Bucky Batteries are power generators built around a man-made radioactive core with a half-life of 91,634.4 years.  The core is constructed by generating short-lived rare earth metal atoms inside buckyballs made from radioactive silicon isotopes.  The steric and ionic forces of the buckyball extend the half-life of the metal. The battery’s hardware converts radiation into useable energy. They are inefficient to produce, less than a 10^th of the initial energy cost will be released as radiation.  They tend to be large; the battery in deep space buoys has a mass of 36 metric tons and produces 144 kilowatts a day. 

Green Sleeves are man made leaves that float in deep space; connected to space stations and orbital habits by long umbilicals.  The first sleeves were translucent boxes made of a poly-hydrocarbon that filtered out dangerous radiation. The standard dimensions were 500m by 500m by 4m. They were filled with phytoplankton or algae that had to be harvested and processed. Modern sleeves are made from monomolecular carbon nets. Their surface area is several square kilometers but their depth is a few centimeters.  These sleeves contain trillions of pigmented microscopic phospholipids discs that carry out photosynthesis and produce pure O2 and sugar.

Named for a nearly forgotten goddess of wealth and prosperity, the Hemangini Tree is a rare thing. The tree's roots burrow deep into the earth and draw out rare and precious metals. The tree blooms with the most lovely flowers, hued by the metal it has consumed. The long lived flowers fall away, and come fall, hard nuts of near solid precious metal are dropped. The composition of these acorns is determined by the metal present, and the trees range from most common copper to etherially rare platinum and mythril. Most dwarves dislike these trees, and burn them when possible.

The power fist is a primitive weapon system used by conventional battle armor. An armored head is shot forward by powerful hydraulics, delivering a staggering punch. This is effective against structures, barricades, and for close range called shots against tanks. The power fist is cheap to make, easy to maintain, and sickeningly effective against infantry and unarmored vehicles. Unfortunately, the fist is a slow weapon and usually goes last in combat. Heavy, ultra-heavy and impact absorbing armor can also stop a power fist. There are special power armors that mount two fists, and there are mecha sized power fists.

Rockytop Freehold is a basic castle, a central keep with a curtain wall around it and a few small guard towers. The keep is principally defended by terrain, with rocky crevasses, crumbling cliffs and sharp ridges breaking up army groups. A rural keep, it is more involved with local festivals, grain spirits, and hunting traditions than campaigns and war. The township around the castle has a reputation for being lowbrow and inbred. An obscure wizard did create a very powerful and well known spell while working here, though magic is frowned upon by the locals. It's cabbage salad is famous.

Senior rangers are often known as Forestals, and they care for the wood as much as a druid would. They are known for the crowns they wear. These are made of tree bark and vines, flowers and braided herbs. The magic of the crown allows the Forestal to pass unhindered, without trace, and to speak with plants and animals as he wills. These crowns can only be made by spirits or tree-kings and convey honor and respect among rangers and druids. On rare occasions they will be given to friends of the forest, often for marriages or auspicious child births.

The Glade is a trust composed of wizards who make monstrous human hybrids, mongrel men, and augmented beings. They have no qualms about the horror they inflict in their search for a superior fighting specimen. Victims are forced to fight gladiator style, using only their weaponized bodies. Escapees are hunted down ruthlessly and those who help them become test subjects themselves. Driven mad by pain and sorcery, the once-men who escape are little more than real monsters, and many think the Glade noble for capturing and disposing of them. Little do outsiders know the truth behind the Glade's monster hunting.

Their chattering was heard for miles.  It was a piercing metallic scream; when you heard it you felt your skin was shrinking and ears bleeding. Today they are known only as the small metal skeletons adorning pubs and curio cabinets. The Hemangini flying squirrels once roamed these mountains; sharpening their alloyed teeth on whatever metal or ore they could find.   Their favorite dietary supplement was worked metal.  If left alone a single squirrel would consume an entire coin purse, ventilate someone’s armor or circumcise his sword. The dwarves labeled them an abomination and a holy war was declared.   

A Usurper and a Wizard have conspired to create a trebuchet of exceptional size and strength, but it's real power lies in it's charms of enchantment. The King plans a jovial celebration and tournament, which the Usuper plans to ruin by bombarding the festivities with projectiles that only become visible after they crash to earth. The Heroes must find a way to stop the usurper and destroy his siege engine. The Celebration cannot be interrupted, and the search must be done in secrecy, both for the guests, and to take the Usurper by surprise. Won't someone think of the children?

Built in another age, lost to time, the Red Fortress is massive and ancient. Made from millions of hand made red bricks, it is the size of a small town. A river runs through it's foundations, and there is a city within, piled on top of itself, and a city without hiding in it's shadow. Seat of the King, and Shrine to the Sun God, it broods, a man-made mountain. It is the heart of a nation of cattle herders, merchants, and semi-nomads, and the bane of the plains dwelling orcs. The fortress is named in more than one prophecy.

"You find yourself in a vast temple filled with terrifying carvings."

“Every new idea is a threat.” The City is the most efficient and orderly known. Twenty years of growth and stability predicated on the Lord’s abilities to limit his subjects’ thoughts.  With an ancient item won with a hidden dagger, the Lord keeps a clairvoyant presence in his subjects’ minds. His only command: “Follow thy path.”  The comprehensive bureaucracy assigns tasks. These tasks become the day’s first and last thoughts.  Homogeneity and routine prevent deviation; novelty is the enemy.  All culture, material and otherwise is regulated.  The Lord and his untested narcissistic heir are alone free to set their paths. 

Unit/Mission-Network (UMN) is the network for the computers within a military unit’s equipment. UMNs are assigned a unique data encryption and a transmission prefix codes for each unit.  UMNs vary in size; a sniper and spotter have a small UMN, while logistics units have millions of signals in their UMNs.   UMNs have two essential components: the hardware (the HUB), assigned to the HUB specialist/s, and the KEY assigned to the unit commander. The KEY is a list of unique commands necessary to access the network and change parameters.  Ideally, administrator access is limited to the commander and the HUB specialist/s.    

Ve’laan is a unique metal, completely waterproof. It occurs naturally only on the seafloor around hydrothermal vents; thus mining is limited to merfolk and the like. Smelting the ore into metal is difficult, done in submerged forges with heat and steam. Producing a dark silvery blue used in jewelry, it also keeps a hard, sharp edge. Ve’laan must be kept constantly wet; left dry for more than a day, the metal will weaken and crack. Weapons from it are popular with pirates and some explorers, with custom sheathes of soaked cloth. Jewelry can often be worn in water-filled glass globes.

Since even priests of Zxtkvf cannot pronounce his name but rather respectfully refer to him as Our Lord, the common populace simply refer to him as UU. His domain lies in all that is unfathomable and unbelievable, from unpronounceable names, strange phenomena to events with such a miniscule chance of occurring as to be negligible.  He is also known as God of the Strange and Desperate, as his worshippers are either those fascinated with anything out of the ordinary or those in dire circumstances wishing for the one‘impossible’event that will turn things completely around.