by Ann Wilson
L
LADY OF LOVE: The Arriani deity, depicted as an attractive humanfemale but of no other set appearance. Although not specifically a sexdeity, her followers do consider sexual activity a form of worshipparticularly pleasing to her (especially with a gynandra or, ifoff-planet and able, with a woman).
LANDER: The smallest of the Imperial spacegoing craft. It is shapedrather like a streamlined bus, and is about that size, so small it isnot considered a class of ship. Its commonest use is as a shuttlebetween a spacecraft too large to land and a planet (from which it getsits name), but it is also useful for suborbital flights. While theconfiguration is usually for passenger transport, palletizedconstruction allows rapid reconfiguration when necessary.
LANGUAGE, Traiti: A tonal language that gives their Imperial English apleasant lilt. Like German, it combines small words to make largerones as a matter of course, and the grammatical structure is alsosimilar to German. Some of the terms that have made their way intoImperial English, though primarily used only in the Traiti Sector, arefound under their individual entries.
LANGUAGES, Sandeman: Pre-Empire English, called Standard, and amodified version of Classical Russian, called High War Speech. Sincethe Shapers left Terra before Imperial English was widely accepted,they retained the old alphabet and irregularities (mostly in plurals).Standard is the Sandeman common speech used by both castes.
The purpose of High War Speech, as far as the Shapers were concerned,was another way to set the warrior caste apart. By Annexation, it wasless exclusive; most Others had learned at least a little, and as longas they used formal mode to warriors, no one objected. (Familiar modeis restricted to battle-companions, lovers, and one's thakur or 'na.)There is a technical combat vocabulary, however, that remains mostlyrestricted to warriors since they are the only ones with a real use forit.
LAST GIFT: (Sandeman) The gift of a swift death, asked when a person(usually a Sandeman) has been too seriously wounded, or is too ill, formedical aid to do more than prolong death. Between Sandeman'soverthrow of the Shapers and its annexation by the Empire, theirmedicine was primitive enough that this was seen as an unpleasantnecessity to prevent further suffering. As Imperial medical personnelhave said repeatedly, Sandeman medicine then was little more than firstaid; even something as minor as an abdominal wound was normally fatal.
LAWS, IMPERIAL: The Empire has few laws, but the ones that do existare strictly enforced, unless there is a very strong reason for notdoing so--with the Sovereign the only one able to grant waivers.
And Imperial law is kept purposely simple. Pre-Empire lawyers would beappalled, because if a law is obscure or easily misinterpreted, it isrewritten until it is clear to anyone of average intelligence andsubject to only minimal interpretation by the officer judging a case.As with any decision short of the Sovereign's, such a judgement may beappealed, but only on substantial grounds.
The ones so far covered (there are others) include the following:
No noble shall attempt to exercise control over any fief other than the one @ is responsible for. Attempted crimes are punished in the same way as one that was successful. The penalty for murder of or assault on an Imperial noble is death. No mitigating circumstances. The penalty for murder of or assault on an Imperial servicewen is death or life imprisonment. The judging officer may consider substantial mitigating circumstances. A child born to parents of differing cultures will, as far as possible, receive the benefits of each culture most favorable to the child. Massive genetic engineering of humans is forbidden. (This is generally interpreted as engineering not required to correct a medical problem.)
LENORE: Sector: 8, Centaurus Year: Subsector: D, Pan Day: System: Poe Gravity: Settled/established: Axial tilt: By: Oxygen: Satellites: % Water: Ident code prefix: LEN Continents: Ruled by: General: Most inhabitants are receptive empaths, and have difficulty coping with non-empaths, so few leave Lenore. (Barbara Tennison/Sylvia Stevens)
LEO, Sector 19: Ruled by: No. systems: 953 Subsectors: 6 Inhabited planets: 348 A. Hundingsbana D. Hofud B. Galatine E. Graywand C. Gungnir F. Retaliator
LERAS, Nevan Dar-: SNDNS-6894-7693 (7 Jul 2547-24 Jun 2855) GraduatedITMA 2569, first in class; commissioned into SecuDiv and assigned toIBC Emperor Chang. Awarded Sovereign's Medal, merit promotion to 1Lt,and choice of assignment for his actions in the Palace assault thatended the White Order rebellion. Graduated IntelDiv Field AgentSchool, 2570, again first in class, for which he was given a meritpromotion to Captain. He was then assigned to investigate the Melgariepirate fleet, but went beyond a simple investigation; in 2572 he wasable, with the unwilling aid of Melgarie's lover Neyse Greenfield, toarrange the fleet's destruction. For this he received a secondSovereign's Medal and promotion to Major.
