The Book of the Ler

by M. A. Foster

  11 Ler Braids ideally produced four children. Fifth children occurred in one Braid in five or six, from third-fertilities (80%) or fraternal-twinning (20%). Identical twins (clones) do not occur.

  12 Unsat: To give someone an unsatisfactory rating.

  13 Short form—“Forefather Morlenden.”

  14 Insiblings of the previous generation of Derens. Specifically, Forefather and Foremother of both Morlenden and Fellirian.

  15 Literally, one and seven fourteens of years, in the fourteen-base number system. In decimals, ninety-nine.

  16 The ler retina was more sensitive to color than the human, but it was deficient in rod cells. Their night-vision was poor.

  17 In this context, a casual lover, emotional relationship not specified.

  18 Child-name plus body-name is an address of endearment.

  19 Adults always sat around the hearth in a specific order.

  20 “Ancestral Primates.” A derogatory epithet. Morlenden had little contact with the human world, and distrusted it greatly.

  21 Two times fourteen to the second power—196.

  22 Secondary sexual characteristics in the ler were subtle where they existed at all. Sometimes it could be difficult even for a ler to determine the apparent gender of another.

  23 Singlespeech also uses an asexual, genderless personal pronoun.

  24 “Singlespeech” itself.

  25 Members of the high executive class did not have families.

  26 Bureaucratic jargon: means “to decide upon an active course.”

  27 More jargon: Conops means “Concept of Operations. An arbitrary definition of projected reality in which to act.”

  28 “Players of the Life Game,” the manner in which both Player Braids were referred collectively.

  29 Literally, a quest.

  30 Fourteen to the third power grams of gold. Approximately 2.75 kilos. Considering that most transactions were valued in fourteenths of a tal, such a sum was beyond counting.

  31 Literally, “Season of Insibling-birth.” A time of great stress.

  32 In Shifter jargon, one who worked straight midnight shifts.

  33 Geriatric treatments, primarily but not exclusively drugs.

  34 “Terminate via administrative procedures.” In 2550, there was no legal death penalty. Nevertheless, certain people did disappear from time to time. Nobody asked where they went.

  35 The reception of Multispeech demanded that the receiver allow his will to become passive. This relationship of individual submission to another’s will had traditionally limited the use of this linguistic ability to certain Braids and elder communes, who included in their traditional regimens compensatory disciplines to handle this problem.

  36 Tengvar, a light, elegant, half-meter machete. Graigvar, a delicate thrusting-spear. These were rare artifacts as they were weapons and used for nothing else. Since they were uncommon, considerable mythology was woven about them. For instance, each one possessed a name of its own, generated in the same three-root fashion as were the names of persons; each one possessed a complex, highly detailed history, which was learned rote by each bearer in turn and never committed to writing. “Gvarh” means weapon (and has no other meaning, being one of the few trans-aspectual roots).

  37 Zvonh: resonance. Ler set an extraordinary, in some cases, excessive valuation upon a logical concept called resonance or harmony. This was also called self-consistency. Nothing was unique or independent, but a part of some larger unit, which possessed purpose and meaning. To lack zvonh was to have contradictions, inequalities. Although a valuable logical tool, it was often popularly misused.

  38 Perhaps, “honorary bastardhood.” In the context of ler society, such an event was considered impossible, the ultimate in undesirability. Maellenkleth would be untouchable to untouchables.

  39 A collection of anecdotes, told by obscure, unknown, or imaginary ler over the years. These always culminated in a dense parable, which might take the form of being too obvious, or else totally incomprehensible, at least until the reader realized the point. The work was considered open-ended and unfinished, and there was a large commentary and criticism attached to it. Humans of the era, where they were aware of it at all, considered it gross cynicism pushed to levels of perversity. It may be interesting to note here that Morlenden considered it boring.

  40 Third-players, Fifth-players, Nth-players.

  41 To the ler, all permanent taxes, or standing taxes, were conceptually a horror; taxes were intended to be specific and unique. Since Braid Deren collected such taxes as required, Fellirian could speak with wry authority on the subject.

