Spacer

A spacer, in all eras of Solverse, is a person who's primary habitation and place of work is in space. Spacers may split their time between living on spaceships, in orbit, on moons, or on asteroids, but only rarely set foot on a planet's surface. Some peoples have distinct terms for spacers belonging to their cultures, such as the Starborn for the Moriezen peoples. While the El'yon spend much of their time in space, they are neither regarded as nor consider themselves spacers.
Modern spacers are the natural inheritors of the Space Age's astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts. Essentially every one of them are revered as the pioneers of Sol System's exodus from Earth.
Spacers often use the pejorative term groundbounder to refer to non-spacers. The related term grounder is considered less pejorative, as the former implies a sense of fear of space.
== Definition of Space ==
History shows a widening definition of the term. In the FTE, a spacer is someone who spends some of his time within Karman Space, while a deep spacer is someone who travels outside of Karman Space (e.g. - more than a hundred kilometers away from the surfaces of planets).
The Intrasolar Aerotime Treaty of SY 35 passed by World Congress defined Karman space as well as the legal limits of a system's operative space throughout Sol System, although it was largely ignored outside of Consortium space.
In the STE, deep space is that which lies outside of Sol System, and later, outside of Urantia System.
In the TTE, deep space lies outside of the Milky Way - Andromeda Galactic Group
== Notable Spacers ==
=== Foundation Period ===
Adele Lylat was the first human of Sol System to set foot on Mars in 256 BSC.
Vincent Reistler became infamous for coining Reistler's Law: "If it can go wrong in space, it will." Reistler was an early graduate of the Consortium's Academy program and taught anthropology and biochemistry before committing to the life of a spacer. He disappeared early in his career and for several standard years was presumed dead and lost; his remains were later found in orbit perpendicular to Mercury spinning wildly. His body showed signs of repeated freezing and thawing due to vaccuum exposure. His final journal entry contained the oft-quoted maxim now known as Reistler's Law; it is generally applied to situations with a compounding series of problems.
== Types of Spacers ==
=== Cosmonaut ===
Cosmonauts are spacers associated with the Soviet Union. Cosmonauts were responsible for some of the first great breakthroughs during the Space Age, including but not limited to putting the first living things in orbit, the first human in orbit, and the first to orbit Luna.
Cosmonauts were known for their patriotic loyalty to Soviet ideas and a daring attitude towards space exploration.
=== Astronauts ===
Astronauts are American spacers. Together with Cosmonauts, Astronauts achieved the Joint Lunar Landing.
=== Taikonaut ===
Taikonauts are Chinese spacers.
=== Explorators ===
Explorators were spacers employed by private companies such as Asteroidal Industries, Venusian Industries, Boeing-Lockheed-Martin, Mercurian Solar, and others. They were the principal leaders of various expeditions to colonize the Main Asteroid Belt. Additionally, the mass exodus of criminals from Earth to colonize the Rim was led by Explorators.
Many Explorators continued to lead their expeditions until their death even after colonization, setting a semi-monarchical precedent on some of the Main Belt systems.
=== Courier ===
A Courier is a full time Consortium-liscened spacer who lives in a cycler craft on a shipping cycle. They work one cycle on and two cycles off. All Couriers are trained through the Academy system, or are certified through the Academy if they already possess Aerowings.
=== Laikanaut ===
Laikanaut is a pejorative term many spacers use for other spacers who engage in unnecessarily dangerous work. It is rarely used as a term of commendation, hearkening to the necessity of risking one's life to further a noble cause.
=== Main Belter ===
Around the beginning of the Second Renaissance, the term Main Belter entered common use as a term for all people living in the Main Belt.
=== Rimmer ===
The term Rimmer is applied to any inhabitant of Sol System past Jupiter and entered common use around SY 7 with the passing of the Repatriation Act.
=== Freebooters ===
Main article: Freebooters
Freebooters are spacers who illegally prey on the legitimate trade activities of various nations or other private spacers. They are seen in all three trilogies. In Helios, freebooters play an integral role as Nomad and Manufa encounter the freebooter gang Soldiers of Charon and interact with the former-freebooter-turned-legitimate-trader Bil Jax.
During the Solar War, Alliance-funded freebooters operated within Consortium space out of Trafalgar, Venus. A prominent freebooter during the war is the bric-a-brac spacecraft The Carmen who fight with Protectorate forces against the Soldiers of Charon.
During the Twilight Era, freebooters become exceedingly common in Sol System.
In the Third Trilogy Era, freebooters are virtually nonexistent within the borders of the Second Dominion.
=== Starborn ===
A Starborn is a spacer of the Tontheonic Civilization. Starborn are unique in that becoming a spacer is not elective in their culture. Any person born during certain times of the Tontheonic calendar, or who are birthed in space, earn the right to be Starborn.
Starborn occupy a vital place in Tontheonic society as the caretakers of intersystem trade, allowing other Moriezen the opportunity to live a full life close to their homeworld.
=== Mechs ===
A Mech is a technician who specializes in the care, modification, and construction of the basic mechanics of spacecraft. Every spacer worth his salt knows at least one Mech, and essentially every multi-person crewed spacecraft includes a skilled Mech.
Mechs are widely known for their ability to take stock spacecraft and modify them to the specific desires of it's owner, including but not limited to fine-tuning propulsion, communication, and life support systems.
During the First Trilogy, Mechs are most commonly seen throughout the Main Belt and the Rim; in Consortium space, they are called by the more academic term "Engineer".
During The Solar War, the vast majority of Mechs did not side with the Technocracy, instead preferring to remain freelance.
=== Speed Freeks ===
Speed Freeks are groups of spacers that evolved out of Mech and Freebooter culture. They are devoted to none but themselves and the continuual pursuit of high adrenaline living. They are known to abuse the ethanol fuel used to power their spacecraft and are almost always intoxicated on some level.
Most Speed Freeks fly rocketbikes, a type of stripped down bare-bones spacecraft that is little more than a seat on top of an ultrapowerful engine. In order to fly as close to true vaccuum as possible, most live full time in Type I vacsuits
During the Third Trilogy, Speed Freeks control the lawless worlds associated with no faction called Phyrexiae and Null.
=== Wild Spacers ===
The Men of Wild Space, or just "wild spacers", are those spacers in all eras that live on the fringes of civilized space, such as roaming the lawless deep space between systems in the First Trilogy and those spacers who live just outside the borders of the Second Dominion in the Third Trilogy.
They live close enoguh to civilizaton to make use of it's creature comforts but live outside of the rule of law.
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