A Memory Called Empire

by Arkady Martine

  Mahit watched the Station come into view.

  The Emperor’s hand—slim, dark-fingered, intimately familiar—had reached out, in the plaza. Reached out and taken Mahit’s jaw between her fingers, turned her face. Mahit should have been frightened, or stunned into endocrine cascade. But she had felt—floating. Distant, free.

  “We do need an ambassador from Lsel,” Nineteen Adze had said, “though it’s not terribly urgent at the moment. If I want you, Mahit, I will send for you.”

  Mahit felt that way now, as Lsel came back into the center of her ship’s viewports. Very distant. A certain kind of free.

  Not, in the end, quite home.

  A GLOSSARY OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND OBJECTS

  ahachotiya—An alcoholic drink, popular in the City, derived from fermented fruit.

  Aknel Amnardbat—Councilor for Heritage, one of six members of the governing Lsel Council; her purview is imago-machines, memory, and cultural promotion.

  amalitzli—A Teixcalaanli sport, played on a clay court with a rubber ball which opposing teams attempt to throw, bounce, or ricochet into a small goal. Versions of amalitzli specialized for low- or zero-gravity environments are also popular.

  Anhamemat Gate—One of two jumpgates situated in Bardzravand Sector; leads from Stationer space into a resource-poor area not currently under the control of a known political actor. Colloquially, “the Far Gate.”

  Aragh Chtel—A Stationer pilot assigned to sector reconnaissance.

  Ascension’s Red Harvest—A Teixcalaanli warship, Engulfer-class.

  asekreta—A Teixcalaanli title, referring to an actively serving member of the Information Ministry. Plural asekretim.

  Bardzravand Sector—The sector of known space within which Lsel Station and other stations are located (Stationer pronunciation).

  Belltown—A province of the City, divided into multiple districts; for example, Belltown One is a “bedroom community” for Teixcalaanlitzlim who cannot or do not wish to live in the Inmost Province districts, but Belltown Six is a notorious hotbed of criminal activity, urban congestion, and low-income residents.

  Buildings, The (epic poem)—An ekphrastic poem describing famous architectural achievements of the City, commonly taught as a school text in Teixcalaan.

  Captain Cameron—Fictional hero of the Lsel graphic novel The Perilous Frontier!

  City, the—The planetary capital of Teixcalaan.

  cloudhook—Portable device, worn over the eye, which allows Teixcalaanlitzlim to access electronic media, news, communications, etc.; also functions as a security device, or key, which can open doors or give accesses; also functions as a geospatial positioning system, communicating location to a satellite network.

  Darj Tarats—Councilor for the Miners, one of six members of the governing Lsel Council; his purview is resource extraction, trade, and labor.

  Dava—A newly annexed planet in the Teixcalaanli Imperium, famous for its mathematical school.

  Dekakel Onchu—Councilor for the Pilots, one of six members of the governing Lsel Council; her purview is military defense, exploration, and navigation.

  Ebrekt/Ebrekti—The Ebrekti (singular “Ebrekt,” adjectival form “Ebrekt”) are a species of quadripedal obligate carnivores, whose social structure (called a “swift”) resembles a pride of lions. The Teixcalaanli Emperor Two Sunspot negotiated a permanent peace treaty with the Ebrekti, clearly defining zones of mutual non-competition, four hundred years ago (Teixcalaanli reckoning).

  Eight Antidote—A ninety-percent clone of His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction. One of three associated heirs to the sun-spear throne of Teixcalaan. Ten years old.

  Eight Loop—The Minister of the Judiciary on Teixcalaan. Crèchesib to His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction. One of three associated heirs to the sun-spear throne of Teixcalaan.

  Eight Penknife—A member of the Information Ministry.

  Eighteen Turbine—Ikantlos of the Teixcalaanli fleet, currently commanding Battle Group Nine of the Twenty-Sixth Legion, assigned to the Odile System.

  Eleven Cloud—A failed usurper, who tried to overthrow the Emperor Two Sunspot, four hundred years ago (Teixcalaanli reckoning).

  Eleven Conifer—A patrician third-class, retired from honorable service in the Teixcalaanli fleet at third sub-ikantlos rank.

  Eleven Lathe—A Teixcalaanli poet and philosopher, best known for his work Dispatches from the Numinous Frontier.

