Metal Swarm
Page 54
Charybdis—primordial water planet, site of Jess Tamblyn’s original dispersal of wentals.
Christopher—fourth Great King of the Terran Hanseatic League.
Chrysalis Chair—reclining throne of the Mage-Imperator.
Cjeldre—former Klikiss world, settled by human colonists.
Clarin, Roberto—former administrator of Hurricane Depot, captured by the EDF and taken to Llaro, where he is the ostensible leader of the Roamer detainees.
cloud harvester—ekti-gathering facility designed by the Hansa; also called a cloud mine.
cohort—battle group of Ildiran Solar Navy consisting of seven maniples, or 343 ships.
Colicos, Anton—the son of Margaret and Louis Colicos, translator of epic stories, sent to Ildiran Empire to study the Saga of Seven Suns. Anton was nearly killed on Maratha when Klikiss robots attacked; only he and Rememberer Vao’sh survived.
Colicos, Louis—xeno-archaeologist, husband of Margaret and father of Anton, killed by Klikiss robots at Rheindic Co.
Colicos, Margaret—xeno-archaeologist, wife of Louis and mother of Anton, vanished through transportal during Klikiss robot attack on Rheindic Co and lived among Klikiss.
Company Works—extraction facility on Rhejak.
competent computerized companion—intelligent servant robot, called compy, available in Friendly, Teacher, Governess, Listener, and other models.
compy—shortened term for “competent computerized companion.”
condorfly—colorful flying insect on Theroc like a giant butterfly, sometimes kept as a pet.
Constantine III—stormy, primordial planet, site of Roamer facility for extracting polymers and raw materials from its thick atmosphere; known for exotic flame-proof materials.
Corribus—ancient Klikiss world where Margaret and Louis Colicos discovered the Klikiss Torch technology, site of one of the first new Hansa colonies.
Covitz, Jan—Dremen mushroom farmer, father of Orli, moved to Corribus in transportal Colonization Initiative, where he was killed in Klikiss robot attack.
Covitz, Orli—Dremen colonist, moved to Corribus with her father Jan, where she was one of two survivors of the Klikiss robot attack. Later, she moved to Llaro to join the Crenna refugees.
Crenna—former Ildiran splinter colony, evacuated due to plague and resettled by humans, then later frozen when its sun died in hydrogue-faeros battles.
cutter—small ship in the Ildiran Solar Navy.
Cyroc’h—former Mage-Imperator, father of Jora’h.
Czir’h—Dzelluria Designate, the first leader to fall to Designate Rusa’h’s rebellion.
Daniel—Prince candidate selected as a replacement for Peter, left stranded on neo-Amish world of Happiness.
Daro’h—the Dobro Designate, now chosen to be Prime Designate; the oldest surviving noble-born son of Jora’h.
DD—Friendly compy owned by Margaret Colicos, seized by Klikiss robot Sirix, then escaped through a transportal to rejoin Margaret.
Designate—any purebred noble son of the Mage-Imperator, ruler of an Ildiran world.
diamondfilm—crystalline parchment used for Ildiran documents.
Diente, Admiral Esteban—one of the four surviving Grid Admirals after the hydrogue war.
Dio’sh—Ildiran rememberer, murdered by Mage-Imperator Cyroc’h after he discovered the truth about the former hydrogue war.
Dobro—Ildiran colony world, site of human-Ildiran breeding camps.
domate—largest sub-breed of Klikiss, silver carapace with black tiger stripes. The domates acquire and provide genetic material to the breedex during reproductive fissioning.
Dooley, Jym—Roamer trader at Rhejak.
Dremen—Terran colony world, dim and cloudy; chief products are saltpond caviar and genetically enhanced mushrooms.
dropship—fast delivery vessel used by EDF.
Durris—trinary star system, close white and orange stars orbited by a red dwarf; three of the Ildiran “seven suns.” Durris-B was extinguished in the hydrogue-faeros war.
Dzelluria—Ildiran world in the Horizon Cluster; first world to be conquered in Rusa’h’s rebellion, ruled by Designate Czir’h.
EA—Tasia Tamblyn’s personal compy, destroyed by hydrogues and Klikiss robots.
Earth Defense Forces (EDF)—Terran space military, led by General Kurt Lanyan.
Eddies—slang term for soldiers in the EDF.
ekti—exotic allotrope of hydrogen used to fuel Ildiran stardrives.
