The Moon's Shadow (Saga of the Skolian Empire)

by Catherine Asaro

  The title of this book—The Moon’s Shadow—has a multitude of meanings having to do with the characters, their situations, and the ramifications of their actions. The most obvious interpretations may be misleading! Some may include the empresses of Eube, but certainly not all of them, nor in the obvious ways. I will leave it to the reader to play with the possible symbolisms.

  Family Tree: RUBY DYNASTY

  Boldface names refer to members of the Rhon. The Selei name denotes the direct line of the Ruby Pharaoh. All children of Roca and Eldrinson take Valdoria as their third name. All members of the Rhon within the Ruby Dynasty have the right to use Skolia as their last name. “Del” in front of a name means “in honor of.”

  = marriage + children by

  Family Tree: QOX DYNASTY Rhon Genetic Project Qox Line

  Characters and Family History

  Boldface names refer to Ruby psions, also known as the “Rhon.” All Rhon psions who are members of the Ruby Dynasty use Skolia as their last name (the Skolian Imperialate was named after their family). The Selei name indicates the direct line of the Ruby Pharaoh. Children of Roca and Eldrinson take Valdoria as a third name. The “del” prefix means “in honor of,” and is capitalized if the person honored was a Triad member. Most names are based on world-building systems drawn from Mayan, North African, and Indian cultures.

  = marriage

  Lahaylia Selei (Ruby Pharaoh: deceased) = Jarac Imperator: deceased)

  Lahaylia and Jarac founded the modern-day Ruby Dynasty. Lahaylia was created in the Rhon genetic project. Her lineage traced back to the ancient Ruby Dynasty that founded the Ruby Empire. Lahaylia and Jarac had two daughters, Dyhianna Selei and Roca.

  Dyhianna (Dehya) Selei = (1) William Seth Rockworth III (separated)

  = (2) Eldrin Jarac Valdoria

  Dehya is the Ruby Pharaoh. She married William Seth Rockworth III as part of the Iceland Treaty between the Skolian Imperialate and Allied Worlds of Earth. They had no children and later separated. The dissolution of their marriage would have negated the treaty, so neither the Allieds nor the Imperialate recognized Seth’s divorce. Both Seth and Dehya eventually remarried anyway. Spherical Harmonic tells the story of what happened to Dehya after the Radiance War. She and Eldrin have two children, Taquinil Selei and Althor Vyan Selei.

  Althor Vyan Selei = ‘Akushtina (Tina) Santis Pulivok

  The story of Althor and Tina appears in Catch the Lightning. Althor Vyan Selei was named after his uncle/cousin, Althor Izam-Na Valdoria. Tina also appears in the story “Ave de Paso” in the anthology Redshift and The Year’s Best Fantasy, 2001.

  Roca = (1) Tokaba Ryestar (deceased)

  = (2) Darr Hammerjackson (divorced)

  = (3) Eldrinson Althor Valdoria

  Roca and Tokaba had one child, Kurj (Imperator and former Jagernaut), who married Ami when he was about a century old. Kurj and Ami had a son named Kurjson.

  Although no records exist of Eldrinson’s lineage, it is believed he descends from the ancient Ruby Dynasty. He and Roca have ten children:

  Eldrin (Dryni) Jarac (bard, consort to Ruby Pharaoh, warrior)

  Althor Izam-Na (engineer, Jagernaut, Imperial Heir)

  Del-Kurj (Del) (singer, warrior, twin to Chaniece)

  Chaniece Roca (runs Valdoria family household, twin to Del-Kurj)

  Havyrl (Vyrl) Torcellei (farmer, doctorate in agriculture)

  Sauscony (Soz) Lahaylia (military scientist, Jagernaut, Imperator)

  Denric Windward (teacher, doctorate in literature)

  Shannon Eirlei (Blue Dale archer)

  Aniece Dyhianna (accountant, Rillian queen)

  Kelricson (Kelric) Garlin (mathematician, Jagernaut, Imperator)

  Eldrin appears in The Radiant Seas and Spherical Harmonic

  Althor Izam-Na = (1) Coop and Vaz

  = (2) Cirrus

  Althor has a daughter, Eristia Leirol Valdoria, with Syreen Leirol, an actress turned linguist. Coop and Vaz have a son, Ryder Jalam Majda Valdoria, with Althor as co-father. Althor and Coop appear in The Radiant Seas. The novelette, “Soul of Light” (Circlet Press, anthology Sextopia), tells the story of how Althor and Vaz met Coop. Vaz and Coop also appear in Spherical Harmonic. Althor and Cirrus also have a son.

  Havyrl (Vyrl) Torcellei = Lilliara (Lilly) (deceased)

  = Kamoj Quanta Argali

  The story of Havyrl and Kamoj appears in The Quantum Rose, which won the 2001 Nebula Award. An early version of the first half was serialized in Analog, May 1999–July/August 1999. The story of Havyrl and Lilly appears in “Stained Glass Heart,” a novella in the anthology Irresistible Forces, February 2004.

