Howling Dark

by Christopher Ruocchio

  Here follows a list of the Cielcin, especially those of the Clan Otiolo, mentioned in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account:

  AETA UTSEBIMN ARANATA OTIOLO, Viudihom, Prince of the Itani Otiolo, Master-Keeper to His People. The supreme ruler of the worldship Bahali imnal Akura and head of the Otiolo clan.

  —His child, NOBUTA OTIOLO, presumptive heir to the clan.

  —His retainers and slaves:

  —OALICOMN, majordomo and coteliho (herald) of the Itani Otiolo.

  —CASANTORA TANARAN IAKATO, Baetan priest-historian of the Itani Otiolo, a prisoner of the Sollan Empire and the Meidua Red Company in particular.

  —{ITANA UVANARI AYATOMN}, formerly the Ichakta captain of the starship Yad Ga Higatte, killed by Hadrian Marlowe during the Emesh affair.

  —On board the Yad Ga Higatte:

  —SVATAROM, ETANITARI, and OANATORO, common sailors, soldiers, and slaves.

  Other Cielcin mentioned:

  —DORAYAICA, presumably AETA SYRIANI DORAYAICA, of whom much is written in the latter parts of Lord Marlowe’s account.

  —HASURUMN, another Cielcin Aeta chieftain.

  —PAGORAMATU, another Cielcin Aeta chieftain.

  —{UTAIHARO}, presumably deceased, an Aeta Prince defeated by Aranata Otiolo, his tribe incorporated into the Otiolo scianda.

  THE WIDER WORLD

  Many persons referenced or appearing in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account belong to none of the groups above, but have been included here for the purposes of completeness. They have been divided by location, with references to the Imperial and Jaddian courts on Forum and Jadd respectively, as well as on the planets Delos, Emesh, Pharos, and Rustam—in addition to the Extrasolarian city of March Station.

  Here follows a list of these persons mentioned in Lord Marlowe’s account:

  ON FORUM:

  His Imperial Radiance, the EMPEROR WILLIAM THE TWENTY-THIRD OF THE HOUSE AVENT; Firstborn Son of the Earth; Guardian of the Solar System; King of Avalon; Lord Sovereign of the Kingdom of Windsor-in-Exile; Prince Imperator of the Arms of Orion, of Sagittarius, of Perseus, and Centaurus; Primarch of Orion; Conqueror of Norma; Grand Strategos of the Legions of the Sun; Supreme Lord of the Cities of Forum; North Star of the Constellations of the Blood Palatine; Defender of the Children of Men; and Servant of the Servants of Earth.

  —His ancestor, {KING WILLIAM VII WINDSOR}, called WILLIAM THE ADVENT, the God Emperor, Emperor of Avalon and Eden, Last King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King-in-Avalon, and Lord Sovereign of the Kingdom of Windsor-in-Exile. The first Sollan Emperor, deified by the Chantry.

  —EDOUARD ALBE, a Legion Intelligence Officer and future friend of Lord Marlowe’s.

  ON JADD:

  His Royal Highness, ALDIA AHMAD RODRIGO-PHILLIPE DI OTRANTO, High Prince of Jadd, Prince of Laran, First-Among-Equals of the Princes of the Principalities of the Jaddian Peoples, Lord of the Encircling Moons, Keeper of the Planet of Fire, Chief of the Eali Al’Aqran.

  —LADY KALIMA ALIARADA UDIRI DI SAYYIPH, Satrap of Ubar, loyal to the Prince of Thessaloniki, a formal envoy to the war front on behalf of the High Prince.

  —Her Lictor, SIR OLORIN MILTA, a Maeskolos Swordmaster of the Fire School.

  ON DELOS:

  LORD ALISTAIR DIOMEDES FRIEDRICH MARLOWE, Archon of Meidua Prefecture and Lord of Devil’s Rest, former Lord Executor of Delos System, the Butcher of Linon.

  —His wife, LADY LILIANA KEPHALOS-MARLOWE, a celebrated librettist and filmmaker, daughter to the Duchess of Delos.

  —Their son, CRISPIN MARLOWE, Hadrian’s younger brother and presumptive heir to Devil’s Rest and Meidua Prefecture.

  —His mother, {LADY FUCHSIA BELLGROVE-MARLOWE}, deceased.

  —His retainers:

  —SIR FELIX MARTYN, Castellan and Commander of the House Guard, formerly Hadrian’s fighting instructor.

  —SIR ROBAN MILOSH, a knight-lictor and once Hadrian’s bodyguard.

  —TOR ALCUIN, scholiast and chief advisor.

  —TOR GIBSON, Hadrian’s beloved tutor, a Zenoan scholiast trained on Syracuse. Exiled, presumed dead.