Estarra—second daughter, fourth child of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa. Current Queen of Terran Hanseatic League, married to King Peter.
faeros—sentient fire entities dwelling within stars.
firefever—ancient Ildiran plague.
Fitzpatrick, Maureen—former Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League, grandmother of Patrick Fitzpatrick III, nicknamed “Battleaxe.”
Fitzpatrick, Patrick, III—General Lanyan’s protégé in the Earth Defense Forces, presumed dead after the battle of Osquivel but captured by Roamers in Del Kellum’s shipyards. Later, in love with Zhett Kellum, he abandoned the EDF, stole his grandmother’s space yacht, and went in search of the Roamers.
fracture-pulse drone—new-design EDF weapon, also called a “frak.”
Frederick—previous Great King of the Hansa, Peter’s predecessor, assassinated by hydrogue emissary.
fungus reef—giant worldtree growth on Theroc, carved into a habitation by the Therons.
furry cricket—innocuous furry rodent found on Corribus.
Gale’nh—experimental half-breed son of Nira and Adar Kori’nh, third oldest of her children.
Garoa—Ildiran world in the Horizon Cluster, formerly conquered in Imperator Rusa’h’s rebellion.
gliderbike—flying contraption assembled from scavenged engines and framework materials, augmented by colorful condorfly wings.
Goff, Boris—Roamer skyminer.
Gold, Sullivan—administrator of the Hansa’s modular cloud harvester at Qronha 3, held captive by Ildirans.
Golgen—gas giant where Ross Tamblyn’s Blue Sky Mine was destroyed, now site of renewed Roamer skymining, particularly by clan Kellum.
Great King—figurehead leader of Terran Hanseatic League.
green priest—servant of the worldforest, able to use worldtrees for instantaneous communication.
Guiding Star—Roamer philosophy and religion, a guiding force in a person’s life.
Gypsy—space yacht flown by Patrick Fitzpatrick III, renamed after he stole it from his grandmother to search for Zhett Kellum.
Hansa—Terran Hanseatic League.
Hansa headquarters—pyramidal building near the Whisper Palace on Earth.
Haphine—gas giant planet formerly infested with hydrogues.
Hhrenni—star system, site of Chan greenhouse asteroids.
Hifur—abandoned Klikiss world.
Horizon Cluster—large star cluster near Ildira, location of Hyrillka and many other splinter colonies. Most of Rusa’h’s rebellion took place in the Horizon Cluster.
Hrel-Oro—arid Ildiran mining colony, devastated in a hydrogue attack.
Huck, Tabitha—engineer aboard Sullivan Gold’s cloud harvester, held captive by Ildirans; she turned her talents to helping in the war against the hydrogues.
Hurricane Depot—Roamer commercial center and fuel-transfer station, destroyed by EDF.
hydrogues—alien race living at cores of gas-giant planets.
Hyrillka—Ildiran colony in Horizon Cluster, from which Designate Rusa’h began his rebellion; the Klikiss robots were rediscovered frozen on one of the outlying moons.
Idriss, Father—former ruler of Theroc, husband of Mother Alexa and father of Reynald, Beneto, Sarein, Estarra, and Celli.
Ildira—home planet of the Ildiran Empire.
Ildiran Empire—large alien empire, the only other major civilization in the Spiral Arm.
Ildiran Solar Navy—space military of the Ildiran Empire.
Ildirans—humanoid alien race with many different breeds, or kiths.
Ilkot—Klikiss robot, companion to Sirix.
Isix cats—sleek feline predators native to Ildira; Jora’h’s daughter Yazra’h keeps three of them.
jazer—energy weapon used by Earth Defense Forces.
Jen’nh—septar of Tal O’nh’s processional group of warliners.
Jonah 12—icy planetoid, site of Kotto Okiah’s hydrogen-extraction facility, destroyed by Klikiss robots.
Jora’h—Mage-Imperator of the Ildiran Empire.
Juggernaut—large battleship class in Earth Defense Forces.
Jupiter—enhanced Juggernaut battleship in EDF, flagship of Admiral Willis’s Grid 7 battle group.
Kamarov, Raven—Roamer captain, destroyed with his cargo ship in a secret EDF raid.
Kellum, Del—Roamer clan leader, in charge of Osquivel shipyards and a Golgen skymine.
Kellum, Zhett—daughter of Del Kellum, in love with Patrick Fitzpatrick III.
Kett, Rlinda—heavyset merchant woman, captain of the Voracious Curiosity.
kith—a breed of Ildiran.