  42 Best translated, “force of personality,” although a full explanation involves considerably more than just personality, delving far into concepts of aggression and projection.

  43 The ler period of gestation was eighteen months.

  44 Circular Error Probable.

  45 The first offspring was randomly selected, but thereafter the sex of the children was controlled pheronomically to maintain the fifty-fifty sexual ratio required by the insibling mating pattern.

  46 Theological terminology. But in this convention was also a tradition that a person’s name, proper plus surname, also equated to five syllables, by dropping all numerical prefixes to the surname. (The last syllable of the surname, -en, was a short form of the syllable ghenh-, a root meaning “family.” By and large, the ler found the guttural—gh—distasteful and would drop it whenever they could get away with it.) In this view, then, all persons were theologically considered to be “Attributes of God.”

  47 On the whole, from the surface of the Earth, considering also the generally dusty air of the times, the average ler could, on a clear night, perhaps see down to the fourth magnitude. Norm most of the time was only third-magnitude objects.

  48 Otpusk. A Russianism that had replaced such terms as furlough, leave, vacation.

  49 David and Bathsheba

  50 Spsom distorted non-Spsom speech in numerous ways, not limited to grammar and phonetics. The least of these effects was due to Spsomi mouth structure—which forced most of the formants of speech to occur forward of the palate. This, in turn, lent a whistling, spitting quality to Human or Ler speech. Further, Spsomi had few resonance cavities, so their speech sounded timbreless and flat.

  51 A temporary servant, hired for completion of a specific task or mission. No status change is implied. General work to the task at hand is suggested, but sometimes clerical duties were also performed by “temporaries,” on a renewable contract basis. In this case, “Porters” might be the best translation.

  52 Cert: A document issued by the local prefect, stating that the bearer may act responsibly in his own behalf.

  53 Liy is a title-of-reference used where an order of nobility is implied. In this case, for an Elder to so refer to an adolescent, it could only mean that the girl, Flerdistar, was of a Braid of very exalted status on her home world, the Ler equivalent of near-royalty. Liy should thus be rendered as Demoiselle.

  54 Ler surnames reveal occupation, or profession. Narbelen is a contraction of the phrase Narosi Bel Ghenaos, “ninth thief its-family (Braid). Similarly, Perklonen indicates “first historian family.”

  55 Ler, with the thoroughness typical of their kind, had instituted Braids to perform what might have been left to accident on Human worlds. The various Belen Braids did actually steal, as their hereditary occupation. Of course, under elaborate and traditional restrictions. Members of the so-called “dark Braids” were often called upon by others for their unusual skills, so it is not particularly unusual, in the Ler context, that such a person as Clellendol would be included on an extraordinary undertaking.

  56 Basic forms of Ler clothing remained static, and were oriented toward one or another of the four elementals: Fire, Air, Earth, Water. Stel was a gauzy, translucent, loose blouse, tied with ribbons at the top, which was a loose, open neck; below, it fell about to the hips, where it was tied with another ribbon. Dhwef was a long, wi
de, trailing loincloth, the ends falling to the feet. The upper end was usually held in place by a string of beads, or in extreme cases, by a chain of flowers. The mode most common to wearing of the Dhwef could be politely described as the “mood conducive to amorous dalliance.” It could also be construed as an invitation to the same. Needless to say, after the Ler manner this was behavior governed by the Water Elemental.

  57 Incantor: a middle-ranking title-of-nobility from the Phanetical system, which included, from the highest, Phanet, Feodar, Incantor, Deodactor, and Sphodic. The suggestion was that the office was elective, despite the fact that it usually was not. Titles in the Phanetical system were not usually associated with dynasties, which were covered by the Phyacic system, listing from the highest, Phyacor, Erchon, Hospod, Peshe and Phreme. Both these were the ancient orders of nobility of Kepture and the other continents as well. An Incantor would equate somewhat to a Baron, or perhaps Warlord.