  ON EMESH:

  LORD BALIAN MATARO, third Count of Emesh, Archon of Borosevo Prefecture and Lord of Castle Borosevo.

  —His daughter, ANAÏS MATARO, Hadrian’s betrothed and future Countess of Emesh.

  —{GILLIAM VAS}, deformed bastard son of Emesh’s Grand Prior, killed by Hadrian in a duel.

  —{CAT}, a peasant girl and former lover of Hadrian’s, died in the plague that wracked Emesh.

  ON PHAROS:

  {MARIUS WHENT}, deceased military dictator of the planet Pharos, formerly an Imperial legate. Defeated by Hadrian Marlowe and the Meidua Red Company.

  —His subordinate, {EMIL BORDELON}, a Norman mercenary and ship’s captain. Famously depraved and disliked by his men.

  ON RUSTAM:

  THE PAINTED MAN, a shape-shifting homunculus and crime lord in Rustam’s underbelly. Formerly of Vorgossos.

  —Its subordinate, SAMIR, a plagiarius and weapons dealer.

  ZHIVAY, interim Consul of Rustam, formerly a chief of the urban prefects.

  ON MARCH STATION:

  ANTONIUS BREVON, a merchanter and businessman with ties to the Exalted and to Vorgossos.

  —His slave, EVA, a homunculus.

  YEVGENI CENTO, a bonecutter and natalist.

  INDEX OF WORLDS

  HEREIN IS APPENDED A list of all those worlds mentioned in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account. The purpose of this list is simply to remind the reader which world is which. Detailed astrographic and geological documents—as well as economic and historical texts—may be found elsewhere in the library. What information I have provided is all that is necessary to understand Lord Marlowe’s text.

  —Tor Paulos of Nov Belgaer

  Andernach

  A Centaurine Duchy presided over by House Hauptmann, famously the home of First Strategos Titus Hauptmann. A cold, arid world.

  Apas

  Location unknown. According to Lord Marlowe’s account, the site of a colony of xenobitic microorganisms called a Deep.

  Aptucca

  An Imperial colony in the Norma Arm. Site of one of Lord Marlowe’s greatest victories.

  Ardistama

  A Norman freehold visited by Lord Marlowe between Emesh and Vorgossos.

  Athyras

  An older Imperial world, home to the predatory xanarths.

  Avalon

  One of the original human colonies, site of heavy European colonization by generation ark. Birthplace of the Sollan Empire.

  Bannatia

  An Imperial Norman colony destroyed by the Cielcin.

  Coritani

  A major Imperial base in the Norman Expanse.

  Cressgard

  A lost Imperial colony in the Veil of Marinus, site of the first contact with the Cielcin at the Battle of Cressgard in ISD 15792.

  Danu

  A major Duchy in the Centaurus Arm, most notable in Lord Marlowe’s account as the birthplace of his friend William, called Switch.

  Delos

  Birthplace of Hadrian Marlowe and seat of the Duchy of House Kephalos in the Spur of Orion, a temperate world with wan sunlight, famed for its uranium deposits, which made it extremely wealthy.

  Emesh

  A watery world in the Veil of Marinus, seat of House Mataro. Home of the coloni Umandh and
the subterranean ruins at Calagah. Originally a Norman colony.

  Epidamnus

  An Imperial County in the Sagittarius Arm, formerly a center for trade and home to the predatory megatheres.

  Forum

  The capital of the Sollan Empire. A gas giant with a breathable atmosphere in whose cloud belt are several flying palace cities that serve as the administrative hub of the Imperium.

  Gibbeah

  Planet destroyed by Chantry intervention in the ninth millennium following a series of killings carried out on the local plebeian population by its nobility.

  Gododdin

  A system between the Centaurus and Sagittarius Arms of the galaxy, famously destroyed by Hadrian Marlowe during the final battle in the Crusade.

  Idun

  An Imperial Norman colony destroyed by the Cielcin.

  Jadd

  The planet of fire, sacred capital of the Jaddian Principalities, on whose soil none shall tread without the express permission of the High Prince.

  Kremnoi

  According to Lord Marlowe’s account, an Extrasolarian colony. Location unknown.

  Linon

  Moon of a gas giant in Delos system, formerly the demesne of the exsul House Orin and site of the Battle of Linon in ISD 15863, in which Alistair Marlowe killed the entire house.

  Luin

  A planet famous for its xenobitic forests, considered something of a fantasy land. Known for the phasma vigrandi, a species of floating organism that glows like faerie lights.

  Lycia

  An Imperial Norman colony destroyed by the Cielcin.

  March Station

  An Extrasolarian ring station in deep space. Home to millions, it is a major commercial and industrial hub.