Klikiss—ancient insectlike race, thought long vanished from the Spiral Arm, leaving only their empty cities.
Klikiss robots—intelligent beetlelike robots built by the Klikiss race.
Klikiss Torch—a weapon developed by the ancient Klikiss race to implode gas-giant planets and create new stars.
Kolker—green priest, friend of Yarrod, stationed on Sullivan Gold’s cloud harvester at Qronha 3, then held captive by the Ildirans.
Kori’nh, Adar—leader of the Ildiran Solar Navy, killed in a suicidal assault against hydrogues on Qronha 3.
Ko’sh—chief scribe of the Ildiran rememberer kith.
Lanyan, General Kurt—commander of Earth Defense Forces.
lens kithmen—philosopher priests who help to guide troubled Ildirans, interpreting faint guidance from the thism.
Lightsource—the Ildiran version of Heaven, a realm on a higher plane composed entirely of light. Ildirans believe that faint trickles of this light break through into our universe and are channeled through the Mage-Imperator and distributed across their race through the thism.
Liona—green priest assigned to Del Kellum’s skymine on Golgen, then the Osquivel shipyards.
Llaro—abandoned Klikiss world where Roamer detainees were kept after being captured by the EDF; also, new home of Orli Covitz and the survivors from Crenna.
Lost Times—forgotten historical period, events supposedly recounted in a missing section of the Saga of Seven Suns.
Lotze, Davlin—Hansa exosociologist and spy, sent to Rheindic Co, where he and Rlinda Kett discovered how to use the Klikiss transportal system. Later, he left Hansa service and went into hiding to live on Llaro with other Crenna refugees.
Mage-Imperator—the god-emperor of the Ildiran Empire.
Manta—midsize cruiser class in the EDF.
Maratha—Ildiran resort world with extremely long day and night cycle, taken over by Klikiss robots.
Maratha Prime—primary domed city on one continent of Maratha, destroyed by Klikiss robots.
Maratha Secda—sister city on opposite side of Maratha from Prime, destroyed by Klikiss robots.
medusa—giant tentacled creature herded on Rhejak. Its shell is large enough to be used as a dwelling, and its meat is prized.
Mijistra—glorious capital city of the Ildiran Empire, site of the Prism Palace.
Moon Statue Garden—sculpture exhibit and topiary at the Whisper Palace.
Muree’n—experimental half-breed daughter of Nira and a guard kithman, youngest of her children.
Nahton—court green priest on Earth.
nebula skimmers—giant sails used to scoop hydrogen from nebula clouds.
Nira—green priest female, Jora’h’s lover and mother of his half-breed daughter, Osira’h. Held captive in breeding camps on Dobro, then freed.
Okiah, Jhy—former Speaker of the clans, died on Jonah 12.
Okiah, Kotto—Jhy Okiah’s youngest son, a brash and eccentric inventor.
O’nh, Tal—second-highest-ranking officer in the Ildiran Solar Navy, one-eyed veteran with an inset jewel in his empty socket.
Osira’h—daughter of Nira and Jora’h, bred to have unusual telepathic abilities.
Osquivel—ringed gas planet, site of secret Roamer shipyards.
Osquivel—new personnel transport built to retrieve Roamer detainees on Llaro.
Otema—former ambassador from Theroc, green priest sent to Ildira, where she was murdered by Mage-Imperator Cyroc’h.
OX—Teacher compy, one of the oldest Earth robots, instructor and adviser to King Peter; his memories were mostly wiped out during Peter and Estarra’s escape from Earth.
Palace District—governmental zone around the Whisper Palace on Earth.
Palawu, Howard—Hansa Chief Science Adviser, vanished while investigating Klikiss transportal technology.
PD—one of two Friendly compies formerly belonging to Admiral Crestone Wu-Lin, taken as “students” of Sirix.
Peroni, Cesca—Roamer Speaker of all clans, trained by Jhy Okiah. Cesca was betrothed to Ross Tamblyn, then Reynald of Theroc, but has always loved Ross’s brother, Jess. Now infused with wental power, she joined Jess in his work for the wentals.
Peroni, Denn—Cesca’s father, a Roamer merchant.
Peter, King—King of the Hansa, married to Estarra; he escaped Earth and established a new Confederation on Theroc.
Pike, Zebulon Charles—one of the four surviving Grid Admirals after the hydrogue war.
