This is a list of terms or phrases your characters should be aware of, and what their meaning is.

Diver - Divers are named such because they are the people who travel down to The Surface and brave The Storms to find anything useful that can help their Island prosper. Divers are also typically responsible for seeing to the use of salvage, allocating supplies, researching projects and new technologies, as well as the military defense of their home both from Pirates and from Beasts. Not all of them have loyalty to an Island however. It should be noted, that the basis of a Diver crew consists of a Captain, a Breaker, a Loader, and a Security Personnel. It is not uncommon for Captains to take on Loader or Security positions themselves, but they are considered desperate to do so. While a crew may typically take on more of these primary roles, the most common is to add more Security, or other roles such as Engineers and Scientists. There are Diver crews that consist of entire fleets of ships, and thus have many, many people in every role.

Rig - A Rig to put it simply, is the equipment loadout that a Diver takes with them to The Surface on an expedition. A Rig may refer to the different equipment and weaponry that a suit of power armor has attached to it, or it may refer to entire vehicles should such a thing be part of an expedition.

The Calamity - This was the time period where the world became covered in darkness, and ancient civilization was somehow destroyed. The Calamity brought about the creation of the Sea of Clouds and it was at this point that humanity evacuated The Surface and started living on Islands. However, humanity lived such a meager existence in those first years that there was little to no record kept of The Calamity itself. As such, today, very little is known about The Calamity. All that is known, is that it was a great Apocalyptic event which drove the once great human civilization to evacuate their homeworld and live out a meager existence in its sky.

The Surface - When people speak of The Surface, they refer to the planet's surface, beneath the Sea of Clouds where Divers go to claim salvage. It is a wasteland of wreckage and ruins, where the threats come from four things. The Beasts that live there have mutated into monsters, ancient technology that still functions can often perceive people as a threat, Pirates often won't hesitate to kill others, and of course, The Storms makes any expedition run on a ticking timer.

The Storms - This does not refer to the perpetual storm that covers the entire world, but rather the specific instances where this storm picks up. While The Sea of Clouds covers the planet entirely, and is often referred to as a storm, the threats that The Storms bring such as heavy winds, acid rain, and lightning only happen under certain circumstances. These 'Storms within a Storm' move around, and a Captain must always be aware of where the next storm is going to hit, and how long they have before they need to evacuate their crew, as takeoff during one is nearly impossible.

Island - An Island is a floating city, held up by ancient technology from the time of the Calamity. On these Islands is where people make their home, and from which Divers set out on their Expeditions. Depending on the success of local Divers an Island may be a cozy village, or an absolute fortress. While a less defended Island would typically be an easier target for outside threats, these smaller, less advanced Islands are capable of lowering themselves down into the Sea of Clouds, making landing on them nearly impossible, let alone fully attacking them.

Pirates - Pirates are Divers who have loyalty to no Island and will not hesitate to attack other Divers either on the surface or in the air. Pirates will always prefer to steal salvage from another Diver crew than to actually do the work of finding and retrieving it themselves. It is not uncommon for Pirates to find wreckage sites, and leave behind their own Beacons that will alert them when a Diver team arrives, so that they can let them do the work, and then swoop in and steal their haul. Pirates are far from 'one note' so to speak, as you can never tell when a Pirate group will simply kill you for your haul, tell you it's the loot or your life, or on occasion, simply demand you pay them to leave you alone. While most Pirates are the worst sorts of people, are are some who are merely mercenaries, branded as Pirates due to being loyal to nobody but themselves, but they will fight alongside whoever pays them to to do so.

Beasts - Beasts are the wildlife on The Surface that have mutated into monsters, and are incredibly dangerous. Many of them will attack on sight, and are capable of taking a massive amount of punishment before going down, while being able to dish it out just as heavily. Beasts come in many shapes and sizes, some crawl, some walk, some even fly. It's not uncommon for flying Beasts to venture above The Sea of Clouds and attack traveling ships, or even Islands.

Beacons - Beacons are the main way that The Surface is mapped out. If a wreckage site is discovered, a Beacon will be left behind so a Diver crew can return. There are also Major Beacons that have been placed to keep track of the planet's rotation, as Islands are fixed in place, and the planet beneath them rotates independently of them. These Beacons are how people know where their Island sits on the Sea of Clouds at any given moment.

The Rumbling - There are a few places in the world where there is constant 'Rumbling' detected on the surface. These locations actively move around from place to place, and it is not known what the cause is. All attempts to get close to The Rumbling have resulted in complete loss of contact with the teams sent to investigate. All that is currently known is that if The Rumbling is approaching, all Divers need to immediately evacuate the area. It has also been noted that, during some expeditions, Divers claimed that The Rumbling was not moving toward them, and in fact in some cases, was even moving away from them. And then, for some reason, completely changed course, and began moving directly toward their salvage site. There are too few cases of this happening to say why exactly this happens, but it seems to have something to do with engaging The Ancients.

The Ancients - One of the four threats mentioned was ancient technology. This is usually in the form of machines and automatons that are extremely territorial, and come in many shapes and sizes just like Beasts. They almost always attack Divers on sight and there is currently no known way to communicate with them. As it stands, they are mindless machines lashing out at anything that might threaten their continued existence. The technology that drives them however is a complete mystery, and both Engineers and Scientists that have attempted to research the remains of Ancients have failed to achieve any understanding of them, as they are simply far too advanced.