  Sauscony (Soz) Lahaylia = (1) Jato Stormson (divorced)

  = (2) Hypron Luminar (deceased)

  = (3) Jaibriol Qox (aka Jaibriol II)

  The story of how Soz and Jato met appears in the novella, “Aurora in Four Voices” (Analog, December 1998). Soz and Jaibriol’s stories appear in Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas. They have four children, all of whom use Qox-Skolia as their last name: Jaibriol III, Rocalisa, Vitar, and del-Kelric. The story of how Jaibriol III became the emperor of Eube appears in The Moon’s Shadow. Jaibriol III married Tarquine Iquar, the Finance Minister of Eube.

  Aniece = Lord Rillia

  Lord Rillia rules Rillia, which consists of the extensive Rillian Vales, the Dalvador Plains, the Backbone Mountains, and the Stained Glass Forest.

  Kelricson (Kelric) Garlin = (1) Corey Majda (deceased)

  = (2) Deha Dahl (deceased)

  = (3) Rashiva Haka (Calani trade)

  = (4) Savina Miesa (deceased)

  = (5) Avtac Varz (Calani trade)

  = (6) Ixpar Karn (closure)

  = (7) Jeejon

  Kelric’s stories are told in The Last Hawk, Ascendant Sun, The Moon’s Shadow, the novella “A Roll of the Dice” (Analog, July/August 2000), and the novelette “Light and Shadow” (Analog, April 1994). Kelric and Rashiva have one son, Jimorla (Jimi) Haka, who becomes a renowned Calani. Kelric and Savina have one daughter, Rohka Miesa Varz, who becomes the Ministry Successor in line to rule the Twelve Estates on Coba.

  Time Line

  circa 4000 BC Group of humans moved from Earth to Raylicon

  circa 3600 BC Ruby Dynasty begins

  circa 3100 BC Raylicans launch first interstellar flights; rise of

  Ruby Empire

  circa 2900 BC Ruby Empire declines

  circa 2800 BC Last interstellar flights; Ruby Empire collapses . . .

  circa AD 1300 Raylicans begin to regain lost knowledge

  1843 Raylicans regain interstellar flight

  1866 Rhon genetic project begins

  1871 Aristos found Eubian Concord (aka Trader Empire)

  1881 Lahaylia Selei born

  1904 Lahaylia Selei founds Skolian Imperialate

  2005 Jarac born

  2111 Lahaylia Selei marries Jarac

  2119 Dyhianna Selei born

  2122 Earth achieves interstellar flight

  2132 Allied Worlds of Earth formed

  2144 Roca born

  2169 Kurj born

  2203 Roca marries Eldrinson Althor Valdoria

  2204 Eldrin Jarac Valdoria born; Jarac dies; Kurj becomes

  Imperator

  2206 Althor Izam-Na Valdoria born

  2209 Havyrl (Vyrl) Torcellei Valdoria born

  2210 Sauscony (Soz) Lahaylia Valdoria born

  2219 Kelricson (Kelric) Garlin Valdoria born

  2223 Vyrl marries Lilly (“Stained Glass Heart”)

  2237 Jaibriol II born

  2240 Soz meets Jato Stormson (“Aurora in Four Voices”)

  2241 Kelric marries Admiral Corey Majda

  2243 Corey assassinated (“Light and Shadow”)

  2258 Kelric crashes on Coba (The Last Hawk)

  early 2259 Soz meets Jaibriol (Primary Inversion)

  late 2259 Soz and Jaibriol go into exile (The Radiant Seas)

  2260 Jaibriol III born (aka Jaibriol Qox Sk
olia)

  2263 Rocalisa Qox Skolia born; Althor Izam-Na Valdoria meets Coop (“Soul of Light”)

  2268 Vitar Qox Skolia born

  2273 del-Kelric Qox Skolia born

  2274 Radiance War begins (also called Domino War)

  2276 Traders capture Eldrin. Radiance War ends

  2277–8 Kelric returns home (Ascendant Sun); Dehya coalesces (Spherical Harmonic); Kamoj and Vyrl meet (The Quantum Rose); Jaibriol III becomes emperor of Eube (The Moon’s Shadow)

  2279 Althor Vyan Selei born

  2287 Jeremiah Coltman trapped on Coba (“A Roll of the Dice”)

  2328 Althor Vyan Selei meets Tina Santis Pulivok (Catch the Lightning)

  About the Author

  Catherine Asaro grew up near Berkeley, California. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Physics and her M.A. in Physics, both from Harvard, and a B.S. with Highest Honors in Chemistry from UCLA. Among the places she has done research are the University of Toronto, the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. A former ballet and jazz dancer, she founded the Mainly Jazz Dance program at Harvard and was a principal dancer and artistic director of Mainly Jazz and the Harvard University Ballet. Her husband is John Kendall Cannizzo, the proverbial rocket scientist. They have one daughter, a ballet dancer and mathematics enthusiast.

  Catherine Asaro has also written Primary Inversion, Catch the Lightning, The Last Hawk, The Radiant Seas, Ascendant Sun, The Quantum Rose, and Spherical Harmonic, all part of the Skolian Saga, and The Veiled Web and The Phoenix Code, near-future science fiction. Her work has won numerous awards, including the Nebula for The Quantum Rose. She can be reached by e-mail at asaro@sff.net and on the Web at http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/. To receive updates on her releases, please e-mail the above address.