Plumas—frozen moon with deep liquid oceans, site of the Tamblyn clan water industry, nearly destroyed by a tainted wental inhabiting Karla Tamblyn’s body.
Prime Designate—eldest son and heir apparent of Ildiran Mage-Imperator.
Prism Palace—dwelling of the Ildiran Mage-Imperator.
putter-boat—small, low-powered craft used on Rhejak.
Pym—abandoned Klikiss world resettled during the Klikiss Colonization Initiative.
Qronha—a close binary system, two of the Ildiran “seven suns.” Contains two habitable planets and one gas giant, Qronha 3, where skymining was destroyed by hydrogue attacks.
QT—one of two Friendly compies, formerly belonging to Admiral Crestone Wu-Lin, taken as “students” of Sirix.
Rajani—Roamer clan, one of the investors on Constantine III.
Rajapar—former Klikiss world.
recirc sorter—recirculation sorter, vital filtering component of the Company Works extraction facility on Rhejak.
Relleker—Terran colony world, popular as a resort, destroyed by hydrogues.
rememberer—member of the Ildiran storyteller kith.
Remora—small attack ship in Earth Defense Forces.
Rendezvous—inhabited asteroid cluster, center of Roamer government, destroyed by the EDF.
Reynald—eldest son of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa, killed in hydrogue attack on Theroc.
Ridek’h—young replacement Hyrillka Designate after his father, Pery’h, was murdered by Rusa’h.
Rheindic Co—abandoned Klikiss world, now central transfer point for the transportal network.
Rhejak—former Hansa colony, an ocean world of reefs, medusa herders, and fishermen. Main products include kelp extracts, reef-pearls, rare metals, and chemical compounds.
Roamers—loose confederation of independent humans, primary producers of ekti stardrive fuel.
Roberts, Branson—former husband and business partner of Rlinda Kett, also called BeBob.
Rod’h—experimental half-breed son of Nira and the Dobro Designate, second oldest of her children.
Ruis, Lupe—mayor of Crenna colony settlement.
Rusa’h—former Hyrillka Designate, degenerated into madness after a head injury and began a revolt against the Mage-Imperator. Rather than allow himself to be captured, he flew his ship into Hyrillka’s sun.
Ruvi, Rico—a
dministrator of Rheindic Co transportal facility.
Sachs, Andrina—facility manager of Constantine III.
Saga of Seven Suns—historical and legendary epic of the Ildiran civilization, considered to be infallible.
San Luis, Zia—one of the four surviving grid admirals after the hydrogue war.
Sarein—eldest daughter of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa, Theron ambassador to Earth, also Basil Wenceslas’s lover.
Scholld—former Klikiss world.
septa—small battle group of seven ships in the Ildiran Solar Navy.
septar—commander of a septa.
Shana Rei—legendary “creatures of darkness” in the Saga of Seven Suns.
shizz—Roamer expletive.
Shonor—Ildiran world in the Horizon Cluster, formerly conquered in Imperator Rusa’h’s rebellion.
silver berets—sophisticated special forces trained by the EDF.
Sirix—Klikiss robot, leader of robotic revolt against humans, captor of DD.
skymine—ekti-harvesting facility in gas-giant clouds, usually operated by Roamers.
skysphere—main dome of the Ildiran Prism Palace. The skysphere holds exotic plants, insects, and birds, all suspended over the Mage-Imperator’s throne room.
Solimar—young green priest, treedancer, and mechanic. Celli’s boyfriend.
soul-threads—connections of thism that trickle through from the Lightsource. Mage-Imperator and lens kithmen are able to see them.
Speaker—political leader of the Roamers.
Spiral Arm—the section of the Milky Way Galaxy settled by the Ildiran Empire and Terran colonies.
splinter colony—an Ildiran colony that meets minimum population requirements.
Steinman, Hud—old transportal explorer, discovered Corribus on the transportal network and decided to settle there. He and Orli Covitz were the only two survivors of the black robot attack on Corribus; they joined Crenna refugees on Llaro.
streamer—fast single ship in Ildiran Solar Navy.
Stromo, Admiral Lev—Admiral in Earth Defense Forces, General Lanyan’s second in command, killed during Soldier compy revolt.
Sweeney, Dahlia—DD’s first owner, as a young girl.
tal—military rank in Ildiran Solar Navy, cohort commander.
Tamblyn, Caleb—one of Jess and Tasia’s uncles, currently running the Plumas water mines.