L99. A very poor independent world in Quadrant Zero. Only recently colonised, the colonists are finding developing this world a struggle. They have recently become one of the founder-members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

Lamster. An independent world in Quadrant 1. Member of the Seven Worlds Defence Alliance. The Diet of Lamster is the main ruling body. Members of the Diet are selected by regional selection bodies, after a system of competition and opinion polls. Lamster has a loose system modelled a little after the Centauri. Government is small, and mainly operates the legal system and ensures that contract law is enforced. In 3207 the Chief Executive is Jackson Imig.

Laser Reflective Coating.  A system of constructing a highly reflective hull for warships - significantly reducing the effect of incoming laser damage.  Unfortunately this is very expensive, and no star navies currently deploy ships with this - feeling that it is cheaper to repair the damage than to fit the coating.

League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Formed early in 3203, this is a loosely-formed pressure group to provide a voice for the Non-Aligned worlds in Quadrant Zero. The twelve founder members comprise Gorilla, Kordon, Benny, Ahriman, Count Down, Kree, Shi'Ar, Vijanta, Nissan, Wing, Duke, and L99. The only thing these worlds really have in common is their determination to remain independent and non-aligned.

Lee Zhang, First Minister: Dynamic and politically canny new First Minister of the Earth Empire - generally hailed as the driving force behind human successes in the Exterminator War.

Legion of Dynamic Discord. A semi-mythical cult/political movement. Dating back centuries, the basic tenet of this weird chaotic grouping is to trust nobody and flaunt laws and the norms of common decency wherever possible - with the help of personality-altering recrational phramaceuticals. One of the very few consistent strands of their thinking is that all Governments are part of an interstellar conspiracy to keep humanity enslaved. Exactly who is behind this consipiracy is never made clear, of course.

Legion of Honour:
An Earth Empire medal for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity involving risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy. Comes in the following classes (which must be earned in order)
Legionnaire
Knight - with crossed swords
Officer - with oak leaves - receiver will be commissioned
Commander - with swords & oak leaves
Knight Commander - with diamonds, swords & oak leaves
There is a limit on the number of members of the Legion of Honour currently alive to 65,536 all grades.

LeTappier Missile. A heavy missile with an HS field generator as a warhead. Designed for use within the M25, the HS generator is activated when he missile gets near the target - thus causing the HS generator and the ship to disappear.

LeTappier Smart Mine. A small directable device with an HS field generator as a warhead. With a short-burn hi-g thruster and some detection equipment, this propells itself towards any ship that passes with a few hundred kilometres of it then. It then sets off the HS field causing the target to disappear.

Lingua Terra. The most spoken metalanguage in the universe. Developed from the ancient earth languages of English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, Lingua Terra is the first language of belters, spacers and everyone who spends a lot of time in space. It is the operational language of most militaries, and it widely spoken on colony worlds. Other languages commonly used are Northamenglish - an English/Spanish fusion, Nipponish - an English/Japanese fusion and Latin.

Light Cruiser:  A small warship, designed for prolonged operations.  Not strong enough for the line of battle, but able to catch and defeat smaller vessels, such as destroyers.

Lightning Flag, The. National Anthem of the Republic of New Venus.

Light Tactical Armour (LTA). Body, vital organs, head and major joints are protected by this type of combat armour designed for use on a planet's surface. The suit is airtight and has environmental controls, HUD, and various military electronics. Often used by starship marines when tasked with planetside missions.

Lizard-Men (12-foot, shapechanging). There is a school of thought that our governments and major corporations are controlled by a cabal of shape-changing lizard men from the centre of Old Earth, who have been moulding human activities for thousands of years. This is, of course, nonsense. The truth is far more disturbing.

LIPS (Laser Impact Pulse System).  A type of Heavy Missile warhead that is designed to do considerable damage to external hull-mounted systems on a warship.

Lonley:  A colony controlled by the Mald Foundation in Q0

Lost Codex. A number of academics have suggested that the information gleaned by Mek Semaj from his alleged 'alien contact' was much greater than that contained in the famous 'Semaj Codex' and a number of writers have supported the theory of a 'Lost Codex' containing details of all manner of scientific wonders such as cold fusion, perpetual motion, gravitic space drive, invisibility ray and super soldier serum. No evidence exists for the lost codex's existence, or any of the wonders attributed to it.

Lost Colonies: There are tales told in folk history of the existance of 'lost colonies'. These are suitable worlds for colonisation, usually located in Quadrant Zero somewhere, that have been visited at some time in the past, but for some reason all record of their location and characteristics have been removed from astronavigational records. Theories vary as to the reasons for this. Some say it is a race of shape-changing lizards who have mind controlled everyone to forget these worlds - others that there is a widespread government conspiracy and these worlds are secret prison / mind control / experimental colonies. Most people dismiss the whole idea a plain daft. Every so often an independent trader turns up claiming to have found one of the lost colonies - but this is usually a fraud or some other scam.

LPGM. (Light Precision Guided Munitions). Like the APGW weapon used by starship marines but a bit heavier and with a longer range. Has an HE warhead. Target is illuminated by GF troops. Normally launched from vehicles.

LRDG. Long Range Detection Group. An advance guard of scouting ships dispatched by the Earth Empire in 3205 to find out more about the Hostile Exterminator Builders' home worlds.