  58 An event in the far past of Monsalvat. It was said that Cretus spoke to all septs, tribes, phyles, directing them to be complementary to one another, rather than maniacally competitive. That this ideal failed was unimportant. Cretus was remembered for that he was the first of Monsalvat, which is of the Klesh, to say so and try to implement it.

  59 Not via electromagnetic radiation. The first explorers had confirmed intercommunication among protes, firstly by observing one prote act upon information only another had known. Later, when they could speak with protes, they had testimonial evidence. But they did not uncover how the intercommunication took place. The electromagnetic spectrum was searched, without success. The problem had not yet been solved when organized society abandoned the planet.

  60 An Embasse was a person, usually of dubious origin and questionable race, who performed communicative functions between the various tribes, and other social organisms of the Klesh on Monsalvat. They could not be called peacemakers, for they arranged conflicts as often as they negotiated to prevent them. Rather, they functioned as leavening, controlling agents in the eternal racial ferment of Monsalvat. “Civilization,” denoting desirable conditions of order, was related solely to the effectiveness of the Embasses of a given area, not to any arbitrary concept of order held by any tribe or group. In this context it may be noted that the continent Glordune was considered “wild” solely in that there were no openly-practicing Embasses there. The kinds of barbarisms practiced in Glordune were not more in kind or number than on other continents—just more disorderly.

  61 The Four Continents enclosed the world-ocean into an Inner Sea and a much greater Outer Ocean, which in turn covered more than half the planetary surface.

  62 Native life-forms of Monsalvat, both predatory. The Korsor was somewhat bearlike in size and general shape, but much swifter and more graceful. The Eratzenaster was a nightmare resembling nothing known on any other world. They were large flying predators of the upper air. Both forms were occasionally tamed and put to odd uses.

  63 What the Klesh thought was Singlespeech was actually the degenerate form of that tongue as spoken on the planet Dawn. The correct construction would have been “mafranemosi (felor),” with the word for star, “felor,” understood, but not said.

  64 A word impossible to translate simply. It meant, more or less, “the descendant of persons who deliberately perverted their racial ancestry and destiny.” Moreover, who continued to do so. It was a word filled with connotations of shivery horror and singularly repulsive deviance.

  65 Derques were a form of Klesh far removed from the original human form. A Derque supported its weight on its arms, which were greatly strengthened. The hands were atrophied into footlike appendages. The original legs were much reduced, and the former feet served as organs of manipulation. Derques were reputed to be less sentient than the average animal, and this was not merely another of the myriad racial slurs of Monsalvat, but carried more than a bit of truth. Derques in fact did roam wild in Chengurune, serving as scavengers. A Klesh Radah called the Ularid Khoze captured them and trained them as scenthounds, paralleling the free Haydar who were visually-guided predators.

  66 Part of a fifteen-year cycle which equated with a fifteen-month year. The Aceldaman calendar was solar, matched to the star-groupings visible along the plane of the ecliptic. The small moon was ignored.

  67 Ler gestures were muted, where present at all.

  68 Singlespeech, approximately, “It is indeed (most)-agreed.” Past Indicative Passive Participle, superior comparison. Zha’ is emphatic.

  69 The word is distorted Singlespeech, and means, “Betold-things.” The correct form is, “maskazemoni nakhon,” meaning those things which are spoken of in tales.

  70 Hanzlator = “last-Zlat” is correct, but Sano for “Waterboy” is the wildest sort of colloqualism. Literally, it would correctly mean, “most waterlike (in action),” an adverbial form.

  71 “Cretus” is a contraction of Koror Trethus, lit., “fear of the lance.” strength they seemed to possess as if by magic. But there was no sorcery, but varied skills being used together in concert for the first time in the history of Monsalvat. And at the last, Cretus commanded great variegated armies, and they marched over Kepture where they would.

  72 Contraction of “Transient-town,” a common adjunct of spaceports.

  73 The “week” on Monsalvat was of six days.