F
FAMILY (capitalized): The extended family structure recently introduced in the Kingdom Systems, primarily as a socially-acceptable means of dealing with the satyr virus and the physiological changes it produces. As a side effect, it also provides a family structure stable enough that Special Operations personnel may now marry and are no longer required to be sterile. The new Families, the first and best known of which is Family Cortin, consist of several spouses--ideally, but not necessarily, half male and half female--with any children. (As an example Family Cortin, at this point [2572], consists of Colonel Cortin herself, who is Family head but not a spouse, two wives, five husbands, and three children, with a fourth on the way. It may become more balanced in the future, since it began as a mostly-male Strike Force team and has as yet had little opportunity to court more than one civilian wife.)
FEALTY, CONDITIONAL: (Sandeman) An oath to someone in return for a consideration, unknown until Gaelan DarShona talked some of the warriors on the guardian fleet around Mjolnir into taking service in Planetary Security in exchange for Imperial credits. Such an oath is considered void if payment in wilfully withheld (inability to pay is negotiable) or if the one to whom such an oath is taken attempts to injure the oath-taker, at which point the one taking the oath may feel free to take appropriate action against the false acceptor.
FEALTY, PERSONAL: (Sandeman) An oath of absolute personal loyalty and obedience. Theoretically, anyone may swear such fealty to anyone, but in practice it is almost exclusively warriors swearing to Warleaders or other high-status warriors.
It is an honor either to be offered such fealty or to have it accepted. The one giving fealty (thakur-na) becomes, to the best of his ability, an extension of the one accepting it (thakur). The only acceptable reasons for disobeying a thakur's will are to preserve his honor or his life, with the thakur's honor taking precedence. This relationship is most obvious to non-Sandemans in the custom that any children a 'na fathers are considered the thakur's, and their use of the familiar mode of High War Speech.
The 'na has his right cheek tattooed with a mark of his thakur's choice. Although in theory, since a 'na does swear absolute obedience and perfect fidelity, there is no need to acknowledge even the greatest of such service, the Sandemans are realists; if a 'na gives greater service or does a deed more heroic than may be reasonably expected, his thakur will have the tattoo circled and allow his 'na to use his name hyphenated with the 'na's own. If the 'na outlives his thakur, his tattoo is barred with black to show honorable completion of service; if it works out the other way, his thakur will see to honorable burial, if possible at one of their clanhomes.
Although those are by far the commonest ways of ending the relationship, two others are possible. If the 'na commits a serious offense, the thakur may dismiss him by telling him something like, "Leave me; I no longer need you." The real meaning is "You have dishonored me"; the 'na is expected to atone by a painful death at either his own or his clan-chief's hands. The other, since Dana DruAlanna's case in 2624, is for the thakur to dismiss without offense, in which case the 'na's tattoo is barred with black and service is honorably terminated for both parties.
FELZINE: A mild, non-addictive tranquilizer.
FENRIS, Subsector 14-A:
No. systems: 174 Sector: Phoenix
with 3 inhabited planets: 7 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 8
with 1 inhabited planet: 22
Arms: On a counter-ermine field, a gold star of four large and eight
small points, charged with a red circle on which is a silver wolf's
head.
FIEFS: The subdivisions of the Empire. As of 2568, the end of the Traiti War--and including the new Traiti Sector--they are broken down as follows:
21 Sectors, consisting of two to eight Subsectors apiece
106 Subsectors, averaging 53 inhabited planets in 36 systems
1,431 multi-inhabited-planet systems
2,388 single-inhabited-planet systems
5,596 inhabited planets
Fiefs cannot be combined. If the heir to a fief marries a ruling noble, @ forfeits all claim to the fief @ was to inherit, and the next oldest child becomes heir. If one heir or ruling noble marries another, the Sovereign decides which forfeits @'s fief (usually the lower-ranking, if they are of different levels) and who is to succeed (usually the next oldest child).
FIELD AGENT: An IntelDiv officer with special training in covert intelligence gathering. Although they often work openly, sometimes even in uniform, they are not identified as field agents and are always assigned to cases where their special skills (such as reading the subtleties of body language, some of them with near-telepathic accuracy) are needed.
When working under an assumed identity, a field agent will use whatever means are available and most effective for getting the information a needs or otherwise accomplishing @'s mission. While this is recognized as necessary under such circumstances, it is not something the Empire takes pride in or wishes publicized. It is also unfortunate that at times former field agents revert to this end-over-means philosophy, though if they have left the Service, there is seldom any harm done, and very little the Empire can do unless the person has broken a law as well.
FORNAX, Sector 4:
Ruled by: No. systems: 472
Subsectors: 5 Inhabited planets: 285
A. Oberon D. Xanth
B. Titania E. Arden
C. Avalon
FORSETI, Subsector 18-F:
No. systems: 90 Sector: Aries
with 3 inhabited planets: 7 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 9
with 1 inhabited planet: 21
FREYA, Subsector 16-D:
No. systems: 97 Sector: Virgo
with 3 inhabited planets: 4 Ruled by:
with 2 inhabited planets: 8
with 1 inhabited planet: 31
FUSION: The forced combination of hydrogen atoms at extremely high temperatures to produce energy. It is used in most craft (spaceships and ground vehicles) which are too small to carry T/CT generators.