Bloom (novel) - Terms/Organizations

Terms/Organizations

• Immunity: A defensive system used by the people on Ganymede (as well as those on the other outer planets) to keep spores of Mycora from invading. Also a term used by people under its protection to refer to themselves.
• Ladderdown: System of converting elements into other elements further down the Periodic Table. As a result of using this system, the inhabitants of the Immunity have a plethora of high-numbered elements lying around. For example, they have so much gold they use it to weigh down their shoes and pave the streets.
• Mycora: A substance that appears to be grey goo, but is in actuality a type of technogenic life form created by humans that escaped their control and began consuming everything around it. It has also evolved from its original state and adapted to an environment where there is nothing left to consume. Throughout the book, Conway's Game of Life is used as an imperfect example of how the Mycora operates.
• Temples of Transcendent Evolution: Originally formed on Callisto, it is an organization that invests large sums of money into research about the Mycora. They are spiritually inclined and believe that the Mycora is "a presence greater than themselves".