A working glossary of common GLMZ slang, street terminology, and evolved vocabulary as of 2225. This is not exhaustive — the lexicon changes faster than any publication can track.

GENERAL VOCABULARY:
• Chrome — cyberware; also used as an adjective meaning enhanced, upgraded, or superior. "That’s chrome" = that’s excellent.
• Meat — unaugmented flesh. Not derogatory in most contexts. "Meat hand" = natural hand, as opposed to a prosthetic.
• Ghost — (v.) to disappear from surveillance. "She ghosted after the Tessera job." (n.) someone who has no digital footprint.
• Burn — to use up a contact, safe house, or identity. "That fixer’s burned" = that fixer has been compromised.
• Slag — worthless, broken, or contemptible. From Geartown foundry culture. "Slag output" = garbage work.
• Torqued — angry, agitated. Also from Geartown. "Don’t get torqued" = calm down.
• Calibrated — reliable, trustworthy, well-prepared. "She’s calibrated" = she can be trusted.
• Drift — to move between corponation territories. "Drifting Tessera-to-Ironclad tonight." Also: a person with no fixed affiliation.
• The Line — a corponation territorial boundary. "Hit the line" = reach the border. "Over the line" = in another jurisdiction.
• Compact — (n.) an Extraction Compact. "They’ve got a compact" = pursuit can follow you across that border.
• Clean — no warrants, no flags, no criminal profile in a given jurisdiction. "I’m clean with Slagworks."
• Hot — wanted, flagged, under active pursuit. "Running hot in Tessera space."
• Fade — to cross a jurisdictional boundary to escape pursuit. "Faded across the Ironclad line."
• Profile — your criminal/reputation status with a specific corponation. "My Axiom profile is yellow."

MONEY AND ECONOMICS:
• Quanta (Φ) — the universal GLMZ currency. Always abbreviated with the symbol.
• Stipend — Universal Basic Compensation. Φ120/month. Enough to not starve. Not enough to live.
• Under the Compact — legal, above-board work. "Earning under the Compact" = legitimate employment.
• Shadow-side — shadow economy work. "Shadow-side Quanta" = money earned through freelance work.
• A clean Φ — money that can’t be traced to illegal activity.

PEOPLE AND ROLES:
• Runner — a freelancer who performs direct operations (extraction, delivery, sabotage).
• Fixer — a freelancer who arranges contracts, manages profiles, and connects runners with clients.
• Corpo — a corporate employee. Neutral to mildly contemptuous depending on context.
• Suit — corporate management specifically. More contemptuous than corpo.
• Badge — corporate security officer. "Tessera badges" = Tessera security.
• Shelf rat — a Shelf resident. Self-applied with pride, contemptuous when used by outsiders.
• Spire kid — someone from the wealthy Spires district. Implies privilege and naivete.

TECHNOLOGY:
• Jack — a BCI port or the act of connecting. "Jack in" = connect to a neural network.
• Wired — augmented with cyberware. "She’s wired heavy" = extensive augmentation.
• Flatline — death, especially from cyberware malfunction or neural overload.
• Signal — a BCI communication channel. "On signal" = communicating via neural link.
• Glitch — a cyberware malfunction. Also: a person behaving erratically. "He’s glitching."

PLACES AND MOVEMENT:
• The Zone — the GLMZ itself. "Born in the Zone" = native.
• Outside — anything beyond the GLMZ’s boundaries. Carries connotations of danger and strangeness.
• Topside — the upper levels of the Shelf and Spires. Where the money is.
• Down below — Deepwell Station, Irkalla, and other underground/lower-level districts.
• The Seam — the jurisdictional gap between two corponation territories. "Working the seam" = operating in jurisdictional gray areas.