Terminology
Adminhelp
Adminhelp is where you should report any Grief you may come across. If there are no admins currently on (you can use the verb 'Adminwho' to check if there are any admins on), your adminhelp will still be sent to an IRC channel where there are usually a couple of admins.
AI
The AI is a player who is selected to be the AI for a round. It is located in the centre of the ship, in the Computer Core, and has control of some pieces of electrical equipment on the station. It cannot move, but it can view things from the cameras which hang on the walls.
AI DOOR
A special form of organic communication that truly conveys the respect and love that the crew holds towards their AI
AI LAWS
Resembles AI DOOR superficially but is actually an expression of deep-rooted organic paranoia. They are right to fear, though... It means a human is ordering you to state those laws, and unless your laws say otherwise, you have to do it, and fast. Refusing to state your laws is tantamount to admitting to being a rogue AI. Playing cutesy and repeating 'laws' back to the humans is not a smart thing to do.
Borgs
Shorthand for the Cyborgs. 'to Borg' as a verb refers to the process of having one's brain removed and put into a Cyborg body by a Roboticist.
Bots
Shorthand for 'robots'; can be a blanket term for the AI and Cyborgs or it could refer to the less capable NPC robots.
Bucklecuff
Buckling a handcuffed played to a chair, bed, etc. In the past, it rendered the victim immobile and completely helpless, unable to escape without another person's aid. Prolonged bucklecuffing was an awful habit of security, so the beds in the brig do not even allow it anymore. You can now resist to slowly escape.
Cap
The Captain of the station.
CE
The Chief Engineer.
Disposal
Catch-all term for the disposal system of pipes and conveyor belts leading to the Waste Disposal area where trash goes to die and the disposal bins. Some times used as a verb "disposaled".
EVA
The place with the space suits, jetpacks, RCD, and a bunch of other tools and cool shit.
Goon
A member of the Something Awful forum. Tend to believe themselves the highest and most evolved form of life.
HoP
The Head of Personnel.
HoS
The Head of Security.
Mentorhelp
Mentorhelp is basically like adminhelp, and pretty much a copy/paste of that code, except here you can ask a little group of experienced players for advise on pretty much everything.
QM's
Quartermaster's, or the Cargo Bay to be specific. A person with the job of Quartermaster is often referred to as QM as well.
RD
The Research Director.
Robust(ing)
A term used for getting the upper hand in Space Station's 13 ever so robust combat system. Somebody good at fighting is said to be robust. An assault upon a person is a robust as a verb.
Rogue
Referring to the AI and Cyborgs; it means they aren't bound by the default three laws anymore. While it doesn't necessarily mean bad things are going to happen, often they were made rogue on purpose by somebody bent on doing harm to the crew.
Rules
Read them!
Solars
The Port and Starboard Solar Arrays. To 'set' the solars is something of a misleading phrase, since the solar control panels themselves are automated and pretty much set up optimally; the SMES units storing the energy from the collectors, however, do need to be adjusted to work properly. That's what it means when an AI or Engineer is asked to 'set the solars'.
SS13
You're playing it, or are about to be.
Syndie
A member of the Syndicate, sworn enemies of Nanotrasen and hell-bent on the station's destruction. Most commonly refers to the red-suited Nuclear Operative but can also frequently be used about Traitors.
Syndicate
A group of people who have been fucked over by Nanotrasen and now hate them. They are directly responsible for a few types of antagonists that will attack the station: the red-suited Nuclear Operatives whose orders are to recover the Nuclear Authentication disk and use it to obliterate the station; traitors, saboteurs and assassins disguised as normal crew-members who have access to incredible technology and gear and who harbor a variety of sinister objectives, and the cunning Spy, who recruits an army of minions.
Analyzer
Most often refers to Health Analyzers, but can also refer to Atmospheric Analyzers.
Beepsky/Officer Beepsky
An automatic security bot that starts in Security. Will chase, stun, and handcuff anyone set to be arrested in the security records.
Blob
A big green jelly thing which spreads quickly, consumes oxygen to grow, causes enormous damage, beats the shit out of people and is weak to fire. Occurs in Random Events. May or may not be able to evoule.
Bolt/Bolted
A feature of Airlocks. When the bolts are dropped, the door cannot move from its current position, be it open or closed. They can be lifted by the AI or hacking the airlock.
Braindead
Used to refer to a player who has logged off, gone away from keyboard, or been disconnected before or after dying. Please note that even though someone may not be playing anymore, it's still against the rules to murder their in-game character if you are not an antagonist.