  Expansion History, The—A history of Teixcalaanli expansion, attributed to Thirteen River (attribution debunked; current literary scholars of Teixcalaan refer to The Expansion History as being composed by “Pseudo-Thirteen River,” an unknown person).

  ezuazuacat—The title for a member of the emperor’s personal advisory council; referred to as His, Her, or Their Excellency. Derives from the original name of the emperor’s sworn band of warriors, back when Teixcalaan had not yet broken space.

  Fifteen Engine—The former cultural liaison to Ambassador Yskandr Aghavn. Currently retired from service to the Information Ministry, and living as a private citizen.

  Five Agate—Aide and analyst in the employ of Her Excellency the ezuazuacat Nineteen Adze.

  Five Diadem—Pen name of the famed Teixcalaanli historian and poet Five Hat.

  Five Needle—Teixcalaanli historical figure, memorialized in the poem “Encomia for the Fallen of the Flagship Twelve Expanding Lotus.” Died defending her ship after a series of field promotions left her the ranking officer.

  Five Orchid—A fictional Teixcalaanli historical figure, the protagonist of a children’s novel, in which she was the crchesib of the future Emperor Twelve Solar-Flare.

  Five Portico—A mechanic, living in Belltown Six.

  Forty-Five Sunset—A junior aide to Her Excellency the ezuazuacat Nineteen Adze.

  Foundation Song—Teixcalaanli song cycle memorializing the deeds of the First Emperor. Passed through oral tradition; over one thousand versions are known.

  Four Lever—An ixplanatl in service to the Judiciary Ministry, in the role of Medical Examiner.

  Four Sycamore—A newscaster, employed by Channel Eight!

  Fourteen Scalpel—The writer of the poem “Encomia for the Fallen of the Flagship Twelve Expanding Lotus.”

  Fourteen Spire—A minor contemporary poet, active at Six Direction’s court.

  Gelak Lerants—A member of the Lsel Heritage Board, an accreditation body.

  Gienah-9—A mostly desert planet, annexed with great force and considerable personnel loss by Teixcalaan, and then lost in a rebellion. Re-annexed; subjugated. A popular setting for military dramas.

  Gorlaeth—The Ambassador to Teixcalaan from Dava.

  huitzahuitlim—“Palace-hummers,” a species of nectar-eating bird.

  ikantlos—A military rank in the Teixcalaanli fleet, usually tasked with commanding a battle group within a legion.

  imago—An ancestral live memory.

  Imperial Censor Office—The office of the Teixcalaanli government tasked with determining what media is spread to which areas of the Empire.

  infofiche—A mutable, foldable, transparent plastic which can display images and text. Reusable.

  infofiche stick—A thumb-sized container, often personalized, containing a holographic representation of a message which appears when the stick is broken open. It may also contain an actual piece of infofiche.

  infosheet—A news sheet made of infofiche.

  Inmost Province—The central province of the City, containing the government buildings and major cultural centers.

  Inmost Province Spaceport—The major spaceport of the City, seeing 57 percent of inbound traffic.

  Inscription’s Glass Key—The flagship of the Teixcalaanli Emperor Two Sunspot.

  ixhui—A meat dumpling.

  ixplanatl—Any accredited Teixcalaanli scientist (physical, social, biological, chemical).

  Jewel of the World—The colloquial (and the poetic) name for the City-planet.

  Jirpardz—A
pilot on Lsel Station.

  Kamchat Gitem—A pilot on Lsel Station.

  Keeper of the Imperial Inkstand—The title for the Teixcalaanli emperor’s schedule-keeper and chamberlain.

  Lost Garden—A restaurant in Plaza North Four, famous for its winter-climate dishes.

  Lsel Station/Stationers—People living on the primary mining station in Bardzravand Sector. Planetless.

  Mahit Dzmare—The current Ambassador to Teixcalaan from Lsel Station.

  Mist, the—The Judiciary Ministry’s investigatory and enforcement body.

  Nguyen—A multisystem confederation near Stationer space, with whom the Stationers have a trade agreement.

  Nine Crimson—A Teixcalaanli historical figure, yaotlek of the Third, Ninth, and Eighteenth Legions of the fleet, approximately five hundred years ago.