  Marinus

  The first Norman Freehold seized by the Imperium and amongst their first colonies in the Expanse.

  Milinda

  A Grand Duchy in the Primarchate of Perseus. Formerly a mining colony, it grew to prominence during the First Jaddian Wars.

  Monmara

  A water world and a Norman freehold, known for the cheap mass production of starships.

  Nagramma

  A Norman freehold settled primarily by Cid Arthurian religious refugees.

  Nessus

  Seat of the Centaurine Primarchate.

  Old Earth

  Birthplace of the human species. A nuclear ruin and victim of environmental collapse, she is protected by the Chantry Wardens and none may walk there.

  Pharos

  A Norman freehold ruled for a time by Marius Whent, an ex-Imperial legate defeated by Hadrian Marlowe during his time as a mercenary.

  Rustam

  An Imperial colony in the Norman Expanse, site of a minor engagement with the Cielcin that culminated in the destruction of its capital city.

  Sanora

  A Norman freehold. Recently settled, it’s considered a den of pirates.

  Sarmatia

  A minor imperial world in the Upper Perseus.

  Se Vattayu

  The mythical homeworld of the Cielcin, its surface apparently honeycombed with labyrinthine tunnels like those the Quiet dug at Calagah on Emesh.

  Senuessa

  A Sagittarine world, site of the Battle of Senuessa, one of the bloodiest in the entirety of the Cielcin Wars.

  Tanais

  According to Lord Marlowe’s account, an Extrasolarian colony. Location unknown.

  Tavros

  The primary planet of the Tavros Demarchy, settled by a mix of Nordic, Indian, and ethnic Thai peoples ahead of the wave of Imperial expansion in a region high above the galaxy’s ecliptic.

  Trieste

  An old Imperial world in the Orion Arm, notable in this account only as the birthplace of Lord Marlowe’s long-time companion and friend Pallino.

  Tyras

  An Imperial colony in the Norman Expanse presided over by the defunct House Jurnau. Destroyed by the Cielcin in ISD 16216.

  Ubar

  An arid Jaddian satrapy loyal to the House di Otranto, who have been the High Princes of Jadd for generations. Begs loyalty to the Prince of Thessaloniki.

  Uhra

  A Norman Freehold, recently having transitioned from a kingdom to a republic, renowned for its starship manufacture.

  Varadeto

  A Barony in the Primarchate of Orion, presided over by House Harfleur.

  Vorgossos

  A mythical Extrasolarian world orbiting a brown dwarf, said to be a mecca for the black market genetics trade. Formerly a hideout for the Exalted, presided over now by a warlord known as the Undying.

  LEXICON

  HEREIN IS INCLUDED AN index of those terms appearing in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s manuscript which are not easily translated into the Classical English or which bear a specific cultural or technical definition. For a more complete explanation of the methodology I employed in devising these coinages in translating from the Galstani in which the original was written, please refer to the appendices in volume one of this translation.

  —Tor Paulos of Nov Belgaer

  abstraction

  The process by which members of the Exalted remove themselves from humanity through technological modification.

  adorator

  A member of any antique religious cult maintained by the Empire and tolerated by the Chantry.

  Advent

  The destruction of Old Earth by humanity at the end of the Foundation War.

  Aeta

  A Cielcin prince-chieftain. Appears to have ownership rights over its subjects and their property.

  akaranta

  The dominant Cielcin sexual role.

  aljanhi

  A human Jaddian soldier, distinguished from the clone mamluks.

  anagnost

  An initiate in the Chantry clergy.

  androgyn

  A homunculus exhibiting neither or both male and female sex characteristics.

  aquilarii

  In the Legions, the pilot of a lighter craft.

  azhdarch

  A xenobite predator common in the Colosso, like a lizard with a long neck open from top to bottom in a fanged mouth.

  backspace

  Territory within Imperial space not formally colonized by the Empire. Often a refuge for the Extrasolarians.

  baetan

  In Cielcin culture, a sort of priest-historian of the
scianda.

  baron/baroness

  Lowest rank of the Imperial palatine nobility. Rules a planetary demesne. Title may be passed on through inheritance.

  bastille

  Any Chantry judicial and penal center, usually attached to a temple sanctum.

  biofacture

  The manufacture of living beings, organs, or tissues.

  bonecutter

  A black market genetics surgeon, not sanctioned by the High College.

  Book of the Mind

  An anthology of several texts compiled or composed by the scholiast Imore. Forms the basis of their philosophy.

  centurion

  A rank in the Imperial Legions, commands a CENTURY.

  Chalcenterite

  A fraternal order of the scholiasts, noted for their asceticism.

  Chantry

  See HOLY TERRAN CHANTRY.

  chimera