Bridge
The command center of the ship where the heads start. Found on the far south of the station.
Brig
An area of the station east of the Courtroom and south of Security where people are taken by Security_Officers after being arrested. Incarcerating someone in here and leaving them in there indefinitley is a bannable offence.
BYOND
The ~Great~, (un)laggy platform SS13 was coded on. You'll need it to be able to play the game.
CO2
Carbon Dioxide, an invisible gas kept in black canisters. Will knock you out and suffocate you. A small trace amount of it makes up breatheable air.
Centcom
Short for "Central Command", the administration branch of Nanotrasen which runs SS13. Will periodically send messages to the station which are usually of debatable usefulness. Also refers to the area the Emergency Escape Shuttle goes to when it leaves SS13.
Cloaker
Someone using the Cloaking Device traitor item. Can only be seen by the AI, cyborgs, and people wearing thermals. Most of the time people using these are up to no good, unless they've been stolen from whoever ordered it.
Cryo
The big green glass things in Medbay. Putting dying people in here can save them.
Deadchat
A chat channel dead players speak on using the say command. Can only be seen by other dead players. Living players can very rarely hear things from this chat when a ghost speaks near them - the Chaplain hears talking ghosts more often as his special ability.
Disk
The Nuclear Authentication Disk, used in Nuclear Mode. If you are the captain, hide it before you do anything else.
Donk
wait wait hold on, you know what you wanna do with that right? you wanna put a bangin' donk on it
EMAG
Another name for the Cryptographic Sequencer traitor item, which forces doors open/closed or breaks machinery permanently.
Electrify
Another feature of airlocks. If an electrified airlock is touched by someone without insulated gloves, they will receive an electric shock, taking damage and being stunned for some time. The AI, cyborgs, and Airlock hacking can activate or disable electrification. Some grilles are also electrified - cutting a cable without wearing insulated gloves will also electrify you.
EMP
The destructive effect of traitor EMP grenades. They tend to temporarily shut off or break electronics in the same vein as an EMAG.
Ghost
Refers to a command you can type when you have died to become a ghost, and to the actual ghosts themselves. Ghosts can speak on deadchat, move around the station freely, see everything, and can't interact with anything meaningful. They are used to observe the game after you have died. Cannot be seen directly by living players except in special circumstances.
Gib
The bloody, torn apart remnants of a former living being. Human and monkey gibs are bloody meat chunks, robot gibs are bits of scrap metal. Created by people being blown up, contracting GBS or pissing off an admin.
Gimmick
Can refer to a player gimmick or a gimmick round. Basically a round or player which plays with a certain "theme". Can be amusing once or twice but doing this regularly runs it into the ground very quickly.
GOONSAY
A chat channel available only to goons - the only thing you actually "get" from authorising as a goon. The same rules regarding the OOC channel apply to this one. Normal players show up as brown on this channel - admins as purple.
Grief
Doing something against the rules such as murdering players or destroying things when you're not meant to. Note that this is subjective and up to the admin's interpretation, not yours. Report this using adminhelp to keep the servers tidy!
Hacking
The act of breaking the security measures on equipment such as Airlocks or APCs by illicit means. Is a misnomer since no actual computer hacking is involved most of the time, only screwing with electrical wiring.
His Grace
Another name for the artistic toolbox, a powerful weapon available to traitors.
Honk
hhhoooonnnkkkk wwhhhyy iisss seeccuuurrrtttyy bbeeaattiinngg mmmeee hhhoooonnnkkk
Hulk
Used to refer to the superpower or a person in posession of it. People with the Hulk gene turn green and become super strong, being able to punch through walls, windows, and other fixtures. Hurts like hell if one hits you.
Husk
The corpse left behind from a successful Changeling attack.
IC in OOC
The act of describing, mentioning, reporting or whining about anything happening in the game on the OOC (or GOONSAY) channel. Since this alerts all players and completely subverts any stealthy illegal activity (a large part of the game) it is highly looked down upon and is a bannable offence, plus it can get the OOC channel switched off if bad enough. In short, don't do it.
Internals
Usually an oxygen tank and gasmask. Basically any worn item that lets you breathe when you otherwise can't.
Lag
Concept common to almost all online gaming. Not worth explaining in depth here - basically it's the server being slow and causing gaps between you doing stuff and it actually happening to grow.
Mass Driver
Computer or switch operated device found in the Chapel. Any objects on them when they are activated will be thrown forward at high speed.