In 2574, he swore personal fealty to Ranger Corina Losinj. On anassignment for her in 2578 (checking the security protecting IntelDivfield agents while attempting to deliver the personal weapons hisfather Kelly had bequeathed to one who had saved his life), he met andrapidly became close friends with his "target", Kiyoshi Owajima.
When Empress Losinj died in 2624, Nevan technically reverted to hisstatus as an IntelDiv Major, though one with a grace-and-favorapartment in the Imperial Palace and a lifetime income independent ofCorps salary. However, the new Sovereign, Jasmine Wang, asked him tocontinue his special services to the Sovereign without the oath offealty. Since he was positive his thakur would have wished that, eventhough she had not asked it of him, he agreed; as a result, until hisdeath in 2855, the various Sovereigns had a personal special agent who,until his fealty oath, had been the best field agent in IntelDiv.
LERAS, Riordan Dar-: Warleader of the Sandeman fleet that approachedMjolnir in 2541. When he was defeated in a duel with Gaelan DarShona,Baron Frederick Klaes' thakur-na, he was honor-bound to provideprotection for Klaes' world, which he did by leaving part of his fleeton guard there. Grandfather of Nevan, through Kelly.
LESSA, Subsector 7-E: No. systems: 46 Sector: Cygnus with 3 inhabited planets: 3 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 11 with 1 inhabited planet: 27
LIBIDINE: A persistent, but non-addictive, aphrodisiac with no knownside effects. Effects vary from simple receptiveness with a triggerdose, to release of all cultural sexual restraints with a stronger one.
LIFE-DEBT (Sandeman): The debt a Sandeman clan owes one not of thatclan who gives one of its members Last Gift. This always means theperson may ask Last Gift of any clanmember, whether battle-companion ornot, with the certainty it will be given, and for a warrior, ifcaptured that he will not be tortured for information. (W'women andOthers, by custom, are always immune from torture.) A specificindividual repayment is between the giver and the receiver's clan-chief.
LIFEPOD: A cocoon-shaped field medical unit which is capable ofproviding total life support.
LIGHTSABER: An energy weapon developed by Clan Vader of Sandeman,inspired by the ones in the Star Wars trilogy they call the Saga. Asin the Saga, it is a large hilt containing the powerpack and otherequipment needed to generate a controlled-length, high-intensity laserbeam "blade". It first came to Imperial attention in 2542, when LeighDarVader bequeathed his to Ranger James Medart as a death-gift. Atthat time the powerpack would support less than five minutes' bladeactivation, making the saber impressive but of little or no practicaluse. Within two years, however, Imperial scientists were able todevelop a powerpack that lasted over half an hour, making the saber apractical hand-to-hand combat weapon. With distance weapons far morepopular with most Imperial citizens, however, they are still seldomseen outside Subsector Sande
man.
The Vader clan's development of controlled-length laser beams, thoughmade specifically for the saber, has proven to be a significant one inother fields as well, leading to numerous improvements in technologiesfrom medicine to heavy equipment manufacture. It has also, sinceRanger Medart assisted them in obtaining an Imperial patent on theprocess, made the clan extremely wealthy.
LIMBURGER BERRIES: Another name for toli berries.
LIU: Traiti unit of distance, 2.58 kilometers (1.59 miles).
LOSINJ, Corina: RCJ-2958-5865 (2548-19 Feb 2624) The first non-human(Irschchan) Ranger, she was recruited by Ranger James Medart in 2569,when she reported the White Order's impending rebellion. In the courseof stopping that rebellion, she and Medart experienced pattern rapport,which revealed that he possessed a strong Talent, including a healingaspect she had not previously encountered. She helped him train it asmuch as possible during the trip to Terra, completing it after therebellion was over. Testing then showed the Sovereign and otherRangers also had strong Talent, and Losinj trained them as well. Thatdegree of Talent, regardless of its specific aspect, was immediatelyadded to Ranger qualifications.
She accepted Nevan DarLeras as thakur-na in 2574, was elected Successorin 2577 on Emperor Forrest's death, and succeeded to the Throne in2603. She died in bed, with Nevan in attendance, in 2624.
LUNA: Terra's only natural satellite, site of the Imperial Navy'sPrime Base and main shipyard.
LUPUS: Sector: 17, Indus Year: Subsector: C, Poseidon Day: System: Hellespont Gravity: Settled/established: Axial tilt: By: Oxygen: Satellites: % Water: Ident code prefix: LUP Continents: Ruled by: Capparucini family General: Home of Jael warrior culture.