSP. 100 kopeks make one rouble |
| Cryostasis | Experimental medical procedure to drastically reduce a human body’s functions to almost zero through drug treatments and very low temperatures. Colloquially known as vitrification |
| Cybernetics | Branch of engineering focussed on robotics |
| DSI | Data & Signals Intelligence. Branch of SPF concerned with intelligence gathering and code breaking |
| Faction | A political movement with the GPP that has a particular agenda. Factions come and go, though some can be long lived |
| Futsal | Team sports game derived from Football (Soccer) played indoors in a walled and roofed arena |
| Gengineering | The study of manipulating human genetic code to create new expressions of mankind |
| GFM | Financial Monitoring Group. Department of SePo that investigate economic crimes |
| GPP | Global Progress Party. The government organ that runs the USSP |
| GSE | Great Soviet Encyclopaedia (Bolsháya sovétskaya entsiklopédiya). Your authoritative source of information |
| Hencity | The study of possible futures extrapolated from current trends |
| Hiberstasis | Medical procedure used in space travel to induce a state of torpor thus reducing the life support needs of a traveller, and to reduce the subjective time taken to travel |
| Hibernaculum | Temperature controlled chamber where travellers are cared for while in induced hibernation (hiberstasis) |
| IFF | Identify, Friend or Foe. The standard automatic recognition system that all USSP vessels must transmit. Failure to respond to a sensor ping with a valid IFF marks a ship either as a pirate, an enemy, or an alien. USSP military have their own IFF system that responds to civil pings with appropriately aggressive responses. |
| Interkosmos | State owned mega-corporation with responsibility for movement of goods between Republic worlds |
| Intellectronics | The study of artificial intelligence, more particularly the problems posed by it |
| IMPO | Izhvesk Heavy Industries – Ижевск Mасштабное производство Отрасли. State owned mega-corporation specialising in engineering, electrical equipment, and electronics |
| Iron Circle | A secret organisation reputedly composed entirely of rogue telepaths. SePo class it as a terrorist group |
| Interlag | A planet used as a penal colony. Many colonies were settled and tamed using the Interlag system and have now matured to be republics in good standing. Only one Interlag exists in K68 at Bailkal 0108 |
| Kosmoflot | State owned mega-corporation with responsibility for passenger transport between Republic worlds |
| K68 | Kosmos 68. The name of the subsector where this setting is focussed |
| K70 | Kosmos 70. The name of the subsector conquered by the alien Zhuki and abandoned by mankind |
| KriPo | Criminal Police. Traditional policing of crimes such as murder |
| LT | Local Time. The calendar used on each republic world to describe their own unique day/night and yearly cycle. Uses standard seconds, minutes, and hours, but arranges as many hours as there needs to be to make a day, and as many days as there needs to be to make a local year |
| Longest Hour | In local republic time clocks the last hour before midnight that has as many minutes as it needs to in order to reach midnight. All other hours are the standard 60 minutes. Therefore, every republic will have its own Longest Hour ranging from 61 minutes to 119 minutes |
| Malingering | The crime of choosing not to work (as distinct from being unable to work through, say, injury or infirmity – in which case the state provides support) |
| Measurement | The USSP uses the International System of Measurements (SI) |
| MET | Moscow Earth Time. Standardised timekeeping system to which all all other clocks are aligned. Uses traditional values in a 24 hour format. Used primarily for scientific and military purposes to ensure a common frame of reference |
| MKB | The Bureau of Corrective Thoughts. Reputedly a secret department of SePo staffed by people with telepathic ability |
| Money | Fast money: physical cash. Enough for daily expenses. Medium money: bank drafts in electronic form, stored in portable data cartridges. Used to transfer moderate amounts of money, and typically the form that travellers will be paid in for their odd jobs. Slow money: electronic bank drafts of large sums of money that must be cleared with the issuing bank (on another world) before it can be accessed |