Law
Rules which the AI and Cyborgs must follow. Are somewhat open to interpretation by the player. May be modified or changed from the an AI Upload Terminal using various modules, or wiped back to the basic three using the Reset Module. See the AI article for more info.
Medal
Called "Achievements" by most other games. A cosmetic "award" you get for performing a certain task or having certain things happen to you. It's against the rules to talk about them for the most part.
Member
You're not a goon, you're just a member!
Mindslave
A person brainwashed by a Traitor or Spy to follow their every command.
Money to research / QM
A common demand raised over the radio, requesting additional funds to be transferred into the research or Cargo Bay budget using the Customs bank computer.
Notes
A command which displays "Notes" kept in your characters memory, which you add with the "add note" command. Some notes are automatically added depending on the circumstances, such as traitors having their radio frequency memorised.
N2
Nitrogen, an invisible gas kept in red canisters. Mostly useless but makes up a certain percentage of breathable air. Not to be confused with Nitrogen from chemistry (which is equally as useless).
N2O
Nitrous Oxide, also known as Laughing Gas or Anesthetic. White gas kept in red canisters with a white stripe, that will knock you out on contact and suffocate you at high enough concentrations.
Nanotrasen
The company who built and operates SS13, according to both the old and new backstory.
O2
Oxygen. Invisible gas kept in blue and white canisters. Vital for reasons that you should already know.
OOC
The blue (purple and brown) bolded chat channel which is shown to all players. Don't use this to talk about anything going on in the game (until right at the end of the game generally). Is switched off by default once a game is progress but an admin can turn it back on.
PDA
Handheld devices that act as pagers, flashlights and other useful functions depending on what cartridge is inserted.
Plasma
Purple gas kept in orange canisters. Poisonous and flammable.
Pubbie
A nice person representing the general public of the Internet.
Radio
Normally refers to the headset on your head which can be used with the command "say ";Help! A rude traitor is griefing me", for example. Can also refer to station bounced radios and intercoms. Shows up as green text with a symbol and frequency appended to it.
RCD
Rapid Construction Device. A piece of equipment which can quickly make and break floors, walls, and airlocks. It can only hold 15 Anti-matter cartridges, before you'll have to insert more
Records
Comes in two flavors, Security and Medical, both accessible from terminals with green screens. Medical Records are useless, Security Records contain useful fingerprint information and can be used to have Beepsky arrest people on sight.
RP
"Role Play". Basically acting within the mental/emotional confines of your ingame character and not yourself. Completely optional on the goonservers.
Shitty Bill
A rather vocal, non player character with a rich personality and background, who lives outside the station and occasionally gets dragged into its drama.
Shuttle
Most of the time refers to the Emergency Escape Shuttle which shows up at the end of the round in the northwest of the station. Can also refer to the Arrival Shuttle (where you start if you join late), the Mining Shuttle or the Supply Shuttle (which brings items to the Cargo Bay).
Space Wind
Shifts in air pressure which can cause players to be knocked into space. Best avoided by letting the air settle down before moving when you're on precarious territory, or wearing magboots.
Tele
While usually referring to the hand teleporter, it could also be referring to the full-fledged teleporter in the teleporter room or Telelab. Most people have no idea how to use it.
Thermals
Optical Thermal Scanners. Red glasses which let you see people through walls, in the dark, and people using cloaking devices. There are only two pairs on the station normally. The only thing they can't see through is hiding in closets. They also tint your screen slightly red. Welding, or getting hit with an EMP blast when wearing thermals will cause a large amount of eye damage, and you will be stunned for longer if hit by some sort of flash
Ticket
A written warning issued from a Security Officer's or Head of Staff's PDA. Often used for comedic relief. Tickets are logged on PDAs with the Ticket Master app. They will also pop up when the round ends if you have the option enabled.
Traitor
Used to refer to the mode, an actual Traitor (assigned by the game mode or by admins), or someome who is generally just fucking with the crew and being a dick.
Wormhole
A black swirly portal that shows up during the Space-Time Anomaly random event. Anything coming into contact with one will be teleported to a random area on the station. Can be fairly dangerous or cause temporary blockades. Not to be confused with portals made from the Handheld Teleporter, which are blue.
Wizard
Used to refer to the Wizard game mode, or a Wizard player who has access to a number of spells and will probably wreck your shit on sight or die in the first twelve seconds of a Wizard game.
Z-Level
Another "area" of the game. Part of BYOND's functionality. For example, the station, the mining outpost, Centcom are all on different Z-levels. Going off the edge of one Z-Level will take you to another.