BONDSMAN

Clans can keep prisoners taken during combat. These are called bondsmen, and are considered members of the laborer caste, unless and until the capturing Clan releases them or promotes them back to warrior status. A bondsman is bound by honor, not by shackles. Custom dictates that even Bloodnamed warriors captured in combat be held for a time as bondsmen. All bondsmen wear a woven bracelet called a bond-cord. The base color of the -bondcord indicates to which Clan the individual is now bound, and the striping indicates which unit captured him.

CASTES

Clan society is rigidly divided into five castes: warrior, scientist, merchant, technician, and laborer. Each caste has many subcastes, which are based on specialties within a professional field. The warrior caste is based on a systematic eugenics program that uses the genes of prestigious current and past warriors to produce new members of the caste (see Sibko). These products of genetic engineering are known as true-borns. Other castes maintain a quality gene pool by strategic marriages within each caste.

CODEX

The codex is each Clan warrior's personal record. It includes the names of the original Bloodnamed warriors from which a warrior is descended. It also records background information such as the warrior's generation number, Blood House, and codex ID, an alphanumeric code noting the unique aspects of that person's DNA. The codex also contains a record of the warrior's military career. Many Clan warriors wear their codex as a kind of bracelet; Wolf's Dragoons members wear their codex as tags around the neck.

COMSTAR

ComStar, the interstellar communications network, was the brainchild of Jerome Blake, Minister of Communications during the latter years of the Star League. After the League's fall, Blake seized Terra and reorganized what was left of the communications network into a private organization that sold its services to the five Successor Houses for a profit. Since that time, ComStar has also developed into a powerful secret society steeped in mysticism and ritual. Initiates to the quasi-religious ComStar Order commit themselves to lifelong service.

ELEMENTALS

Elementals are the elite, battle-armored infantry of the Clans. These men and women are giants, bred specifically to handle Clan-developed battle armor. The Inner Sphere military has recently captured samples of these battle suits and have developed their own versions, but they do not breed 2.4-meter-tall Elementals to wear and fight in the battle suits.

FREEBORN/FREEBIRTH

An individual conceived and born by natural means is freeborn. Because the Clans value their eugenics program so highly, a freeborn is automatically assumed to have little potential.

Freebirth is an epithet used by trueborn members of the Clan warrior caste, generally expressing disgust or frustration. If a trueborn warrior refers to another trueborn as a freebirth, it is a mortal insult.

HONOR ROAD

Clan society is a warrior's society in which honor is a key important concept defining behavior and obligations. Honor road is a Clan code of conduct that is analogous to the Japanese bushido,the way of the warrior.

HONORNAME

Among Wolf's Dragoons an Honorname is analogous to a Clan Bloodname (see above). The surnames descend from the warriors who originally arrived with Jaime and Joshua Wolf when the Dragoons came to the Inner Sphere on an extended intelligence mission for Clan Wolf. To be eligible to compete for an Honorname, a Dragoon must be of the proper ageframe and neither under disciplinary ban, nor the holder of another Honorname. In contrast to the Clans, only one individual in each ageframe, or generation, has the right to bear a particular Honorname. All eligible Dragoons with a known genetic link to the Honorname bloodline are honorbound to compete in the Honor-name Trial. It is unusual for an individual to lose the right to bear an Honorname he/she has won, but it could happen as a result of a particularly heinous crime or breach of honor.

INNER SPHERE

The Inner Sphere was the term originally applied to the star empires that joined together to form the Star League in the mid-2700s. The states, kingdoms, and pirate domains just beyond the Inner Sphere are known as the Periphery, the great unknown. When Aleksandr Kerensky led his exiles out from the Inner Sphere, they traveled even beyond the Periphery in search of a life that would remove them irrevocably from the destructive wars of the Inner Sphere.

JUMPSHIPS AND DROPSHIPS

JumpShip

Interstellar travel is accomplished via JumpShips, first developed in the twenty-second century. These somewhat ungainly vessels consist of a long, thin drive core and a sail resembling an enormous parasol, which can extend up to a kilometer in width. The ship is named for its ability to "jump" instantaneously across vast distances—up to thirty light years per jump. Before it can make another jump, however, the ship must recharge its interstellar drives by gathering up more solar energy. This can take up to a week.

The JumpShip's enormous sail is constructed from a special metal that absorbs vast quantities of electromagnetic energy from the nearest star. When it has soaked up enough energy, the sail transfers it to the drive core, which converts it into a space-twisting field. An instant later, the ship arrives at the next jump point, a distance of up to thirty light years. This field is known as hyperspace, and its discovery opened to mankind the gateway to the stars.

JumpShips never land on planets. Interplanetary travel is carried out by DropShips, vessels that are attached to the JumpShip until arrival at the jump point.

DropShip

Because interstellar JumpShips must avoid entering the heart of a solar system, they must "dock" in space at a considerable distance from a system's inhabited worlds. DropShips were developed for interplanetary travel. As the name implies, a DropShip is attached to hardpoints on the JumpShip's drive core, later to be dropped from the parent vessel after in-system entry. Though incapable of FTL travel, DropShips are highly maneuverable, well-armed, and sufficiently aerodynamic to take off from and land on a planetary surface. The journey from the jump point to the inhabited worlds of a system usually requires a normal-space journey of several days or weeks, depending on the type of star.

KHAN

Each Clan elects two leaders, or Khans. One serves as the Clan's senior military commander and bureaucratic administrator. The Second Khan's position is less well-defined. He or she is second-in-command, carrying out duties assigned by the first Khan. In times of great internal or external threat, or when a coordinated effort is required of all Clans, an ilKhan is chosen to serve as the supreme ruler of the Clans.

LOREMASTER

The Loremaster is the keeper of Clan laws and history. The position is honorable and politically powerful. The Loremaster plays a key role in inquiries and trials, where he is often assigned the role of Advocate or Interrogator.

OATHMASTER

The Oathmaster is the honor guard for any official Clan ceremony. The position is similar to that of an Inner Sphere sergeant-at-arms, but it carries a greater degree of respect. The Oathmaster administers all oaths, and the Loremaster records them. The position of Oathmaster is usually held by the oldest Blood-named warrior in a Clan (if he or she desires the honor), and is one of the few positions not decided by combat.

PERIPHERY

Beyond the borders of the Inner Sphere is the Periphery, the edge of the vast domain of known and unknown worlds stretching endlessly into interstellar night. Once populated by colonies from Terra, the worlds of the Periphery were devastated technologically, politically, and economically by the fall of the Star League. At present, the Periphery is the refuge of piratical Bandit Kings, privateers, and outcasts from the Inner Sphere.