The Church - The Church view themselves as the pinnacle of humanity, those who will rightfully someday inherit the Earth. They are situated on one of, if not the largest Island there is, and it is the most well defended fortress known to mankind. Their technology is well ahead of other Islands and their Divers are known as some of the most ruthless around, not willing to take chances on whether another crew are pirates or not. There are rumors that the only known records of The Calamity are currently held by them.

This is a list of the crew roles within a Diver Team. The four main roles are required for a crew to function, while the additional two roles are considered unrequired additions that serve no direct purpose for the success of an expedition.

Captain - The Captain is simply put, the person who owns the ship. They are in charge of piloting the ship, navigating The Sea of Clouds getting the crew safely down to The Surface, and ensuring they remain as a cohesive team. Additional responsibilities of the Captain is keeping track of the different threats that may end an expedition, such as The Storms and The Rumbling and to continuously scout the area with Beacons alongside Security so that any threats from Beasts or Ancients is detected before it arrives.

Breaker - The Breaker has a simple job. Break anything that stands between the Crew and Salvage. They are typically experts at explosives and deconstruction, allowing them to remove any obstacles the crew might come across. To a limited degree, this includes hostile threats, as you can imagine that heavy explosives and cutting torches aren't something that things like Beasts or Ancients enjoy having be used on them. In some cases, a Breaker may be in charge of dealing with threats that are too extreme for Security to handle.

Loader - Loaders are the heaviest units in a crew, with Rigs designed to carry as much salvage as possible. Loaders tend to aid in other roles as well, as their job doesn't tend to come into play until something of value is actually found. It is not uncommon to see a Loader aiding Breakers in removing obstacles, helping to keep an eye out for threats with the Captain, or even engaging in combat with Security, though it should be noted of all the four main roles, the Loader is almost always the least heavily armed, acting as more of a last line of defense.

Security - Security has one job, and that's protecting the crew. They are constantly scouting the area, and working with the Captain to encircle the salvage area with Beacons so that they can keep up a constant scan for threats. This is most often the role you see more than one of, as when Beasts or Ancients arrive, you can't have too many people ready to fight. It is usually unlikely that Security crewmembers will aid the rest of the crew, as their job is fairly constant, and not something the rest of the crew wants them to be distracted from.

-Side Roles

Engineer - Equipment breaks, and sometimes, it happens in the field. Some crews figure it's better to have an Engineer on hand to repair things as needed, as well as aid Breakers in dismantling ancient technology. Engineers often have the greatest understanding of ancient machinery, and are typically in charge of shutting down threats such as traps or other security systems. When crews grow large enough, they often see it as a boon to hire their own Engineer to maintain their Rigs rather than constantly paying a third party to do it. An Engineers combat capabilities often come down to the sort of equipment they brought with them, as any weaponry they might bring would have to be brought in place of more repair equipment.

Scientist - Often the least interested in the main goal of an expedition, Scientists tend to join crews so that they can study ancient technology, Beasts, as well as other fauna on The Surface. It's not uncommon to see Scientists only joining crews temporarily to achieve their goals with an experiment or specific study.

Light Sources during Expeditions are limited to Candle-Lamps built into Power Armor, and Short-Lived Flares.

Power Armor is the height of technology, however it currently runs off pressure-driven pistons. Both an Oxygen Tank and a Pressure Tank are required for operation. Power Armor at current is slow, and practically built out of scrap.

Weaponry is currently mostly melee based. Something like a pressurized spear-gun (The kind that fire off but don't fully eject the spear, and then pull the spear back in to reload) are common weapons at current. Firearms are not unheard of, but they are very unwieldy, and require a reload after a single shot. More primitive weapons such as automatic crossbows are available, but it's likely that should a larger Beast appear, they won't have the power to harm it. These weapons are however, entirely useless against The Ancients whose body are made out of metal. The highest tier of weapon technology would be a firearm built into the hand of Power Armor, with a built in auto-loader. However, even with such a device, you are looking at a minimum 10 second reload, and is only useful for a sidearm to continuously reload while you use your other arm for a melee weapon.

Breaker equipment is limited to simple fuse-based explosive packs, and torch cutters. The torch cutters can take quite a while to cut through even thinner metal, and anything considered 'armor plates' are simply a no-go. Explosives are a better option for armored walls, but are typically reserved for clearing things such as landslides or other natural obstructions, as explosives can damage potentially valuable salvage on the other side of manmade obstacles.

Ships are currently exclusively sail-ships using a mix of sails and balloons to fly. They don't typically carry any heavy weaponry other than a few harpoon guns. Ship to Ship combat is very primitive and you're more likely to be boarded than shot down.

Radios exist and are often used by crews on Expeditions. Handheld or in-suit radios however have a fairly short range, while radios attached to ships or even Islands have a much larger range, and are used to trach Beacons from long-range. Personal Radios are extremely fragils, not exactly running on electric, and if the power armor runs out of pressure, the radio will stop working as that is its main power source. Don't ask.