  Nine Flood—A Teixcalaanli historical figure, an Emperor from when Teixcalaan had not yet become a spacefaring power.

  Nine Maize—A major court poet at the court of His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

  Nine Propulsion—The current Minister of War.

  Nine Shuttle—The planetary governor of Odile-1, recently reinstated after an uprising.

  Nineteen Adze—She Whose Gracious Presence Illuminates the Room Like the Edgeshine of a Knife, one of Six Direction’s ezuazuacatlim, formerly a member of the Teixcalaanli fleet.

  Ninety Alloy—A Teixcalaanli holoproduction, episodic. Military romance.

  North Tlachtli—A neighborhood in Inmost Province.

  Odile—A Teixcalaanli planetary system which has recently been the site of insurrection and unrest.

  One Conifer—A Teixcalaanli citizen, employed by the Central Travel Authority Northeast Division.

  One Granite—The legendary first ezuazuacat to the First Emperor.

  One Lightning—A yaotlek of the Teixcalaanli fleet, much acclaimed by his soldiers, in the service of His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

  One Skyhook—A renowned Teixcalaanli poet, often taught in schools.

  One Telescope—An ezuazuacat from approximately two hundred years ago. A statue of her stands in the central transport hub for Inmost Province, commemorating her achievements.

  osmium—A valuable metal, often found in asteroids. One of the exports of Lsel Station.

  Parzrawantlak Sector—The Teixcalaanli pronunciation of Bardzravand Sector.

  patrician (first-, second-, or third-class)—Ranks at the Teixcalaanli court, primarily representative of personal salaries received from the imperial treasury.

  Petrichor-5—A large democratic multisystem political actor near Bardzravand Sector.

  Poplar Province—One of the more distant provinces from Inmost Province; an ocean-crossing away.

  Pseudo-Thirteen River—The unknown author of The Expansion History, who used the name Thirteen River despite not being the Minister of the Judiciary of that name whose treatises on retributive justice are still taught in Teixcalaanli law schools.

  Red Flowerbuds for Thirty Ribbon—A Teixcalaanli romance novel.

  Ring Two—A designation for provinces in the City which are more than three hundred but less than six hundred miles from the palace. Information Ministry slang.

  Secret History of the Emperors, The—A famous (and salacious) anonymous account of the lives of many Teixcalaanli emperors. Often updated. Never imitated.

  Seven Chrysoprase—A newscaster, employed by Channel Eight!

  Seven Scale—A junior aide to Her Excellency the ezuazuacat Nineteen Adze.

  shocksticks—An electricity-based weapon, primarily used for crowd control on Teixcalaan.

  Shrja Torel—A citizen of Lsel Station. Mahit Dzmare’s friend.

  Six Direction—His Brilliance the Reigning Emperor of All Teixcalaan.

  Six Helicopter—A Teixcalaanli bureaucrat.

  Six Outreaching Palms—The colloquial (or poetic) name for the Ministry of War; so named for the reaching out of hands in every direction (north, south, west, east, up, and down) which is the hallmark of Teixcalaanli conquest theory.

  Sunlit, the—The police force of the City.

  Svava—A small independent multiplanetary state near Bardzravand Sector.

  Teixcalaan—The Empire, the world, coextensive with the known universe. (Adjectival form: Teixcalaanli; a person who is a citizen of Teixcalaan is a Teixcalaanlitzlim.)

  Teixcalaanli—The language spoken in Teixcalaan.

  Ten Pearl—The current Minister of Science.

  Thirteen Penknife—A Teixcalaanli poet.

  Thirty Larkspur—He Who Drowns the World in Blooms, one of Six Direction’s ezuazuacatlim, formerly a scion of a major merchant family from the Western Arc.

  Thirty-Six All-Terrain Tundra Vehicle—A Teixcalaanli citizen.

  Three Lamplight—A member of the Information Ministry.

  Three Nasturtium—A Teixcalaanli citizen, Central Traffic Control Supervisor at Inmost Province Spaceport.

  Three Perigee—A historical Teixcalaanli Emperor.

  Three Seagrass—A member of the Information Ministry, cultural liaison to Mahit Dzmare, the Lsel Ambassador.

