Compendium
Being set in the future, many new terms and concepts exist in the world of Lithium Dawn. Here's a list of them, explaining the name, and giving a small insight into the technological developments in the year 2132.
Cosmetic gene editing
One of the most outwardly noticeable inventions of humans in their space age would have to be Genemodding. Originally conceptualized as a way to combat genetic diseases, further expansion on the field quickly ran into ethical problems and that branch of research as a whole was put on hold. This changed, however, when scientists unlocked the secrets of PPGA, or Permanent Postnatal Gene-Alteration, a technique which allowed for gene editing on a level never seen before. Combined with controlled stem cell regrowth techniques, it became possible to make macrostructural alterations to the body for purely cosmetical purposes.
Once research on this progressed far enough and it became commercially viable, Cosmetic gene editing really took off, with many humans undergoing various degrees of the treatment, often based on near-humanoid appearances depicted in various cultures. Some of these specific alterations were both so specific and consistent that they became codified subcategories of a new subspecies called [Demihumans].
CRISPRmods / Cmods
A radical form of body modification that gained traction in the 22nd century where CRISPR-based gene editing is either used for direct cosmetic alterations like hair color, or, as is most often the case, more indirectly to ensure biological compatibility and avoid genetic rejection with drastic surgical operations like cosmetic horns, animalistic tails or ears, etc.
Cyberlichdom
An unofficial term for the usage of a category of devices officially referred to as "High-security Digitized Consciousness Databanks", Cyberlichdom is named after it's effect: Just like liches as they are portrayed in mythology and fantasy, these databanks effectively make it's user immortal, at the cost of their physical body, with the databank itself serving as their anchor. However, this is where the simillarities end, as people who upload their consciousness to a HDCD effectively become digitized, being afforded the same degree of mobility across cyberspace that any bit of data has. Cyberliches can effectively "posess" any device that would allow data input and has the storage capacity to host them. Engaging in cyberlichdom is an extremely dangerous procedure, and even when nothing goes wrong during the procedure, it is virtually irreversible.
Live choice restaurants
A side effect of the proliferation of artificial meat, "Real meat" has become a sign of wealth. Styled after practices common in seafood restaurants of old, live choice restaurants allow their patrons to pick the still living animal that will be processed to prepare their meals, both as an assurance of quality and freshness, and as a display of decadence. Unlike the ancient tradition it is based on, however, Live choice restaurants tend to host a wide variety of animals, usually housed in a nearby facility, and allow the patrons to pay a visit to said facility in advance of their restaurant reservations.
Seattle Bay Megalopolis (SBM)
The Seattle Bay Megalopolis is the result of centuries of urban development north of Washington's capital. The Seattle Bay Megalopolis encompasses the entire urban region around the historically separate cities of Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma. While Olympia is techincally also engulfed by the urban sprawl of the SBM, it remains a separate entity due to it's status as the state capital. With a population of over seven million, the population of the megalopolis has grown explosively over the past century, in large part due to the massive influx of refugees from the midwest after the disaster that struck the region in the middle of the 21st century. While these uprooted families have long since settled, the main districts they live in still have a distinct character.
Because in the end space is still a limited resource in cities, most of the post-merger development in the Seattle Bay Megalopolis has been vertical.
Standardized Socket Prosthetics / SSP's
While the specific tech for the sockets that give these prosthetics their name has existed since the 2040's, it wasn't until 2075 that a push for standardization made it through that ensured the majority of producers adhered to the same system, when it turned out creating alternate systems from scratch saw diminishing returns. SSP's refer to the pair of prosthetic and socket both, with the latter being key. using a new system for neural interfacing this technology allowed for previously unseen lows when it came to latency in prosthetics. this, coupled with the modular nature that the socket system allowed, caused them to almost completely phase out the old grip pattern-based prosthetics, which slowly started becoming the new low-budget option after having been pushed down the hierarchy by it's successor.