World of Zekira Glossary

** Glossary info:

Term, alternate wording, definition, examples of ‘earth-style’ professions where comparisons are possible, uses

Atasan - ‘high holders’, super-rich land holders, High Master/Mistress, politically active; the logical extension of Membayar with large land holds and a lot of Bayaran working for them, they deal in bonds more than slaves; franchise starters and corporation owners, rich politicians

Bayaran - ‘bond’, indentured servants who owe specific amounts of money to their Masters (governed by laws regarding payment schemes and incomes); those who go deeply in debt and are ‘paid for’ by a Membayar or above, and repay that specific person working directly for them, Habitual bonds cannot return to a higher status if they screw up enough, ‘Generation’ bonds are kids or family who pick up on massive debts to help pay it off; anyone who owes a fantastic amount to a credit card company, if the credit card was an individual person

Bond Agent - people of Membayar, Pemilik, Suzerain, Pelatih, Peridian, Sehatan, Penjagan, Atasan status may pay for other people’s debts. While they don’t have to, if the person doesn’t have at least one per certain-amount-of-years, the status will degrade. Limits are set for the different Status as to how many per year an agent may be working with

Breeder - a blanket term for the medical professionals of Peridian and Sehatan status, but specifically also the Peridian that created a specific offspring for a couple, generally speaking ‘those who work on people instead of animals’ in any way, and subdivided into actual childbearing and non-child related fields

Budak - a slave, held (owned) by someone of Pemilik or higher status; this is entirely financial in nature, as there is no ‘war’ anywhere on Zekira they are merely indebted so badly that there is no way to pay them off - or no need. They have certain rights (housing, health, etc) but also may not do specific things (vote, hold any land) until they are bought out, freed, or otherwise compensated. Budak might inherit a lot of money from a distant relative and buy themselves out, likewise a massive debt could be best approached by dropping into this status instead of the eternal struggle of Bayaran

Credit - Zekirans use Credits, all hard coin (various metals, crystals, etc), forgery is about the worst crime imaginable on Zekira...

Degree - the level of ability and legal rights that a Peridian attains; from 1-6, with 1 being a ‘couples broker’, 3 being specific to Ownership rights, and 6 being ‘full genetic manipulation’. Only 6^th degree Peridian may alter genetics, though some who do this without permission eventually wind up gaining that degree. It’s very, very expensive to do this

Exile - criminals aren’t executed on Zekira, but if they cannot be controlled or kept in society properly to pay back any marked debts (things like murdering a politician, destroying genetic samples, forgery, etc are ones which affect more than just one person, so the Land or Area takes them on), they might simply be branded an exile and let to rot. No one is allowed to aid them, doing so is also an exile-worthy offense

Hard Stock - Budak as goods, with a specific set of laws governing who can own or trade them, their rights, and such; note that Bond laws are slightly different than Hard Stock

Holding - land and possessions, with rights assigned per how much that land is worth, the entire society is structured around earning enough money to hold land

Human - though Zekirans are not earth-humans, they do refer to themselves as such for the sake of me writing anything about them... any reference to Humans generally means ‘one head two arms two legs’ and beyond that it’s almost anything goes

Kaumburuh - free workers, who make up 7 out of 10 Zekirans on the planet; they do not hold land, they must pay rent and get by somehow; they can vote, only locally, but are a massive force for voting so a lot of higher Status politicians work specifically with and for them; literally every working person who doesn’t own their own home on earth is technically Kaumburuh

L/A/Z - ‘land, area, zone’, this is how Zekirans note their holdings and map locations. Lands = continents, Areas = ‘countries’, Zones = cities/counties; also “#u” may be added, so “Z/K/Emer 45u” means someone holds 45 units of land in Zerin/Ka/Emer

Luar - known as “outsiders”, they are immortal Zekirans that have become this way either by quirks of breeding, or purposeful experimentation; in the long run, these are the people who eventually leave their homeworld when the rest of the population has died off, some 85 thousand years later, and subsequently colonize Planet Twenty and branch out into dragons... (aside from the alternate universe DMZ...)

Membayar - known as Master/Mistress, the lowest Status able to pay off debts and trade in Bayaran; usually they are from a long line of family members who have a business, often they are lawyers and tend toward legal work but that’s not exclusive; examples might be a person who owns a single restaurant in a chain, law firms, a pilot that owns their own plane and a small field to run it out of

Mutations - physical changes (sometimes not obvious) that are often paired with psionic power; may be both beneficial and detrimental, such as mange patches or flight wings; almost all mutations have been plotted out or ‘discovered’ by Breeders, over the many centuries Zekirans have needed breeding aid

Pelatih - Animal Masters, also known as Beast Lord or Lady, usually those people who have powers and mutations geared specifically toward animals, to control or heal them. They may come from lowly Budak stock, if that slave has a beneficial animal-tuned power it will automatically grant them their freedom; can be bought into but those without powers to aid them are usually at a disadvantage. Vets, jockeys, big game hunters

Pemilik - Owners of Budak, known as Lord/Lady, the lowest Status able to own hard stock and trade in slaves; they must vote and hold land in specific amounts like Membayar; often are seen as the snobby lay-abouts in contrast to the overworked and stiff-shirted Membayar; politicians, actors, idle rich

Penjagan - High Owners, the extension of Pemilik, who have very large plantation-style holdings and a vast number of Budak working on them, rather than paying off debts like Atasan do; they like being in politics as much as any Atasan; this is a recent addition to the Status list, only coming about in 10500 or so as a fully recognized Status; earth professions include drug lords, plantation owners, filthy idle rich...

