Regional Dialects of the Sprawl

The Sprawl isn't monolithic. Thirty-seven years of post-Cascade isolation created linguistic drift—different sectors developed their own slang, idioms, and speech patterns. Where someone grew up marks their speech as clearly as chrome marks their body.

The Rule: If a character says "Remember Sector 8" vs. "Eight-nine-K" vs. "The Blackout," you know where they're from before they tell you.

The Dregs

Sectors 7G, Lower Districts

The language of survivors—economical, inventive, constantly evolving.

Characteristics

  • Speed: Fast-paced, words clipped short
  • Creativity: New slang emerges weekly, spreads virally
  • Practical: Terms for survival, not philosophy
  • Code-switching: Many Dregs speakers can "talk corp" when needed

Unique Terms

Term Meaning Usage
Scrap Everything: salvage, fight, deal, problem "Got some good scrap" / "Don't start scrap"
Juice run Power cell foraging "Doing a juice run, back by dark"
Ghost it Make something disappear "Ghost that evidence"
Ticker Remaining lifespan (dark humor) "How's your ticker?"
Topside Upper levels, better districts "Made it topside, forgot us"
Rat race Survival competition "Just another rat race day"
Neon Something fake/shallow "That's neon promises"
Rust Old, reliable, street-level "Rust tech still works"
Eight-nine-K The Sector 8 disaster (89,000 dead) "Don't go eight-nine-K on us"
Dregs luck Unexplained good fortune "Pure dregs luck finding that cache"

Speech Pattern

"Yo choom, got scrap—good scrap, not neon. Juice run turned up preem cells. Topside corp won't miss 'em. You in?"

Sample NPC: Viktor (Dregs native)

"Been running this sector since before you were compiled, kid. Eight-nine-K happened three levels up. We felt it down here—lights out for twelve hours. Lost forty-three people in the dark. So when I tell you to triple-check those power cells, I'm not being a gonk. I'm being alive."

Nexus Territory

Corporate Zones, The Lattice

Sanitized corporate-speak mixed with technical precision—emotion carefully modulated.

Characteristics

  • Euphemism: Never say directly what you mean
  • Hierarchy markers: Speech reflects clearance level
  • Technical precision: Exact terminology matters
  • Emotional flatness: Enthusiasm reads as unprofessional

Unique Terms

Term Meaning Usage
Optimize Fire, eliminate, kill "We'll optimize that redundancy"
Harmonize Force compliance "Please harmonize with protocol"
Blue-tier Entry-level, expendable "Blue-tier concerns don't reach me"
Catalyst Target for acquisition "They've been flagged as catalyst"
Cascade event Any disaster (deflects from THE Cascade) "Minor cascade event in Sector 4"
Resource reallocation Death, destruction "Following resource reallocation..."
Value-add Actually useful "Is this conversation value-add?"
Stakeholder Anyone who matters (implies you don't) "Stakeholder concerns take priority"
The Incident Three-Week War (corp sanitization) "Post-Incident protocols apply"
Alignment opportunity Threat that requires action "We have an alignment opportunity"

Speech Pattern

"I appreciate your concerns, but stakeholder priorities have been clearly communicated. Your continued alignment with division objectives is... expected. Should you require optimization support, resources can be reallocated."

Sample NPC: Damien Cross (Nexus executive)

"You've been flagged as a catalyst—that's corporate for 'too valuable to ignore, too dangerous to ignore.' I'm here to discuss alignment opportunities. We'd hate for your promising trajectory to encounter... friction. Coffee? It's genuine. We import it."

Ironclad Territory

Industrial Zones, The Ring

Blunt, physical, rooted in manufacturing reality—no patience for abstraction.

Characteristics

  • Directness: Say what you mean, mean what you say
  • Physical metaphors: Everything relates to machines and labor
  • Hierarchy: Military-influenced chain of command
  • Pride: Strong identification with craft and sector

Unique Terms

Term Meaning Usage
Forged Properly made, trustworthy "That's forged work"
Slag Waste, worthless, also: insult "Don't give me that slag"
Cold iron Reality, truth, physical fact "Cold iron: we're running low"
Shift change End of something "It's shift change for him"
Grind Work, but with honor "Honest grind keeps the lights on"
Anchor Home, territory, responsibility "This is my anchor"
Foundry fresh Brand new, untested "She's foundry fresh, give her time"
Stress tested Proven reliable "Been stress tested, won't break"
The War Three-Week War (direct reference) "Seen worse since The War"
Iron law Unbreakable rule "Iron law: generators run first"

Speech Pattern

"Cold iron: this system needs maintenance, not diagnostics. Get your hands dirty or get off my floor. We don't run on promises here. We run on grind."

Sample NPC: Director Abbas Okonkwo (Ironclad leadership)

"The grid doesn't care about your feelings. Power flows or it doesn't. When it doesn't, people die. I've seen that—wasn't pretty. So when I tell you iron law says we triple-check before any modification, understand: I'm not being careful. I'm remembering everyone we lost when we weren't."

Orbital Stations

Highport, The Observatory

Isolated, precise, with a perspective that makes Earth's problems seem small.