  Three Sumac—A Fleet Captain of the Twenty-Sixth Legion in the Teixcalaanli fleet.

  tlaxlauim—A certified accountant or financial professional in Teixcalaan.

  Tsagkel Ambak—A negotiator and diplomat from Lsel Station; formalized the Station’s current treaty with the Teixcalaanli Empire.

  Twelve Azalea—A member of the Information Ministry. A friend to Three Seagrass.

  Twelve Solar-Flare—A historical Teixcalaanli Emperor, who first discovered Parzrawantlak Sector, and thus Lsel Station.

  Twenty Sunsets Illuminated—The flagship of yaotlek One Lightning.

  Twenty-Four Rose—A Teixcalaanli author of travel guidebooks.

  Twenty-Nine Bridge—The current Keeper of the Imperial Inkstand, serving His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

  Twenty-Nine Infograph—A member of the Judiciary Ministry.

  Twenty-Two Graphite—An aide to Her Excellency the ezuazuacat Nineteen Adze.

  Two Amaranth—A historical ezuazuacat, serving the Emperor Twelve Solar-Flare.

  Two Calendar—A major court poet at the court of His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

  Two Cartograph—The son of Five Agate. Six years old.

  Two Lemon—A Teixcalaanli citizen.

  Two Rosewood—The current Minister for Information.

  Two Sunspot—A historical Teixcalaanli Emperor who negotiated peace with the Ebrekti.

  Vardza Ndun—A pilot on Lsel Station, now an imago held by the pilot Jirpardz.

  Western Arc—An important and wealthy sector of Teixcalaan, home to major merchant concerns.

  xauitl—A flower.

  yaotlek—A military rank in the Teixcalaanli fleet; commander of at least one legion, appointed for a purpose or for a long-running multilegionary campaign.

  Yskandr Aghavn—The former Ambassador to Teixcalaan from Lsel Station.

  On the pronunciation and writing system of the Teixcalaanli language

  The Teixcalaanli language is logosyllabic, written in “glyphs.” These individual glyphs represent both free and bound morphemes. Teixcalaanli glyphs also can represent phonetic sounds, usually derived from an initial morpheme’s pronunciation which has lost its meaning and become purely phonetic. Due to the logosyllabic nature of Teixcalaanli, double and triple meanings are easily created in both verbal and written texts. Individual glyphs can function as visual puns or have suggestions of meaning unrelated to their precise morphemic use. Such wordplay—both visual and aural—is central to the literary arts of the Empire.

  Teixcalaanli is a vowel-heavy language with a limited set of consonants. A brief pronunciation guide is given below (with IPA symbology and examples from American English).

  a——father

  e—ε—bed

  o—oʊ—no, toe, soap

  i—i—city, see, meat

  u—u—loopr />
  aa—ɑ—The Teixcalaanli “aa” is a chroneme—it extends the length of the sound a in time, but does not change its quality.

  au—a—loud

  ei—e—say

  ua—wɑ—water, quantity

  ui—wi—weed

  y—j—yes, yell

  c—k—cat, cloak (but never as in certain)

  h—h—harm, hope

  k—kh—almost always found before r, as in crater or crisp, but occasionally as a word ending, where it is heavily aspirated

  l——bell, ball

  m—m—mother, mutable

  n—n—nine, north

  p—p—paper, proof

  r—ɾ—red, father

  s—s—sable, song

  t—th—t, aspirated, as in top

  x—ks—sticks, six

  z—z—zebra

  ch—tʃ—chair

  But in consonant clusters (which Teixcalaanli favors), t is more often found as “t,” the unaspirated dental consonant in stop; l is often “l,” the dental approximate in line or lucid. There are many loanwords in Teixcalaanli. When pronouncing words originating in more consonant-heavy languages, Teixcalaanli tends to devoice unfamiliar consonants, i.e., “b” is pronounced like “p” and “d” is pronounced like “t.”

  On the language spoken on Lsel Station and other stations in Bardzravand Sector

  By contrast, the language spoken on the stations in Bardzravand Sector is alphabetic and consonant heavy. It is easier for a native speaker of Stationer to accurately pronounce a Teixcalaanli word than the other way around. (If one wishes to pronounce Stationer words one’s own self, and has only Earth languages to go by, a good guide would be the pronunciation of Modern Eastern Armenian).