Peridian - physicians with extensive training in genetics and breeding issues; Zekirans are notoriously infertile, so they require the use of aids, and these can come with a variety of benefits and issues based on what Degree is involved; every Peridian must start with Membayar or above Status, in order to even afford the training needed, and holds on to that status for legal reasons after attaining Peridian

Psionics - Zekirans can alter matter with their mind and willpower, there are hundreds of different abilities that are well documented and known among Peridian, and some being created by mad scientists (6^th Degree) in their labs; sometimes directly paired with mutations (such as ‘tech elf’ long ears and lacking a few fingers often means a psionic predisposition to electronics, technology, or electricity)

Renegade - Budak or Bayaran who skip out on their Lord or Master, who can try and stay hidden for a minimum of 20 years to become Tuantana if they have settled untamed land; if they’re found before this, they may face very stiff penalties and punishments

Rogue - criminals on the run, rather than merely escaping servitude, who will be imprisoned or Exiled on capture; they must have been convicted of a crime to be called a Rogue

Sehatan - the ‘doctor and nurse’ side of the medical profession, bought into like Peridian, and can diversify into psychology, dream-healing, power-specific training and the like depending on their personal abilities or mutations/powers; around ¾ of the “Breeders” of the world are Sehatan, with that ¼ being Peridian of different Degrees

Status - there are 12 recognized and several non-standard Status on Zekira, generally from “low to high” they are: Budak, Bayaran, Kaumburuh, Tuantana, Membayar, Pemilik, Suzerain, Pelatih, Sehatan, Peridian, Penjagan, Atasan. Also there are Renegade, Rogue, Exile, and Luar, depending on location and setting

Steeds - horses, though theirs have wings or wing-remnants for Grounded versions; Steeds are incredibly important to most Zekirans and to own one means you have the status (or want the status) to support them; they’re larger and taller than most Earth horses, and have wings that can be anything from ‘fairy or dragonfly’ to ‘massive bat wings’ or fully feathered, though not all of the winged ones can fly; racing and betting on those races is one of the largest industries on Zekira (and thus: fueling Bayaran and debt from gambling on them...)

Stock - the normal possessions of a Zekiran, generally ‘worth something’, rather than just ‘a closet full of knick-knacks’ 

Suzerain - combining the legal wit of Membayar and the larger holdings of Pemilik, they are very strong in politics; can hold twice as much as either Membayar or Pemilik, but have higher maintenance requirements as well, and some of them even have more than the basic Atasan/Penjagan amounts, they just don’t want to go the ‘full’ ‘high-whatever’; examples are self-help experts with their own video series, medium sized business owners

Tuantana - free land holders, who have earned enough to buy a Unit of land somewhere; often from a family of them, they must vote locally and if they have a certain amount of Land somewhere, they can also vote in whatever location they have that much in; they can hire workers, and if they have enough spare money to help out, they may retitle to Membayar and pay off debts; examples are small business owners, taxi drivers with their own car (steed carriage in this case)

Unit - the measure of land held, which physically varies based on the value of the nearby land and its proximity to an established Zone. Expressed in ‘square spans’, a span = about half a meter; one Unit of land is generally equitable to 100x100 spans, and costs around 10k credits to purchase; the value of any Unit changes based on what you put on it, use that land wisely

Zpara - in a word, coffee; theirs is of wider varieties, slightly spicier, but being able to be grown in different climates; usually red beans, but have violet, yellow, brown, and other such with different flavor expectations; Zekirans are wired...

** 

Note that only in the Alternate Universe “DragonMasters of Zekira” do two further Status exist, Dragon Master and Dragon Breeder - masters may command dragons in battle with the alien invaders found on that version of Zekira, while the breeders are responsible for engineering the variety of different types to use for these battles. DMZ universe characters are ‘new’, the alien invasion there has only barely started, and thus the dragon breeders are hard pressed to make quick fixes for the needs to defend their world.

Dragon Masters may also be Budak, Bayaran, or other such lower status, working off their debts or specifically working for their Lord/Lady; Dragon Breeders however must first be Peridian or Pelatih, along with whatever else that prior status involved

R’ly, Lheevdho, and Haad come from the non-dragon version, but will WIND UP on the Dragon version thanks to their ability to ‘GenreHop’. How this will play out for them is up in the air, but generally speaking the same people and locations exist on both versions, so I have to hand-wave whether they’d be accepted as ‘the same’ people... maybe they get traded to their other world, maybe they just get a spot for their dragons because dragons are important.