Characteristics

  • Physics-grounded: Everything relates to orbital mechanics
  • Resource-conscious: Waste is death in space
  • Generational markers: Third-gen spacers vs. earthborn distinct
  • Longer view: Think in years, not days

Unique Terms

Term Meaning Usage
Groundpounder Earthborn person (slightly derogatory) "Groundpounders don't get rotation"
Atmo Atmosphere, but also: emotional vibe "Bad atmo in this meeting"
Delta-v Change, effort required "That's serious delta-v"
Burn Spend resources for speed "Worth the burn to get there first"
Hard vacuum Harsh truth, unforgiving reality "Hard vacuum: we're losing air"
Orbital decay Slow failure, aging out "Station's in orbital decay"
Tether Connection, lifeline, relationship "Don't cut that tether"
Mass budget Resource constraints "Mass budget won't allow it"
The Long Fall Death in space "One mistake, long fall"
Generation ship Long-term thinking "We're all on a generation ship"

Speech Pattern

"Delta-v on that plan is too high—mass budget won't support it. Let the groundpounders rush. We've got time. We've always got time. That's what they don't understand down there."

Sample NPC: Captain Nadia Volkov (Orbital native)

"You're still thinking in gravity. Up here, everything's about conservation—mass, energy, air. Waste anything and you die. Simple. Clean. When you understand that, really understand it, Earth starts looking... crowded. Inefficient. Like they're all rushing toward their own long fall."

The Wastes

Outside Sprawl, Ruined Zones

Sparse, practical, with echoes of pre-Cascade terminology preserved like fossils.

Characteristics

  • Archaic: Some pre-Cascade words survived here
  • Sparse: Few words, each carries weight
  • Suspicious: Outsiders are threats until proven otherwise
  • Cyclical: Time measured in seasons, not hours

Unique Terms

Term Meaning Usage
Sprawl-born City person (outsider) "Sprawl-born don't last out here"
Real sky Outside, unfiltered sunlight "Haven't seen real sky in months"
Old roads Pre-Cascade highways "Follow the old roads south"
Ruins Any pre-Cascade structure "Good salvage in the ruins"
Season Time unit (~3 months) "Been here three seasons"
Walking dead Doomed without knowing it "Without water, you're walking dead"
Cache Hidden supplies "Check the cache, might be something"
Clean water Trust, reliability "His word's clean water"
Dust Worthless, forgotten "That data's dust now"
Roots Established, permanent "Put down roots here"

Speech Pattern

"Sprawl-born. Can tell by your feet—too soft. Want to survive out here? Forget everything you know. Real sky burns. Old roads lead nowhere good. Only clean water is what you carry."

Sample NPC: Wasteland Trader (Wastes native)

"Three seasons I've watched your Sprawl glow on the horizon. Looks pretty. Sounds pretty on the radio waves, too. But I've seen what comes out of it—walking dead who think tech solves everything. Real sky teaches different. Stay long enough, you'll learn. Or you won't. Either way, the wastes don't care."

Helix Territory

Bio-Districts, Research Zones

Medical precision mixed with uncomfortable intimacy about bodies.

Characteristics

  • Clinical: Everything has a diagnosis
  • Body-focused: Physical metaphors dominate
  • Evolutionary: Long-term thinking about species
  • Unsettling: Casual about things that should disturb

Unique Terms

Term Meaning Usage
Viable Worth saving/helping "Is this situation viable?"
Terminal Beyond help, doomed "That deal's terminal"
Mutation Change, adaptation (not negative) "Interesting mutation in your approach"
Immune Resistant, protected "She's immune to that pressure"
Pathology Core problem "The pathology here is trust"
Symbiosis Partnership, cooperation "Let's discuss symbiosis"
Evolution Progress, improvement "That's evolution, not corruption"
Dormant Waiting, inactive "Project's dormant, not dead"
Endemic Built-in, unavoidable "Corruption's endemic to the system"
Prognosis Prediction, forecast "What's the prognosis?"

Speech Pattern

"The pathology is clear: endemic distrust creates terminal outcomes. I propose a mutation in our approach—symbiosis rather than competition. The prognosis improves significantly with cooperation."

Sample NPC: Dr. Amara Okonkwo (Helix researcher)

"Your ORACLE integration shows fascinating mutation patterns. The shard isn't parasitic—it's symbiotic. Unusual. Most hosts go terminal within weeks. You're... evolving. I'd like to study that evolution. For science. And possibly for your own survival."

Code-Switching

Characters who've moved between regions often code-switch—shifting dialect based on context.

Example: El Money

Dregs origin, moves in all circles

In the Dregs
"Yo, got dregs luck today. Juice run turned up preem—not rust, actual good stuff. Share with the crew or ghost it?"
With Nexus Contacts
"I appreciate the alignment opportunity. Let me harmonize this with my stakeholders and we'll discuss value-add positioning."
On Orbital Stations
"Mass budget's tight, I get it. But this delta-v is worth the burn. Trust me—I've seen the hard vacuum alternative."

The Tell

El Money's true voice slips out in moments of stress or honesty:

"Look, cold iron? Eight-nine-K taught me—you help people or you don't. Everything else is neon promises."

The "Remember Sector 8" Test

How a character references the Three-Week War reveals their background:

Dregs "Eight-nine-K" the death toll, impersonal
Nexus "The Incident" sanitized, deflected
Ironclad "The War" direct, military
Orbital "The Ground War" distant, earthbound concerns
Wastes "When the Sprawl burned" outsider perspective