| Motherland / Fatherland | A person’s motherland is the place he/she was born: their colony origin world, the place that nurtured them to life. Everyone’s fatherland is where their original ancestors came from: Earth |
Nachalstvo (1) | Senior Party appointees with influential posts in government and industry |
Nachalstvo (2) | In game terms, any character with a Soc score of A or higher is considered part of the Party elite and can expect extra powers and privileges. Filling a place crudely analogous to ‘aristocracy’ in canon Traveller |
| Parasitism | The crime of taking from society without giving anything back |
| Pharmasynthesiser | Learning machine enabled small batch drug fabricator |
| Power Block | An aggregation of people with similar life histories or lifestyles. A peer group that exerts political influence |
| P-stone | Pseudostone. Distinctive self-repairing material that occurs at ancient Architect sites. Current theory describes it as ‘ordinary matter infused with psychic energy’ |
| Psychemisation | The study of how chemical compounds affect human perception |
| Q-stone | Quasi-pseudostone. Distinctive building material that occurs at ancient Architect sites. Current theory describes it as an insulating material for p-stone |
| RI | (Strategic) Rocket Infantry. Marines. An organisation within Strategic Rocket Corps tasked with protecting navy assets and projecting force on to planets |
| RC | (Strategic) Rocket Corps. Navy. The space navy of the USSP |
| Robot | Autonomous mechanised workers are machines manufactured from metals, ceramics, and plastics, powered by batteries, designed to perform specific tasks |
| Sharashka | A research facility (often secret) run by the Academy of Sciences |
| Ship Share | A state lottery award that gives the bearer the potential part ownership of a star ship |
| Stavka | Military Council installed to take command of the K68 subsektor, HQ on Archangel |
| SePo | Security Police. A general term to describe the many different bureaus and departments that investigate political and economic crime |
| SF | Space Force. A branch of Union Defence Force (Army) that deals with the local space around the republic home world |
| SoSy Tech | Soviet Systems Health Technologies. State owned mega corporation active in pharmaceuticals |
| SPF | Special Purpose Fleet. Scouts. Space faring organisation with complex responsibilities, known for its high casualty rate amongst members |
| SPHS | State Public Hostel System. The system of hostels free to all citizens. Every starport will have at least one. Many more can exist on a colony, with varying levels of comfort |
| SSB | State Security Bureau. Department of SePo. Successor to the KGB. Charged with investigating political crimes |
| Stukachi | ‘Squealers’. Comrades who provide information to SePo, particularly the largest of these agencies, the SSB |
| Technology (Tech) level | The USSP at the current date of 2168 has an average tech level of 11.5 using the scale contained in Cepheus. Some remote research facilities are pushing beyond 12. Most republic worlds are operating at much lower levels. |
| Traveller | Pen & paper roleplaying game owned by Far Future Enterprises, designed by Mark Miller, characterised by a 2d6 resolution mechanism and a sandbox approach |
| traveller | A general term to describe a person in this fictional future that engages in adventures |
| Triumphs of Socialist engineering | Mega-construction projects. Includes the caverns of Novyy Kiev, the orbiting ring of Archangel, the hollow asteroids of Vorkuta, and the marine arcology towers of Zarna |
| UAS | Union of Soviet Artists. Professional body representing workers in creative and knowledge industries |
| UDF | Union Defence Force. Army. Every colony world has its own formations of UDF |
| UGS | Union General Store. State owned mega-corporation with responsibility for all retail activity |
| USSP | Union of Soviet Socialist Planets. The overall name for the entire relevant political body of this setting. Equivalent terms would be ‘Federation’, or ‘Empire’ |
| Vor (1) | (Lieutenant) a leader in a criminal organisation |
| Vor (2) | (Captain) a captain of a pirate vessel |
| Vorovskoy mir | Catch all term for organised crime syndicates. An individual organisation is called a Bratva (brotherhood) |
| Zhuki | Beetles. Alien invaders with a multitude of forms that prey on other creatures, humans included |
| Zhuktaxonimistics | Academic discipline of naming and classifying the alien Zhuki |
(Traveller RPG)
KOSMOS 68 